Saturday, October 16th 2010.
7:14 am: stumble out of bed, stick a bagel in the toaster and boil some water for coffee. Remember that today is the day I need to work on the next Project Food Blog challenge!
Drink two strong cups of coffee.
Get back in my bed.
7:30 am: Read cookbooks in bed looking for pizza inspiration. Directions for challenge say “one recipe, 72 variations”.
Feeling hopelessly lost and confused.
Drink more coffee and try to think about what is in my refrigerator without actually getting out of bed.
7:38 am: Saw photo of large onion. Have an epiphany! Dexter looks scared.
7:44 am: No time for make-up—brush teeth, pull on yoga clothes, grab baseball hat and keys and am out the door.
Wonder if I had too much coffee.
Wonder if I was born in the wrong century.
Wonder what Nigella Lawson is making for dinner tonight.
8:10 am: Arrive at destination! Race in and buy onions, tomato sauce and a jar of pesto.
Want.
8:30 am: Drive to next destination: Sur la Table. Wait outside in the cold until store opens. Peer through windows and see yummy things.
Call my mother.
9:30 am: Arrive home and throw together some Eat Live Run pizza dough.
Hop online and read up on Pissaladiere, or French onion tart, a pizza-like specialty in Nice made with cooked onions, pesto, olives and sundried tomatoes.
Daydream about going back to France.
Remind myself to research pain au chocolat recipes.
Eat a tiny piece of chocolate from my secret drawer.
9:45 am: set dough on table to rise and start slicing my onions.
Wipe away tears.
10:00 am: Toss all the onions in my biggest pot and add a splash of water, some salt, pepper and oregano. Then, put the heat on medium low, cover and let cook for a little over an hour.
Wonder what I got myself into.
11:00 am: Realize I’m actually quite hungry. Fix an hot open-faced ham and gruyere sandwich and a salad. Drink some local apple juice.
Stir my onions.
Wonder if other twenty five year olds stand and stir onions for hours on a Saturday.
Text my mother and ask her the definition of a cat lady.
11:30 am: Start rolling out my pizza dough.
11:40 am: Gently place my dough in my new tart pan and prick with a fork. Layer pesto, tomato sauce, onions, olives and sundried tomatoes over the top.
Preheat the oven to 450 and bake for fifteen minutes.
12:00 pm: Gently take pizza-tart out of the oven and do a mini happy dance.
12:06 pm: Take a bite and am instantly transported back to the South of France on a hot summer day. Marvel at the deliciousness of the sweet onions, salty olives and flavorful pesto.
Realize that it’s even vegan (almost)!
12:15 pm: Take another mini-bite then wrap up the rest of the pizza-tart in foil to have for dinner. Pretend I’m in France and take a sip of red wine. Realize my neighbors probably think I’m very, very strange.
Make plans to go on a hike later.
Write out recipe and call it a success.
Pissaladiere (Provincial Onion Tart)
serves 3
1/2 recipe Eat Live Run pizza dough
2 T pesto (store bought or homemade)
2 T tomato sauce or paste
5 white onions
1/2 tsp sea salt
1/2 tsp oregano
1/4 cup water
1/4 tsp black pepper
1/3 cup sliced black olives
1/4 cup sliced sundried tomatoes
pinch red pepper flakes
Slice onions very thin and toss them in your largest pot along with the water, oregano, salt and pepper. Turn heat on medium low, stir and cover. Let cook for a little over an hour, stirring occasionally.They will get very, very soft and translucent.
Roll out pizza dough very thin. Place in greased long rectangular tart pan and prick the bottom with a fork. Brush with pesto and tomato sauce and then add a thick layer of cooked onions (you might not need all the onions). Sprinkle the sliced olives and sundried tomatoes on top and finish with a sprinkle of red pepper flakes.
Bake at 450 for about fifteen minutes, or until the bottom of the pizza is done. Remove and let cool then pop out of tart pan and trim sides.
Serve with a glass of red wine and pretend you’re in Nice.
{ 151 comments… read them below or add one }
I love you.
I swear, I’m not a creeper.
But I think we share souls.
Need that pizza now.
Thats hilarious when I got done reading this post I thought “Jenna I love you”. And then I thought everyone is going to think you’re some crazy stalker if you say that then I scrolled down and say your post and started cracking up. Okay so maybe I’m not crazy…well definitely a little.
Jenna your passion is awesome to read and there are a many twenty somethings that spend their saturdays cooking up a storm!
I love you too! Looks soooo yummy
That looks delish!!!!
Did your mama ever give you a definition of a cat lady?
Wow, looks incredible! Great job.
)
you got a rolling pin!
That sounds soooo good.
hey, cool rolling pin!
and you had me roaring at the “cat lady” line! lol…
love,
Cathy B.
P.S. and oh yeah, great lookin’ recipe, too!
“Wonder if other twenty five year olds stand and stir onions for hours on a Saturday.”
Literally LOLd
Genius! I love the pizza-in-a-tart idea. I just so happen to have a kitchenaid bowl full of pizza dough in my fridge and all of these ingredients… Perhaps a nice Sunday lunch or dinner?
How do you get it out of the pan so nicely?
This looks amazing, I’m feeling a binge in the cooking apparatus store and white onions coming.
I need to try this
Beautiful, I love it!
So I think that maybe I need to leave my husband and children and live with you until I have had enough food and then beg them to take me back?!
Or maybe I could just copy your recipes…. but that seems much too easy and a lot less dramatic, so I’ll stick with option one.
That looks delicious Jenna! I used to have the same French Press as you until it broke. And don’t worry, last night I wondered how many other 26 yr olds spend Friday nights sewing headbands and hemming pants while listening to NPR? haha Seriously though, we’re sooo cool!
yummy, but pesto has cheese (at least every pesto i’ve seen in a jar) so not vegan
This looks absolutely incredible and the glass of wine with lunch is so very necessary and so very French.
That pizza/tart looks amazing, really, really, amazing!!!!!!
This looks delicious! Awesome job!
You make me laugh! I love your blog, and, just so you know, I think that there a lot of things right with cooking onions on a Saturday afternoon. I have to work all day, so I’m jealous!
Oh, I also love that you took pictures in the grocery store.
looks delicous. i really love this post as well. bravo!
Sometimes when I read your blog, I think that you must be in my head.
Love your writing & your blog.
yes. i LOVE this blog entry.
Looks delicious!
In the past week I’ve made your turkey chili, the turkey meatballs and the chewy chocolate chip cookies (first time in my life). They were all hits!!!
You give me the inspiration and the courage to cook.
Thank you so much for all your recipes and all the nice blog posts.
Have a lovely day!!
Yay!! Glad everything has been yummy! Can I come over for dinner?
I have to do the cookies…just no substitutes – a good cookie is all.
Sure!! If you want to cross the Atlantic, you are more than welcome!!
If you cross the Atlantic, you are more than welcome to come over for dinner!!
Have a great day.
Can’t even tell you how much I love this. Everytime I read one of your posts I think I put it in my head as one of my Top 10 Favorite Posts..then you write another. So I’m just going to save myself the trouble and just make the very essence of your blog my favorite. Hope you don’t mind
PS. Can we just admit that we’re bosom friends and all? You know, Anne of Green Gables style? haha
mmmmm you crack me up!! this looks great. nice is my favorite; i spent a summer there in college w/ campus crusade for christ. so did my husband- but a different summer. we didn’t know each other then. if we had met in france we probably wouldn’t be married now, cause at the time he was young & immature and so was i probably. that’s all.
I HATE onions and olives, but you’ve still managed to make me want to try this. ???? You’re too funny……”text my mom and ask her the definition of a cat lady….” love it.
That looks really good!
That looks amazing..and I love the chronicling of your day, morning (lots of coffee works for me!) and the fact that you were out in public, at 830am, waiting for Sur La Table to open, braving the elements, it just shows you are a true cook. Or true shopper
Random aside, that computer is a Mac Book Pro (I think from the picture)…just curious if you blog using Windows Live Writer that you have running on a Mac? Or if you have any Mac programs you like. It’s quite a PITA to run/install Windows on my MAC (have tried to install VMWare and Parallels..trial versions) but so far have not really succeeded.
Anyway random comment but if you use a Mac, would love to hear how you blog since saving time is key!
Your posts just keep getting better & better. “Wonder what Nigella Lawson is making for dinner tonight.” I look forward to your blog every day!
That’s creative. I was not thinking of that when I rolled out of bed this morning.
If the you that called me in 2007 could see you now…. wait to go Jenna!! This is simply gorgeous.
But I secretly think you did all of the onion photos to make me cringe like Dexter did. He and I should become friends.
I’ll admit it—you were on my mind this morning! Hahaha
Starting to get officially creeped out about our similarities… nigella lawson dreams… petite ecoliers lusting… wine and coffee drinking for sanity purposes- i love you. sorry to creep us both out
Let’s go find Nigella!
You are hysterical, Jenna, and this recipe looks delightful! Reminds me how much I adore carmelized onions this season. Every recipe you’ve posted this week just sing to my tastebuds!
Jenna, you are one of my very favorite bloggers. I love your adventurous cooking, your writing style, and every time you mention Little House of the Prairie, my heart soars. Haha.
That dish looks amazing. I wish I was in France too. And reading Julia Child’s “My Life in France” isn’t helping…
Your style is much more like Pioneer Woman now. Is that intentional?
Hmm no, but I guess I should take that as a compliment! Thanks for reading.
Oh, I have been thinking the same thing!
And it is a compliment 
It looks tasty – but one thing that’s driving me (and maybe other long-time readers) a little nutty. One day you decided to start posting step-by-step recipes a la Pioneer Woman – which is fine. But every single post since then is steeped in this “I’m so odd, surely no other people my age are interested in cooking and baking and obsess over buttercream.” There are many bakers, and travelers to France, and gals who cook southern food, and stay home on a Friday night with wine and their cat – and totally enjoy doing all of these things. Just re-read this post and you’ll feel it. The formula is becoming kind of … boring.
I’ve always wanted to make a Pissaladiere….this is beautiful and delicious I am sure!
You. are. hilarious.
And, I am madly in love with your blog. You are just so funny! I guess that fact that you made pizza isn’t all that funny, but the aura of your posts just make me giggle.
I especially love “8:30 am: Drive to next destination: Sur la Table. Wait outside in the cold until store opens. Peer through windows and see yummy things.”
It definitely reminds me of myself.
The other thing that made me double over with laughter was “Wonder if other twenty five year olds stand and stir onions for hours on a Saturday.”
Oh gosh.
I LOVE IT!
Oh, and your pizza looks delicious, by the way!
OMG! OMG! Pissaladiere! Swoon! EXCELLENT post!! Looks fantastique. Dexter does appear to be undergoing a startling realization.
This line cracked me up. “Wonder if other twenty five year olds stand and stir onions for hours on a Saturday.”
Last Sunday my 24-year-old-self tried carmelizing onions for the first time and the very same thought!
So you are not alone!
I love how you did this! Very interesting to see the steps we don’t normally get to see – specifically, your process of thinking of what to create and gathering the ingredients! This recipe looks so wonderful. I hope you advance to the next round if there is one.
My mouth started watering at the 2 cups of coffee, and continued the whole way through.
Perfect post: short, sweet, and delicious
That is a very pretty and unique pizza. Good luck! Maybe bring some to Foodbuzz fest if it’s a winner.
And I like how you cook onions for hours on a Saturday morning and eat chocolate and wine by lunchtime! Only die hard foodies do that.
Good choice!
Looks like a winner!
looks great! gotta go vote for you!
oh. my. gosh. My mouth is watering!! I LOOVVEE onions and I can’t wait to make that! Love your blog, jenna!
Love this. Just returned from a trip to Europe, including France, and this recipe sounds like perfection to me!
What a lovely entry! Your posts are delightful in every way! You transport us to a place many of us have been before and encourage others to explore new places that we’ve been afraid to go. From one food crazed, recipe obsesessed, blog reader to another, keep them coming!!! On that note, I may make a special trip to sur la table for a new tart pan. Pissaladdiere, cookbooks and memories of France is calling!!!!!
Great post! Of course though, I wouldn’t have expected anything less.
confession: I was home drinking tea myself last night… and at the grocery store before 9:00 am. At least I wasn’t the only 25 (wait errr 26) year old doing these things..
i think we would be very good friends in a non-creepy way. and i would eat this entire thing all by myself.
If it makes you feel any better.. I’m in my pj’s reading food blogs and watching the ole miss/bama game. hotty toddy!
This looks like lovely, simple, delicious food…I love the combination of flavors and that you made it in a tart pan rather than just as a pizza, it’s very elegant!
Does the boy get all of your leftovers? If, so we are all jealous.
YUM!
Okay and seriously, you crack me up. I often muse the same ridiculous things to myself haha.
Love the post! And I’m totally drooling over the pizza tart
Just when I think you can’t get any better…..love that recipe! Have to admit kinda intimidated to try some of your work. They look so pretty I hate to butcher them! Oh well I will have to try this one for sure. My husband is Italian (ok he is 1/2) so he loves pizza. Now this is different from the typical italian pizza but pizza non the less. Thank you!
I need to make that. Did you happen to catch what time Sur La Table opens on Sundays?
P.S. – your pictures are gorgeous!
they open at 11!
Your blog is laugh-out-loud funny.
Thanks for providing me with a moment of hilarity/study break as I, in sad Berkeley student state, find myself studying on a Saturday night.
Must go bake something now!
Oooh that looks bomb.com!!! :-p
I love how you put the time stamps next to everything – such a cute post. I <3 the pizza!!
That is so beyond my realm of thinking but well done Jenna. BTW cat lady does NOT equal you. What did mom say?
YOU are amazing!!!
I saw that picture with your laptop in the kitchen and I turned to my husband and gave him that exact reason for getting me a laptop–so I can take the computer into the kitchen and not have to print out recipes on our printer with aging ink.
Hahah hilarious! I had a similar moment last night before I started getting ready to go out: “I wonder if any other 22 year olds actually makes it a point to make overnight oats on a Saturday night”..sure is worth it though.
Your entry looks divine, I’m rootin for ya
I love this post and your pizza looks incredible!
You have my vote!
Hahah hilarious! I had a similar moment last night before I started getting ready to go out: “I wonder if any other 22 year olds actually makes it a point to make overnight oats on a Saturday night”..sure is worth it though.
Your entry looks divine, I’m rootin for ya
This post is awesome! First of all, that picture of dexter is adorable. Second of all, its saturday night and I’m staying in so I can make cheddar scallion scones with my cat so if you’re in the crazy cat lady club, than I am right there with you. Third, this looks delicious and is so creative. Bravo!
Oh, I love Tessa Kiros, and that book is just wonderful! I’ve written about it several times on my own blog.
You are amazing even if you are an ol cat lady born inthe wrong century.
I accept you for who you are and more.
what’s wrong with being crazy cat lady
last night, saturday, instead of drinking and partying like other 20year olds do, i was making pumpkin whoopie pies.
this morning, instead of recovering from the booze, i made tofu from scratch.
you have my vote too!
I think this means I need to take a pretend trip today — wine and food shopping at Cora and Auchan, then home w/ all the goodies to make tarte flambee. Some lovely Alsatian gerwurtztraminer while I cook, a little cheese, rillettes and cornichons (don’t forget the baguette) to snack on. Sadly, I can’t get to Strasbourg today (or anytime soon), but I can procur the ingredients from Publix and pull out my Emile Henry bakeware. Bon or guten appetit! Thank you for the lovely post!
I love your writing style! Great post! BYTW – made the stuffed apples with my daughter Friday night, topped them with vanilla bean ice cream – HEAVEN IN A BOWL! Thank you
wow.
I honestly think you may be one of the best blog writers out there. You’re voice RADIATES through every post! Not only that, but you are very creative with you’re writing style, while still letting your true voice shine. Props to you girl.
that pizza looks amazing as well.
but seriously, go right some more books….stat.
You should have your own cooking show!
This looks fabulous! Excuse me when I run out and buy a tart pan and some onions…
GREAT post. You really are a terrific writer with a candid sense of humor.
You’re awesome!! Really. Don’t take that as creepy.
Now I know what we’re having for dinner tonight. Many thanks!
Fantastic post. You are obviously much cooler than most 25 year olds. At least in my expert, 26 year old opinion.
This is such an awesome post! Love the photo with the wine too. Beautiful!
Yes, other 25 year olds sit and stir onions on Saturday afternoons…I am proof! I recently did the same thing making french onion soup a few weeks ago…totally worth it!
Might be my favorite post yet!
Well done~ Bravo and I love your writing too. I want that pizza…NOW!
My birthday was Saturday, so when I read this this morning, I pretend like you made it for my birthday. Sorry……………….I underestimated how creepy that sounds.
no way….you can totally have it for your birthday!
My husband is at a football game with friends today so the day is entirely mine. I could be doing anything, but instead I’m in the kitchen kneading dough, singing songs, and drinking hot tea. My neighbors must think I’m strange too.
I wish I was there with you!
You do realize that people can’t help but to love and admire you right? It’s blogs like this that are just so relatable and fun!
aww thank you, Amber!
I am way over 25….but I am one to spend the day in the kitchen, too and have been for yrs! Yum!
This looks amazing! Your writing style brings a smile to my face every time I read. Can’t wait for the voting to open, go Jenna go!
Looks great!! You definitely have my vote!
Haha, I love this! Beautiful little tart I must say : )
Have you ever thought about your own cooking show?
bravo! Well done and I love story time with you.
It really sounds delicious and I want it NOW!
Awww! It’s gorgeous! I love cooking down tons of onions because you really learn to get some respect for them. They seriously hold their own against the heat for quite a while.
This looks positively deligghtful!!!!
French press – the only way to prepare coffee
Yummy! But how do you properly cut an onion for this?
Thank you for inspiring me to do something different in the kitchen tonight !
This looks delicious! And worth crying while chopping 5 onions
.
Oh my…possibly the best looking blog post I have seen!! Love!
yummmm
jenna this might be your funniest and most delightful post ever. that looks delicious! and a-hem….did you buy a rolling pin???
LOL at the cat lady comment!!!
This looks freaking delectable!
I love this post. Mostly because you had been up and about and cooking for hours by the time I even got up on Saturday- inspiring!
And I really want to make this now, but totally vegan (vegan jarred pesto does exist! so I’ll be buying that). Also, totally approve of the wine with lunch.
This looks delicious.
I was up near Big Basin backpacking this weekend and I know that it is not that close to you. But I do know that this weekend many people got rained on, although luckily it only sprinkled right as we were leaving, did you get rained on on your hike?
Hi
dont you feel that Carrots and Cake stole your slogen: “Sharing my life one bite at a time”?
When i first saw it, i was shocked…cause i love both blogs
this looks wonderful! I love that you used pesto on it combined with the tomato sauce.
Girl, everything about this post is lovely. The title. The pizza. The onions. All of it.
I think you need to win.
Love this post, you are so cute! That pizza looks awesome! Good luck with the contest! We will be cheering for you.
I think you just described my perfect day. I loved this post. Can I just say that between Friday night and Sunday evening I made the following: Apple and cheddar scones, chicken broth, carrot and parsnip soup, ciabatta bread, chicken salad, and pumpkin bread. Does that mean we can be friends?
Love your posts!
I like to say the word. Though I can’t quite spell it! The sweet savory onions are a personal fav. GREG
Ahahahaha love it Jenna, very french, very you, very gorgeous!
i love your documented process! tres français.
It was fun running through your mind and process.
The pissaladiere looks fab. Perfect for the rectangular tart pan.
This looks truly amazing.
Also, this 27 year old would definitely stand and stir onions for hours on a Saturday.
This sounds delicious and looks pretty too!
Elegant and delicious. Some days it’s difficult to get going, but I’m sure glad you did! Great enrty; you’ve got my vote. -Katy
Sweet, soft onions and olives – I adore this. I voted for you because you don’t have to make or post something complicated to be an entertaining and interesting food blogger.
Loved this post, think your pizza looks amazing….BUT. My cat is also named Dexter.
Let’s be best friends.
So funny! You have a vote from me!
For my entry, I made pizza for all the wrong times of day: some Deep Dish Pizza Cupfakes and Pizzas Benedict
Come see if you’d like!
I’m happy to say that I, too, am a 25 year old that loves to sit around on a Sunday and stir onions! It’s not a bad thing, I’m convinced! And I’m also convinced that this sounds marvelous! Great job with the challenge and you’ve definitely got my vote!
Let me tell you the definition of a cat lady. Me. If I weren’t allergic to cats.
Right now, I’m totally stuck being a fish lady. Or a gerbil lady. And well. Neither of those have a really nice ring to it.
Love this pizza! And the way you write! you’ve totally got my vote!
Before you chop another onion, go back to Sur La Table and get some onion goggles. I swear by them now. It saves me from looking like a drama queen when I’m in the kitchen.
onion goggles!!! no way!
How can I not vote for you? You are such an amazing writer and a young amaizing cook! I will go vote now. Best of luck!
thank you, thank you!
I love your pissadaliere- it looks fantastic. Plus your black kitty looks identical to my cat Hershey…so of course I have to vote for you! So happy to have discovered your blog through PFB- hope we both make it to challenge #6!
That looks so good! I’m totally making it when I get back from my honeymoon next weekend. =)
BTW, I have the same marble rolling pin. Strange…I got mine at an antique shop, it came with a rolling pin stand and a matching marble cutting board. I love it.
Yum – that tart/pizza looks so good. This is such a cute post and also, I love your cat. He looks like mine.
Good luck!
Love how you tell the story. That final photo with the wine is terrific. Happy to give my vote! Good luck!
LL
Congrats for being in the race! I will vote for you again the next round:D
I may not be able to pronounce this but I can make it!
It was SOOOOO good! One suggestions (okay two suggestions):
A. Don’t just thinly slice the onions, but also give them a rough chop so you aren’t pulling long onion strings off in each bite.
B. Go make this. It was so easy!
I used a pizza pan and half of her dough recipe spread out thinly (froze the other half). I still used the same amount of the toppings, but had a few onions leftover. Make sure you pile those onions on the crust…best part! Oh and the pesto is a must have. MMM!!!
I just made this last night! But I realized I don’t have a tart pan (oops). I turned it into a pie, with more layers and parmesan and a thin crust on top. It was SO good. Thank you for the lovely idea.
Brilliant!! Just found your blog and will be working my way through your recipes!
Thank you!