Judging by this site’s statistics, Google seems to think that www.gauweiler.net holds a recipe for Pissaladiere, or Tarte Provencale. I give in:

In short, a Pissaladiere is nothing but a savoury yeast dough base (also known as Pizza dough), with a thin layer topping of onion marmalade, olives and anchovy.

The Base:

For a round baking tray, you’ll need 200..250g of dough. A full-size square one takes about 350g. Per 100g of strong white wheat flour, use 5g of yeast, a pinch of salt, a tablespoon of olive oil, and 65ml of lukewarm water. Knead well, then cover and let rise in a warm place. Allow for a little over one hour.

The Marmalade:

I normally use very large vegetable onions (which have a bit less bite), and a few red onions (because it looks interesting), but any onion will do. The onions will lose a lot of volume, so prepare a very generous amount. Three very large vegetable onions for a round tray might be just enough. Peel, then slice thinly. You could use an electric chopper for this, provided it slices rather than grinding the onions to a pulp. I slice manually – and tearfully!

Add finely chopped garlic to taste. Red hot chilly peppers also work well, if you like it hot.

Heat a good swig of olive oil or clarified butter. Toss the onions and garlic in the oil, then cover and let steam gently for 15 to 20 minutes. Uncover, season with salt and thyme, and allow to cook uncovered at low heat for 30 minutes at least, stirring occasionally. Be patient. Very patient. When done, season to taste with salt, thyme, pepper, a pinch of nutmeg. A spoon of soured cream is optional.

The Finish:

Oil your baking tray. Roll out the dough, transfer to tray. Let the dough recover and rise again (allow for 20 minutes). Then, thinly spread out the onion marmalade. Top with olives and anchovy, and bake at 200C until golden.

Now this site holds a recipe for Pissaladiere, or Tarte Provencale.

(Now I need to make one myself, because I just realize that I don’t have a photo. The picture here shows a Quiche Lorraine. Also French, also lovely.)

Some dishes feel more French than others. Here’s a household favourite which feels particularly French – to me anyways. I haven’t dared to ask a French person:

Rabbit stew in a mustard sauce, served with green beans and prunes

Preferably made from ready-diced rabbit, so that the whole business of dealing with the carcass of the whole animal goes out the equation. Unlike other rabbit dishes, where you’d want the whole legs, for example, this is a stew. Only walnut-sized pieces of meat required.

Get the beans going first, as they need more time than the rabbit stew. Fry some tiny bits of bacon, a small and finely chopped onion, then gently steam the green beans in just a tiny splash of water.

When the beans are about 10 minutes on their way, shallow-fry a handful of dry-cured bacon. Add a small and finely diced onion, and a crushed small clove of garlic. Then add a bit of olive oil and the meat, which you tossed in a mix of one tablespoon of white flour and one table spoon of mustard powder. Add crushed black pepper. Fry and stir until it colours nicely, then add a glass of dry white wine and stir-in a large teaspoon of nice hot mustard.

Put the lid on and allow to simmer for 10 minutes, then season to taste using salt, black pepper, nutmeg, and more mustard.

Add two tablespoons of prunes to each portion. Simply use the canned stuff, with a bit of the syrup.

Serve with fresh white bread.

I suppose you could also substitute the rabbit with goat or crocodile, but I haven’t tried those yet. The local butcher regularly stocks goat meat, so this could be worth an experiment.