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Pissala Recipe

Provencal French cuisine

Pissala (a Provençal name) is a Niçois salt-fish paste, used especially for pissaladière.

Preparation: 1 month
Used with: fish, cold meats, appetizers (on toast), pissaladière.

Note: The classic recipe calls for blanchaille [palaïa], which are tiny fish from the Mediterranean. A common substitute is the salty anchovy, easier to obtain and to work with.

Ingredients:

2 kg blanchaille (either) [whitebait]
1 kg anchovy (or)
500 g salt
clove [girofle]

thyme
laurel
olive oil [huile d'olive]
pepper grains [poivre]

1. Gut and clean the blanchaille.

2. Put the ingredients in layers in an earthenware jar (terrine), as follows:

  • a layer of fish (2-3 cm), a layer of salt, a few nails of clove, thyme, laurel and some pepper grains.
  • another layer of fish and the corresponding layers of spices and herbs.
  • repeat the layers to the top of the jar, finishing with a layer of salt and herbs on top.

3. Put the jar away in a cool place for a week.

4. Days 8-30: Remove the surface oil with a ladle. Use a wooden spatula to stir the mixture thouroughly to the bottom of the jar, let sit for another day.

5. Day 30: Force the sauce through a sieve into a deep bowl, removing all the lumpy bits of fish and herbs. Pour a thin covering of olive oil over the surface of the purée mixture.


Pâte à Pissaladière recipe.

Pissaladière recipe.

Conversions 30 g = 1 oz = 2 Tbs   180 g = 6 oz = 3/4 cup  
1 kg = 2.2 lbs 1 lt = 1.06 qt  60 g = 2 oz = 1/4 cup 225 g = 8 oz = 1 cup
0.45 kg = 1 lb   0.95 lt = 1 qt 115 g = 4 oz = 1/2 cup   450 g = 16 oz = 1 pint

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