Despite the interventions of Mme. Sarcozy Bruni, Sunday still remains a principally closed day in France.
This was brought forcibly to my mind yesterday as we were coming back from a day at a Brocante Foire in Pezenas.
We have two people staying at the moment, two great friends, but still paying customers.
We had enjoyed the day at this most successful fair and it was only while coming home that it struck me that I had made no provisions whatsover for these people eating a starter.
I had marinaded the Duck Breasts in Ginger, Orange and Honey, made a Chocolate and Hazelnut Mousse and gotten in the Cheese.
I realised that I would have to wing it with what was in the fridge.
We had recently bought a slice of Pissaladiere at a food market to ward of the hunger which builds up while looking at food.
So while heading home by mind was working on variations of this delicious version of the Italian Pizza- It is usually a tomato free short pastry slice covered in melted onions and garnished frequently with Olives and Anchovies-all of which I knew I had in the store cupboard.

But then I remembered that I was out of onions, I had used thenm all a couple of days before.
This inturn led my to another thought.
The day I had used them I was marinading Pork Steaks to grill on the barbecue
and had decided to do a version of ratatouille with it.
What I had done was to cook together until meltingly soft the onions peppers and tomatoes and then serve this with aubergine which I would char grill on the barbecue.
This had worked well but as usual I had overestimated and was left with a dish of pepper and onion fondant.

That was the moment when the penny dropped and I realised that I now, with the peppers had the perfect base for my Pissaladiere.

Another set back when I got home was finding that I was out of eggs as I had an idea for using one to enrich the shortbread.
Serendipity struck again when I spotted a piece of parmesan in the fridge, just the thing to make a rich, crumbly base for my version of the Pissaladiere-which was fast moving away from being in any way traditional.
My last fridge find , a perfect one for me, to whom enough is never as good as a feast, was a piece of soft goat cheese.
Well I made them and they were gratefully recieved.
I plan to put them into the repetoire of the Presbytere.

Little Pepper and Goats Cheese Tarts

For the Parmesan Pastry;
175g Flour
90g Butter
50 g Parmesan (crumbed not grated)
4 tablespoons Water

For the Filling:

I Red pepper
2 Med onions
2 Med Tomatoes
2 Tablespoons Olive oil
120g Goats cheese
12 Anchovies
16 stoned black Olives

Make the pastry either by hand or in a food processor and knead the parmesan crumbs at the end.

Either roll these out into four saucer sized pieces or, go all cheffy like me and use to line four small quiche tins.

Either way bake in a hot oven for about 15 minutes until golden brown.

Making the filling is a bit of a pother I know but I think worth it.

Peel the pepper either by halving it and grilling until black or holding it directly on the gas flame and blackening that way.
Either way run under cold water to get rid of the blackened skin.
Peel the tomatoes by plunging into boiling water and then into cold.
Peel then discard the seeds by halving and scooping out with a finger (or a spoon if you must)
Peel and slice the onion and then fry gently in olive oil until soft, add the sliced peeled peppers and the sliced peeled and deseeded tomatoes and cook gently for about thirty minutes until soft and melting.

Put a spoonful of this mixture on each disc of parmesan pastry.
Put a piece of goats cheese on this and then lay over the anchovies and the olives, like so:

Bake in a hot oven for about 20 minutes and then serve with a little salad on the side.