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This method presents a speedy version on pissaladière, converting some leftover of leftover pastry into a quick treat. Store and collect any leftovers into a round mass and re-roll as and when required. Pastry keeps well in the freezer, and by avoiding two time-consuming processes in the traditional recipe – making the dough and caramelizing the onions – this dish assembles about an hour faster. Alternatively, the onions are cooked inverted, steaming and caramelizing below a covering of dough with small fish and black olives for a speedy, fun take on a traditional French dish. And if you have a smaller amount of dough, you can always halve the recipe.

Quick Flipped Pissaladière Tarts

The current trend of upside-down tarts, which went viral on video platforms and Instagram a few years back, may have begun with a tasty and easy sweet pastry creation or an creative onion tart that even led to a whole book on upside-down cooking. Personally, I’ve been enjoying myself with inverted baking lately, from an extra-long leek tart to these speedy small onion tarts. It’s a easy, playful approach to make something that appears especially impressive.

Produces 4 personal pastries

• 1 purple onion
• 2 tbsp vegetable oil
• 1 tbsp agave nectar
• Kosher salt and peppercorns
• 8 anchovies (or 4, for a subtler taste profile)
• Dark pitted olives, to taste
• 120g pastry – flaky or firm works as well

Heat the oven to 210C (190C fan)/410F/gas 6½. Strip and prepare the onion, then chop into four thick, cross-sections. Prepare a heat-resistant oven sheet with baking paper, then plan where you will place each round of onion. Drizzle those areas with cooking oil and syrup, then season. Lay two small fish on top of each seasoned spot and layer them with a slice of onion. Nestle a few olives in and around the onions, then season with a extra olive oil, nectar, salt and pepper.

Turn on two adjacent stovetop elements to a moderate temperature, set the tray on top of the rings and let the onions to simmer untouched for 5 minutes.

In the meantime, on a sprinkled with flour surface, flatten the dough and trim it into four pieces big enough to enclose each round of onion. Carefully lay one pastry rectangle on top of each slice of onion, press down along the sides with the reverse of a utensil, then bake for twenty minutes, until the pastry is golden brown. Set a serving platter on top of the baking sheet, then flip to invert the tarts on to the plate. Carefully lift off the parchment and present.