Make Marseille’s Pizza Moitié-Moitié: A Recipe from Rosa Jackson

Rosa Jackson was born in Canada, but she seems to have been destined for the South of France. Like most journeys in life, the road was not direct to Nice, France, where she lives now. However, her passion for food, culinary techniques and helping others to appreciate local cuisine led her from Paris to Nice. If you like food stories and new recipes, sign up for the “Les Petits Farcis” newsletter. Recently, her newsletter featured a trip that Jackson had taken to Marseille. If you are a food lover, Marseille is a city you must visit. Of course, there is the famous fish soup/stew bouillabaisse, but the city claims to have invented pizza moitié-moitié (thin crust pizza with half emmental and half anchovies). Please try Rosa Jackson’s pizza recipe below.

Cooking School and Cookbook Author

Jackson established her cooking school, Les Petits Farcis, in Nice over twenty years ago. Her experience at the esteemed Cordon Bleu school in Paris, where she translated ingredients and techniques into English for international students, set her on a culinary journey. A former Paris restaurant critic, she has written about French food for international publications, including The Financial Times and Food & Wine. She runs the Paris food tour company Edible Paris.

Published in April 2024, Niçoise: Market-Inspired Cooking from France’s Sunniest City is Jackson’s heartfelt, deep dive into life in Nice, France, and the typical ingredients used in recipes at different periods of the year. Far from simply a collection of recipes, the book is a culinary memoir with dishes linked to Jackson’s friends, the French Riviera lifestyle, and her appreciation of the regional bounty.

Marseille’s Pizza Moitié-Moitié

Marseille is a cultural melting pot with cuisine that reflects those influences. Unlike any other city in France or the world, at 2600 years old, there are endless discoveries. In Marseille, you feel simultaneously on both sides of the Mediterranean thanks to the large North African population. The capital of Provence still has the Provençal clichés of pastis, pétanque, and colourful facades. At the same time, the city is invigorated by street art, food from across the globe, and an epic coastline. “The people of Marseille,” a Britannica article, provides good background on the city and its population. Vérane Frédiani, filmmaker, journalist, food lover, and feminist from Marseille, explores the global food scene in her book Taste the World in Marseille: Marseille Cuisine by the Marseillais. Frédiani dedicates an entire chapter to eating pizza in Marseille, including her favourite restaurants and food trucks. Enjoy Rosa Jackson’s recipe!

Pizza Moitié-Moitié

Rosa Jackson

Because of the long rising times, start making this pizza well before you plan to serve it — around lunchtime if you plan to eat it for dinner. (You can also let the dough rest in the refrigerator overnight). You can speed up the process by doubling the amount of yeast, but the slow rising develops better flavour and texture. The home cooking method — first in a frying pan on the stove, then under the broiler — was a revelation, resulting in a crisp, perfectly cooked crust. (Adapted from a recipe originally published in Le Fooding).

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Prep Time 1 hour hr

Cook Time 20 minutes mins

Resting Time 4 hours hrs

Total Time 5 hours hrs 20 minutes mins

Course Lunch Dish, Snack

Cuisine French, Italian

Servings 4 23 cm pizzas

Equipment

• mixing bowls, stainless steel
• pastry scraper
• immersion blender or mortar and pestle
• rolling pin stainless steel 18-inch
• box grater to grate the cheese
• skillet oven-proof (9-inch)

Ingredients

  

1x2x3x

For the Dough:

• 4 cup all-purpose flour or Italian type 00
• 2 tsp fine sea salt
• 1 tsp active dry yeast
• 1 1/3 cup warm water plus extra if needed
• 4 tsp olive oil plus a little extra for kneading
• extra flour for sprinkling
• some fine semolina for shaping the dough

For the No-Cook Tomato Sauce:

• 14 ounces plum tomatoes (1 can)
• 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• 8-10 basil leaves
• 1 tsp coarse sea salt

For the Pistou:

• 1 garlic clove
• 1/2 tsp coarse sea salt
• 1 cup basil leaves packed
• 1/3 cup olive oil enough to make a loose paste

Additional Toppings:

• 2 cups Gruyère cheese or Emmental cheese, grated
• freshly ground black pepper
• 12 anchovy fillets in oil
• oregano dried
• black olives or Greek olives
• olive oil for drizzling

Instructions

 

For the Dough:

• Place the flour in a large mixing bowl and mix with the salt. In a small bowl, dissolve the yeast in the warm water. Make a well in the center of the flour and add the yeast mixture. Using a pastry scraper, wooden spoon or your hand, mix until a dough forms, adding a little extra flour or water if needed so that it is soft but not too sticky. Mix in the oil.
• Knead the dough for about 5 minutes until smooth and silky, adding more olive oil if it becomes too sticky. Place in a bowl, cover, and set aside to rise at warm room temperature for 3 to 4 hours until doubled in size.
• For the tomato sauce, place the canned tomatoes in a bowl and squash them with your hands, breaking them up into small pieces. Roughly tear the basil leaves and stir them in with salt and olive oil.

For the Pistou:

• Blend all the ingredients using a small food processor or hand blender (I provide instructions for the pestle-and-mortar method in Niçoise).
• Sprinkle the dough with flour and divide into 4 balls. Cover these with a damp dish towel and set aside for 2 more hours. Sprinkle with flour, gently press out the air with your hands and let the dough rest, covered, for another 5 to 10 minutes.
• Preheat the broiler to its maximum setting.
• To shape the dough, sprinkle your work surface generously with semolina, then roll the first ball of dough into a 9-inch (23 cm) round (I did not have success using the stretching method shown in the video on Le Fooding, so I used a rolling pin).
• If you don't have a pizza oven, heat an ovenproof frying pan on the stove over high heat and place the dough in the pan. Top with a quarter of the tomato sauce, spreading it all over the dough, then distribute 1/2 cup (about 50 g) cheese over one side of the pizza. Sprinkle with freshly ground pepper.
• Cook over medium-high heat on the stove until the dough is browned underneath, about 5 minutes. Then place the pizza under the broiler and cook until the cheese is golden and the edges are brown and crusty, about 5 minutes longer. Arrange three anchovies and dab 1 tablespoon of pistou on the tomato side, then sprinkle the whole pizza with oregano and top with a few olives. Drizzle with olive oil. Repeat with the remaining balls of dough.

Keyword Anchovies, Cheese

Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!

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