.gif "Cooking Neapolitan pizza (the Margherita)")
Makes 4 x 10-inch pizzas
tin of San Marzano (or any good quality Italian) tomatoes
good pinch of sea salt
4 x Neapolitan pizza bases
grated vegetarian Parmesan-style cheese
handful of basil leaves
150g vegetarian fior di latte cheese (cow’s milk mozzarella), torn into pieces no bigger than a 50 pence coin
extra-virgin olive oil
Cooking Neapolitan pizza (the Margherita)
1. To make the tomato sauce, first crush the tomatoes by hand. This stops the seeds being whizzed up by the blender, which makes the sauce bitter. Add a pinch of salt, then blitz with a hand blender until you have
a tomato sauce with a slightly rough texture.
2. Preheat the grill until it reaches its absolute highest setting.
3. Lay a pizza base flat in a dry frying pan (preferably non-stick) that has been on a high heat and is screaming hot.
4. Spread a thin layer of sauce with a ladle across the base, leaving a couple of centimetres round the edge for the crust. Add a pinch of Parmesan-style cheese, basil leaves and a quarter of the mozzarella, in
that order. Drizzle with olive oil.
5. Once the base of the pizza has browned (about 1–2 minutes), take the frying pan and place it on the highest shelf under the grill.
6. Once the crust has taken on some colour (again about 1–2 minutes), the pizza is ready to go. Eat it fast (contrary to popular belief, pizza is not better cold the morning after!). Start making the next one...