Giorgio Locatelli’s Saturday pizza

Saturday night is pizza night for the staff at Locanda Locatelli. This recipe is for a margherita, but you can build the toppings on the tomato sauce as you like.

If you buy your mozzarella in water, make sure you slice and drain it well. Cow’s milk mozzarella is fine, as the best buffalo mozzarella is wasted unless you add it after the pizza comes out the oven, in which case it is beautiful dotted over the top with some fresh basil.

You will need to start this recipe a day ahead.

Makes 4 round pizzas

For the tomato sauce

olive oil 3 tbsp

onion 1, finely chopped

garlic 1 clove, finely chopped

chopped tinned tomatoes 2 x 400g tins

sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

basil leaves 5

For the dough

00 flour 500g, plus extra for dusting

fresh yeast 4g

extra virgin olive oil 1 tbsp

fine sea salt 1 tsp

For the topping

tomato sauce 4 ladlefuls (see above)

cow’s milk mozzarella 4 x 125g

extra virgin olive oil 4 tbsp

dried oregano a little

fresh basil leaves a handful

For the tomato sauce, heat the olive oil in a pan, add the chopped onion and garlic and cook gently until the onion is soft and translucent, taking care not to burn the garlic. Add the tinned tomatoes, then rinse out a tin with water and add to the pan. Season with salt and pepper. Bring to the boil, then turn down the heat and cook very gently for 30 minutes. Tear the basil leaves roughly and scatter into the sauce. Set aside to cool.

Mix all the ingredients for the dough with 300mI water (at room temperature). Divide into 4, then roll each piece into a ball and put on a tray, spacing them well apart. Cover with clingfilm and put into the fridge overnight, where they will expand slightly. Four hours before you want to bake the pizza, remove the balls of dough from the fridge and allow them to come slowly to room temperature. During this time they will prove a little more.

Preheat the oven to 220C/gas mark 7 and put in a baking tray or trays to heat up – if you have some baking stones, better still. Dust your work surface lightly with flour. Take each ball of dough and gently push and stretch it with your fingertips until it is about 3-4mm thick. Spoon a ladleful of tomato sauce on to each one and spread over the surface. Dot some mozzarella over the top. Drizzle each pizza with a tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil and finish with a pinch of dried oregano. Slide the pizzas, two at a time, on to your hot trays or stones and bake for 10 minutes, until the edges turn dark brown and the mozzarella has melted. Remove them from the oven and scatter over some basil leaves.

From Made at Home by Giorgio Locatelli (Fourth Estate, £26)

Simon Hopkinson’s new tomato curry

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Simon Hopkinson’s new tomato curry. Photograph: Jason Lowe

Serves 4

For the cucumber raita

cucumber 1 large, peeled

salt 1 tsp

plain yogurt 300g

lemon juice a little

garlic 1 clove, crushed and finely chopped

green chilli 1, deseeded and finely chopped

fresh mint 1 heaped tbsp, finely chopped

For the tomato curry

cumin seeds 1 tbsp

coriander seeds 1 tbsp

cardamom pods 10

fennel seeds 1⁄2 tbsp

black mustard seeds 1⁄2 tbsp

cloves 6

star anise 2

sunflower oil 2 tbsp or other neutral-flavoured oil

ground turmeric ½ tsp

sea salt 1 tsp

coconut milk 400ml

tamarind paste 2 tsp

curry leaves a small handful

tomatoes 12 medium-sized

fresh green peppercorns 2 branches

sugar 1-2 tsp, depending on the sweetness of the tomatoes

coriander 6-7 healthy sprigs, leaves chopped

For the lemon pilau rice

butter 40g, plus an extra small knob

onion 1 small, finely chopped

basmati rice 200g (I always use Tilda and don’t wash it)

water 320ml

bay leaf 1

lemon 1 small, zested in thin strips using a potato peeler, and the juice squeezed into a small jug

salt and freshly ground white pepper

To make the cucumber raita, coarsely grate the cucumber and sprinkle over the salt. Mix well, put into a colander and suspend over a deep bowl. Leave the cucumber to soak and drip for about 30 minutes – or a bit longer, it matters not. Manually squeeze out excess moisture from the cucumber, then place it in a bowl and mix in the yogurt, lemon juice, garlic, chilli and mint. Decant into a serving dish and chill in the fridge for at least 30 minutes before serving.

For the tomato curry, lightly toast the first seven whole spices in a frying pan, until aromatic; take care that they don’t scorch, however.

Heat the oil in a wide, shallow pan and add the whole toasted spices. Fry for a couple of minutes over a moderate heat, then add the turmeric and salt. Pour in the coconut milk and stir in the tamarind and curry leaves. Bring up to a simmer and allow to cook quietly for about 15 minutes. Now, using a stick blender, blitz the mixture for about 30 seconds, just to break up the spices. Remove from the heat and leave to infuse while you skin and core the tomatoes and remove the peppercorns from their branches.

Pass the coconut sauce through a fine sieve and return it to the (washed up) pan. Put the tomatoes into the sauce (removed-core-side down) and sprinkle in the peppercorns. Allow the tomatoes to simmer in the sauce until softened and the sauce has reduced and become a touch thicker; about 15-20 minutes. Finally, taste the sauce to see if it needs a touch of sugar, or more salt, then stir in the chopped coriander leaves and serve forthwith.

To make the rice, preheat the oven to 180C/gas mark 4. Melt the butter in a roomy ovenproof pot that also has a tight-fitting lid. Add the onion and cook gently until lightly coloured. Tip in the rice and stir around a bit in the butter and onion until well coated. Pour in the water, add the bay and slowly bring up to a simmer. Meanwhile, finely cut the strips of lemon zest into small slivers and pop in the pot, together with a little salt and pepper.

Once the rice is simmering, put on the lid and slide into the oven. Cook for 15 minutes. Remove from the oven, don’t lift off the lid, and leave to sit for 5 minutes. Now take off the lid, and fluff up the rice with a fork while also pouring in the lemon juice. Lay a tea towel over the pan and then clamp the lid on tight. Leave be for another 5 minutes; this allows the rice to steam, which will then be absorbed by the towel. Finally, remove the lid and towel – wonderful fragrance emanating – and stir in the knob of butter to glisten the rice.

From Simon Hopkinson Cooks by Simon Hopkinson (Ebury, £25)

Jacob Kenedy’s insalata tricolore

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Jacob Kenedy’s insalata tricolore. Photograph: Martin Poole/The Observer

The tricolore – green, white and red – is Italy. The colours apparently originate from Milan (red and white the city colours, green the colour of the city guard). Today the colours have a different symbology (green for the land or for hope; white for the alps or for faith; red for blood spilt in Italy’s making or for charity) but they are best expressed, as most things are in Italy, in the food. Insalata caprese (mozzarella, basil and tomato) from Capri is a kind – the best kind – of insalata tricolore (any salad of green, white and red can bear that name). It is so simple as not really to be a recipe but an assemblage. But for it to shine, you ought to invest care in sourcing the ingredients. Amazing buffalo mozzarella is not easy to buy unless you are in Campania or southern Lazio, or maybe Puglia, but try your best. Most importantly, buy buffalo milk mozzarella, as fresh as possible. Mozzarella should really be eaten the day it was made or the day after, when the fibres of the cheese are firm and even squeaky, and the milky liquid between them vibrantly fresh and aromatic. If you can, buy a big one for all to share – a 250g ball for two, or a 1kg monster for eight to 10 people.

Tomatoes with a bit of a bite are nicest for this, and they should be very fragrant – the tomato should smell as green and cut-grassy as the stalk. Buy Italian basil if you can find it. Wash it but don’t pick the leaves from the stalks, or bruise them. And you’ll need some great, verdant, aromatic Italian olive oil. Don’t buy too much – it’s best consumed within weeks of opening the bottle.

Per person

ripe tomatoes 125g

salt a pinch

buffalo mozzarella 125g

extra virgin olive oil 20ml

basil 1 sprig

bread to serve

Slice the tomatoes, arrange on a plate, and give a generous pinch of salt. Put the whole mozzarella, uncut, on the plate too and douse both with the oil. Put the whole sprig of basil somewhere on the arrangement that looks nice. Eat it with a crust of bread to mop up the milky, oily, tomatoey juices.

Jacob Kenedy is chef-patron of Bocca di Lupo, London

Fabrizia Lanza’s spaghetti picchio pacchio

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Fabrizia Lanza’s spaghetti picchio pacchio. Photograph: Martin Poole/The Observer

The main difficulty with this recipe is finding really good tomatoes and some excellent spaghetti. You need to have a pasta that “traps” the tomato juices. I recommend some very ripe San Marzano or Roma and the best spaghetti you can afford (Savoria or Di Cecco are available in most supermarkets). Many recipes call for gently sautéing the ingredients, but I think the heat of the pasta and stirring all the ingredients together is enough.

Serves 4

ripe tomatoes 4 large

garlic 1 large clove

basil 1 bunch

olive oil

salt and black pepper

spaghetti 400g

Peel the tomatoes. A good way to do this is to boil a pan of water and then blanch the tomatoes for 30 seconds in the boiling water. If you want to deseed the tomatoes do so, and chop them into large chunks. (If you think the tomatoes are too juicy, or taste a bit watery, you might want to put them in a colander, sprinkle with salt and leave for a few minutes to drain and get rid of excess liquid and intensify flavours. Reserve the drained liquid for dressings, or to add later if needed.)

Put the chopped tomatoes in a bowl. Peel the garlic and chop it into 4 pieces. Roughly chop the basil leaves. Add the garlic and basil to the tomatoes and season with abundant olive oil.

In a pan, cook the pasta in boiling salted water, drain the pasta when it is al dente and pour the pasta on the seasoning. Mix thoroughly and serve with some freshly ground black pepper.

Fabrizia Lanza is the owner of the Anna Tasca Lanza Cooking School in Sicily

River Cafe’s pappa al pomodoro

Facebook Twitter Pinterest River Cafe’s pappa al pomodoro. Photograph: Unknown

This convinced Ruth Rogers that the only food she wanted to cook was Italian. She was introduced to this recipe when she overheard, through a kitchen window, two sisters having a vehement argument about whether or not to add water to the tomatoes in a pappa al pomodoro. The sister who said “no” won the argument, but Ruthie then spotted the other one adding water when no one was looking.

Serves 10

ripe, sweet plum tomatoes 4kg

garlic 4 cloves, peeled and cut into slivers

olive oil 175ml

sea salt and black pepper

water 600ml

stale sourdough loaf 1

fresh basil leaves a large bunch

extra virgin olive oil

Skin and seed the tomatoes, then chop them.

Put the garlic and olive oil into a saucepan and cook gently for a few minutes. Just before the garlic turns brown, add the tomatoes. Simmer for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the tomatoes become concentrated. Season with sea salt and black pepper. Add 600ml water and bring to the boil.

Cut most of the crust off the bread, then break or cut into large chunks. Put the bread into the tomato mixture and stir until the bread absorbs the liquid, adding more boiling water if the soup is too thick. Remove from the heat and allow to cool slightly.

If the basil leaves are large, tear into pieces. Stir the basil into the soup with 120-175ml extra virgin olive oil. Let sit to allow the bread to absorb the flavour of the basil and oil. Add more extra virgin olive oil to each bowl when serving.

From River Cafe 30 (Ebury Press, £30)