2016 dish by dish (8)

Patrick Ricci, Pomodoro & Basilico, San Mauro Torinese (Torino)

Emotions - Foie gras with 100% criollo chocolate, fig chutney and coffee mousse. Subtitle, love in a bite. The bitter and sweet note lingers in the palate, it’s like the feeling you have when you are in love, but it’s a sad moment, like after a fight or if you’re not loved back – photo by Luca Appiotti

Simone Lombardi, Dry, Milano

Pizza eel en papillote, turnip tops and smoked provola cheese – A dish with a dominating smoky note due to the cooking of the eel in a wood oven. The turnip tops are enhanced: sapidity, fattiness and a slightly bitter touch

Leonardo Giannico, Taverna Gourmet, Milano

Pizza octopus and turnip tops, with a squid ink dough – With a cream of broccoli from Calabria, turnip tops and grilled octopus, all paired with a small glass of octopus water, lime and black pepper, to rinse your mouth and match the pizza

Antonio Pappalardo, La Cascina dei Sapori, Rezzato (Brescia)

Tasting pizza with squid tagliatelle, persimmon, macadamia nuts and passion fruit – We presented a preview at a charity event we organised in support of the PInAC foundation and it was very appreciated. I created it with my second Matteo Attianese, because we noticed that we had previously presented squid on some pizzas but always with little success. So changing the shape of the squid (it is first vacuum cooked, then sliced with a slicer, in the shape of tagliatelle) I noticed it was much appreciated

Denis Lovatel, Da Ezio, Alano di Piave (Belluno)

In-fusions – This pizza launches a project I hold very dear, the creation of 12 signature pizzas created together with as many important chefs. We will present one each month, here at Da Ezio. This month we start with a pizza created with Francesco Brutto of Undicesimo Vineria, recently awarded as Best Emerging Chef in the Northeast. Together, we created a white pizza with fiordilatte, roasted Jerusalem artichokes, black cabbage chips, black cabbage juice, walnuts and Pu'er infusion, a special post-fermented Chinese tea from the Yunnan region – the older it is, the better. On the pizza we use a Pu'er from 1998 with notes of walnut, cellar, earth and bark. In general, it is a pizza playing on harmony rather than contrasts, with flavours recalling each other

Alberto Morello, Gigi Pipa, Este (Padova)

January in the vegetable garden – Of course the vegetables come from our own vegetable garden (green broccoli, fennel with dill, caramelised onion, mousse of spinach and parmesan, chips of fiolaro broccoli)

Ruggero Ravagnan, Grigoris, Mestre (Venezia)

Cavolo che sarda! [What a sardine!] - Fiordilatte, black cabbage, roasted sardine, fresh chilli pepper, crispy bread with Petra9 flour, wild fennel

Simone Padoan, I Tigli, San Bonifacio (Verona)

Pizza radishes and salami paste – In my opinion it is the perfect representation of my childhood memories in a modern dish, capable of making the traditional flavours that are typical of this season, current

Renato Bosco, Saporè, San Martino Buon Albergo (Verona)

Smoked air – Air of bread, steam cooked with smoked herrings and a hot cream of broccoletti from Custoza. Traditions and customs from Verona’s cuisine are presented in a current way in a dish you’ll find at Saporè during Lent. In many villages near Verona we celebrate with herrings (a poor fish) on the occasion of Ash Wednesday. Sacred and profane mix together

Matto Aloe, Berberè, Bologna (anche Castelmaggiore e Firenze)

Pizza 'nduja from Spilinga, tomato, caciocavallo cheese. A pizza that has found a place in the menu of Berberè regardless of the season. A hot, strong and welcoming evergreen: a pizza from the South

Massimo Gatti, I Due Gatti, Borgo Val di Taro (Parma)

Pizza Don Camillo. It’s one of the pizzas that will be part of the menu at the new Pizza di Parma pizzeria al taglio, in a very central location in Parma (to be opened by March) which we’ll present throughout the year every month, playing with the ingredients coming outside our territory in an exciting way. It is inspired by the excursions and places of Guareschi’s character: cooked shoulder from San Secondo, cream of Parmigiano-Reggiano (the element uniting the two provinces) and baby onions from Boretto (it’s a village near Brescello, where the story of Don Camillo unfolded) cooked in Fortana, a typical wine from the area of Parma and Reggio

Gabriele Bonci, Pizzarium, Roma

Pizza carbonara with artichokes. A focaccia with sweet onions, with some scrambled eggs on top, pork jowl and pecorino. It is garnished with some artichokes, prepared “alla giudia” and “alla romana”. I dedicated it to all the people who come every day from all over the world to taste my pizza. It’s a mouthful of concentrated Roman essence

Stefano Callegari, Sforno, Roma

Bruschetta culo e camicia. A slice of toasted bread with a veil of Occelli butter, a poached egg from Parisi and a slice of culatello from Spigaroli on top. I’ll present it at Sbanco, my new restaurant, to be opened in March 2016

Franco Pepe, Pepe in Grani, Caiazzo (Caserta)

Pizza Bucolica. The inspiration was given by an ancient farmers’ recipe. I add the strong flavour of smoked scamorza and the crispy note of radicchio to pumpkins and beans

Ciro Salvo, 50 Kalò, Napoli

50 Kalò (Margherita with endive). Ingredients: fresh date tomatoes, steamed endive, fiordilatte from Agerola, black taggiasche olives, capers from Salina produced by organic farm Salvatore D'Amico, extra virgin olive oil Pod Colline Salernitane

Enzo Coccia, La Notizia 94, Napoli

Pizza Guardia Costiera. This pizza was born as a way to support the men and women in the coast guard who every year save thousands of lives (of refugees). It has buffalo milk mozzarella, thinly sliced smoked tuna, chives, oil aromatised with lemon, oregano and basil. Suggested pairing: Champagne Jacquesson 738

Gino Sorbillo, Sorbillo, Napoli e Milano

La pizza dell'Alleanza Slow Food. The meeting of 3 different Slow Food Presidia from Campania on the classic Neapolitan traditional pizza: San Marzano Tomato Pod, Red Sausage from Castelpoto and Cacioricotta from goats from Cilento. A dough of whole-wheat organic flour and 0 organic flour, fiordilatte from Il Casolare di Alvignano; organic extra virgin olive oil from Terre Francescane. Cooked in a wood oven

Francesco e Salvatore Salvo, Salvo Pizzaioli, San Giorgio a Cremano (Napoli)

Pizza torzelle (cabbave) and smoked sausage. Torzelle from Vesuvius with sausage made from black pigs from Caserta smoked with oak and chestnut wood, placed on a white base with "cooked buffalo milk". It’s a seasonal pizza: the fact this vegetable is now rare, allows us to present this pizza only for a short period between December and mid January. This is the second year we offer it and it’s already a must

Gianfranco Iervolino, Palazzo Vialdo, Torre del Greco (Napoli)

Murzillo. Originally, it was a Spanish tapa, which at the time served to cover the glass so that insects wouldn’t get into the wine. I interpreted it from the point of view of a pizzajuolo: Nu Murzillo, "a small morsel", it has a totally natural sapidity, without adding any salt. One day when I’ll have a pizzeria, perhaps I’ll only make murzilli

Marzia Buzzanca, Percorsi di Gusto, L'Aquila

Pizza, lamb cheese and eggs. A dish from Abruzzo in the shape of pizza. Instead of the lamb stew, for the topping I made a lamb roll with rosemary, pepper, white wine and lemon as topping so it’s easier to eat. The egg is poured on top, cooked at 80°C with pecorino, black pepper and lemon. Borage flowers to decorate. On top of the mozzarella, in order to give some crispiness, I add puntarelle