Scamorza alla Pizzaiola
This is a dish that Marco’s grandfather, Nonno Mario, would make for himself when he came home late from work on the train from Florence and had missed lunch completely. Mario never had a name for it, it was just a happy coincidence of delicious things brought together in a pan for a quick meal, but I found that many families had something similar in their household with various names (and cheeses, usually mozzarella): pizza pazza or ‘crazy pizza’, pizza povera or ‘poor pizza’, mozzarella al padellino or ‘mozzarella in a pan’ and alla pizzaiola – ‘pizza style’.
If you don’t have scamorza – a wonderful, pear-shaped cheese, which comes in smoked or milder dolce varieties and has a firm consistency that is excellent for melting – you can use provolone,
caciocavallo, or fresh fior di latte or buffalo mozzarella – really, any other good melting cheese that you have to hand. Note that mozzarella is sweeter and milder than the other full-flavoured cheeses mentioned, so do keep this in mind when seasoning the sauce.
Ingredients 6
2 ‒ 3 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil, plus extra for drizzling
1 garlic clove, peeled, left whole
500 g tomato passata, puréed tomatoes
300 g scamorza, about 2 fist-sized balls, cut into 1 cm (1⁄2 in) thick slices
fresh basil, whole leaves, for serving
4 slices crusty bread, good, toasted
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Method 6
Heat the in a wide, deep pan over a low heat, add the , peeled and left whole, and gently sizzle. Be careful it doesn’t burn; you simply want to infuse the oil with the garlic for a minute or two, or until you can detect the fragrance of garlic wafting up from the pan.
Pour in the and season with salt and pepper. Add a splash of water if needed (if you’re using fresh mozzarella instead of , the cheese will release plenty of liquid so you may not need the extra water and, instead, you may want to reduce the sauce a little more than what follows).
Let the sauce simmer rapidly over a medium heat for about 10 minutes, or until thickened and reduced slightly. Taste for seasoning.
Cut the into 1 cm (1⁄2 in) thick slices and lay them over the sauce in a single layer, if possible. Without touching the pan’s contents, continue simmering for a further 5 minutes or until the cheese is perfectly melted (if you find the sauce is reducing more than you would like but the cheese is not yet melted to perfection, take the pan off the heat and let it sit, covered, for about 5 minutes).
Give the cheese one quick stir to distribute evenly through the sauce – this is the way it has always been done in our household, but some may prefer to leave the cheese slices ‘whole’ and relatively separate from the sauce.
Serve with whole basil leaves on top and either pour the sauce over the toasted or serve the dish in a shallow bowl with bread on the side to dip into the sauce. More ground pepper and an extra drizzle of are optional but much loved in our family.
Emiko Davies' tips
If you don’t have scamorza – a wonderful, pear-shaped cheese, which comes in smoked or milder dolce varieties and has a firm consistency that is excellent for melting – you can use provolone, caciocavallo, or fresh fior di latte or buffalo mozzarella – really, any other good melting cheese that you have to hand.
Note that mozzarella is sweeter and milder than the other full-flavoured cheeses mentioned, so do keep this in mind when seasoning the sauce.
