Chicory, salame & stracciatella pizza recipe

Ingredients (Makes a 30 cm pizza)

Stracciatella is a mixture of fine mozzarella strands mixed with cream. It can be used by itself 
and is featured as the filling in the extraordinary burrata cheese, originating in Puglia. Chicory is native to the Mediterranean region and is widely used, raw and cooked, in various dishes. It is bitter, but cooking the green leaves removes much of the bitterness.

Chicory

• 1 tbsp salt 
• 500 g chicory leaves
• 1 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 garlic clove, lightly crushed
• Sea salt

Confit tomatoes

• 1 kg ripe date, cherry or any small tomatoes
• 6 garlic cloves, halved
• 3-4 sprigs of fresh thyme or any other herbs
• Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 150 ml extra virgin olive oil

To assemble

• 250 g ball of basic pizza dough, shaped
• 100 g fior di latte mozzarella
• 6 slices of good-quality Italian salame, sliced and cut into ‘straws’
• 1 tbsp grated parmesan cheese 
• 4 tbsp stracciatella cheese 
• A handful of confit tomatoes
• 1 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
• A couple of pinches of freshly ground 
black pepper

Method

To make the chicory, bring 5 litres (20 cups) of water to the boil in a pot with a tablespoon of salt added. Plunge in the chicory and submerge with a wooden spoon. After the water returns to the boil, cook the chicory for 3 to 4 minutes. Drain and let the leaves cool to room temperature. Squeeze as much water out of the leaves as possible. Place the chicory leaves on a board and roughly chop, then put in a bowl and add the olive oil, garlic clove and a little salt. Mix thoroughly. Any leftover chicory can be kept in the refrigerator for up to a week. 
Place a large tile in your oven for the pizza, then turn the oven up to preheat to full heat (without using any fan-forced function) for at least 20 minutes. Thinly slice the mozzarella and scatter evenly, here and there, to top the shaped pizza base, leaving the edges clear to about 
3 to 4 centimetres. Arrange the salame ‘straws’ on top and sprinkle over the grated parmesan. Place the pizza in the oven for 3 to 5 minutes until cooked, turning to get an even colour. Once out of the oven, arrange the chopped chicory over the pizza. Dollop the stracciatella on top and distribute the confit tomatoes over the lot. Drizzle with olive oil and add the pepper.

CONFIT TOMATOES
Preheat the oven to 140°C. Cut the tomatoes in half, top to bottom. Place in an oven dish so that the tomatoes fill the bottom of the dish in one layer. Add the garlic and thyme. Season with three to four good pinches of salt and three to four turns of freshly ground pepper. Add the olive oil and mix everything carefully with a spoon. Place in the oven for 30 to 40 minutes. The tomatoes are ready when they’re soft but not falling apart. Any extra tomatoes can be cooled and stored in the refrigerator, in a covered container, with all their cooking juices, for up to 10 days.