Pizza fritta with sugo, salumi XO and mozzarella

MasterChef contestants often draw on their heritages when creating their masterpieces for the television show. This dish was created by the "turquoise team" in the last series, leaning heavily on Italian traditions to create golden, crispy bites of fried pizza. This Italian street food is perfect for experimenting with any toppings, or even as a bread to serve alongside your favourite dips and antipasti — perfect for the holiday season.

Makes 10

Ingredients

Vegetable oil, for deep-frying

Salt flakes

Pizza fritta

7g sachet instant dried yeast

300ml lukewarm water

500g baker’s flour

2 tsp salt flakes

25ml extra-virgin olive oil

Sugo

1 Tbsp extra-virgin olive oil

1 small red onion, finely chopped

1 garlic clove, finely chopped

1 Tbsp Italian-style chilli oil

4 basil stalks, leaves picked, plus

extra leaves to serve

Salt flakes and freshly ground

black pepper

700g passata

1 tsp caster sugar

Salumi XO

1 small onion, finely diced

3 garlic cloves, roughly chopped

48g can good-quality anchovy fillets

in oil, drained

25ml Italian-style chilli oil

3 prosciutto slices, finely diced

90g bacon, finely diced

65g ’nduja

65ml extra-virgin olive oil

To serve

1 buffalo mozzarella ball

Method

To make the pizza fritta, place the yeast and warm water in a small bowl and allow to sit for 10 minutes.

Combine the flour and salt in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the dough hook.

With the mixer on low speed, add the yeast mixture and the olive oil and knead for 5 minutes. Remove the bowl, cover with a clean tea towel and place somewhere warm (25-30°C) to proof for 1 hour.

Divide the dough into 10 80g portions. Place the portions on a tray, cover with a clean tea towel and set aside for 30-90 minutes to let the dough rise.

Meanwhile, for the sugo, heat the olive oil in a large frying pan over medium heat.

Add the onion, garlic, chilli oil, basil leaves, season with salt and pepper and cook until softened. Add the passata and sugar, reduce the heat to low and simmer for 45-50 minutes until thickened. Adjust the seasoning if necessary.

Using a high-speed blender, blitz all the salumi XO ingredients for 2-3 minutes to form a paste. Place in a frying pan and cook over very low heat for 45-50 minutes until dark and jammy.

When ready to cook the dough, heat the oil to 185°C in a large saucepan.

Using your hands, stretch each ball of dough into a pizza round, about 10 cm in diameter.

Working in batches, gently place the dough in the hot oil and deep-fry for 2 minutes, carefully spooning the oil over the top of the pizza as it cooks to help the dough puff up.

Flip the pizza over and cook for another 2 minutes or until golden brown.

Drain on paper towel and season with salt. Repeat with the remaining dough.

Spread 2 tablespoons sugo on each pizza, top with a torn piece of mozzarella and 1 teaspoon salumi XO. Scatter on the extra basil leaves and serve.