Shimmering hair, tattooed arms and a Tuscan accent now, Gennaro Battiloro, "Best Chef Pizzaiolo" according to the Guida Identità Golose 2019, looks at the future but without forgetting the flavours of his childhood, those of the food made by his grandmother Rita and his relatives - cooks, fishermen and pizzaioli. So at the congress his sample of memory – given by the pasta cresciuta with seaweeds that you would once find in Naple’s friggitorie – is in fact a trip “back to the future”:

«It’s like a deja-vu, going back to the emotions of the past, so as to guide tradition into the future. Indeed, pizza is a product of the future».

So at the congress he presented Rita, a pizza inspired by those flavours. The soft dough, with a large edge – the result of a long leavening and of a rolling out based on personal sensitivity – but cooked longer than the Neapolitan pizza, so it’s drier and crispier. On top, Gennaro puts a rosy cream of sweet and sour onions from Tropea.

After the baking, he adds a mousse of chickpeas, crispy wafers of rice with seaweeds (the rice is overcooked, blended, dried and fried), and raw scarola, to add freshness and crispiness. He serves this, just like at his restaurant – whosepay off  is "Fuochi+Spiriti+Lieviti" –, with a Golden Mary cocktail prepared by bartender Giuseppe Roglieri with yellow tomatoes from Vesuvius and basil reduction, so as to stress the oro, the gold of the establishment. Which is not just a celebration of his name, but of the «power of the earth, of wheat, and sun».


Luciana Squadrilli
source: https://www.identitagolose.it/news/?id=171

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