Nonna Rosa’s Margherita, at home

Every week someone asks how to make our Margherita at home. The honest answer is that it will never be quite the same without the oven, and that this does not matter very much.

Rosa made pizza on Sundays in a farmhouse oven that never got as hot as ours. What made it good was the dough, left alone for two days, and a sauce that was nothing more than crushed tomatoes and salt.

“Use less than you think. Then a little less again.”

A heavy iron pan and the hottest grill your oven has will get you most of the way. Give the dough time, use less topping than you think, and tear the basil at the very end.