“Montanara”, no doubt, is the queen of “fried food Made in Naples”, because in Naples “street food” is the norm. It’s a dish with an incredible and unmistakable taste, which dates all the way back to antiquity. Its name, quite unusual for a beach town, comes from the custom of eating bread with tomato sauce, basil and cheese of the farmer from the heights, the “montanari”.

Also called “pizza ad oggi o ad otto”, is a typical dish of our Neapolitan tradition; once it was the classic fried pizza that one could eat and pay after eight days, as it was a sort of “pizza on credit”. The history of this deliciousness started in Naples during the difficult post-war years, when pizza makers’ wifes, to provide an economic support, set up temporary coal fired kitchens outside their houses (the well- known “bassi”), where they fried pizza dough balls filled only with tomato or ricotta and cicoli in big boilers filled with lard; this way the poor could eat and pay after eight days.

Today it is clear that this product is still traditional, loved by both young and old and that nobody wants to give it up. So let yourself be tempted by this appetizing dish? Come to taste my Montanara!

INGREDIENTS

• 1 lt of water
• 1.5 kg of 00 flour
• 50 gr of salt
• 1 g of brewer’s yeast

PREPARATION

1. Shape with the hands the dough balls (not too large).
2. Fry in boiling oil until it becomes bright gold.
3. Remove the excess of oil and pour a lot of ragu, provola and parmesan.
4. Place it on a pizza peel and melt provola in the wood- fire oven
5. Garnish with a leaf of fresh basil