The Dish: little Italy

In Italy you will often see tagliata di manzo on the menu in restaurants and trattorias. Literally “ribbons of beef”, it’s a traditional way of serving a steak without resorting to throwing a slab of meat on a plate. It also makes a steak feel more like a salad and, dare I say it, a little more virtuous.

The aubergine chip dish has been a favourite on the menu at Spuntino since day one. It’s a dish of contrasts. The hot eggplant chips versus the cool yoghurt. The crunchy sesame coating versus the soft centre. The smoky flavour of eggplant versus the aniseed tang of the fennel.

At Spuntino, we don’t even try to emulate the pizzas of New York City. Ours are diminutive pizzette: about 20cm in diameter and much more manageable as part of a small-plate feast.

The following recipes are from the restaurant’s new cookbook. Enjoy.

Butternut, rainbow chard and taleggio

The beautiful colours in rainbow chard always cheer me up. Combining it with butternut squash and taleggio makes for a compelling ensemble of warm, earthy flavours, and results in a dish that is so visually striking it wouldn’t be out of place in an art gallery.

Serves: 4

1 small butternut squash
Small handful of sage leaves
2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
Extra-virgin olive oil
1 bunch of rainbow chard, about 200g, thoroughly washed
200g taleggio, thinly sliced

1. Heat the oven to 200C. Cut the butternut in half lengthways, scoop out the seeds, then cut the flesh into small-to-medium-sized “chips”. Place in a large bowl with the sage leaves, one of the chopped garlic cloves, a few good pinches of salt, a twist of black pepper and 2 tbsp olive oil.

2. Turn everything over a few times with your hands to coat the butternut thoroughly, then transfer to a baking tray and put the tray in the oven. After 10 minutes, turn the pieces of butternut over and cook for a further 10 minutes.

3. Meanwhile, prepare the rainbow chard. Place a pan of salted water over a high heat and bring to the boil. Separate the leaves and stems, then cut the stems diagonally into bite-sized strips. Cut the leaves into quarters.

4. Once the water has come to the boil, add the stems and cook for 1 minute, then add the leaves and boil for another 30 seconds. Remove from the water and squeeze out the excess liquid. Place in a large mixing bowl and add a few glugs of olive oil, a pinch of sea salt and pepper and the remaining chopped garlic clove. Turn several times to coat the chard well.

5. Once the butternut comes out of the oven, place the chard on top and then the slices of taleggio. Return to the oven for two minutes so that the cheese has just started to melt.

6. Carefully transfer to serving plates. This lovely, warm salad is best eaten immediately.

Basic pizza or pizzetta dough

As well as being perfect for 10 or so pizzetta bases, this bread dough makes a very decent loaf. Just prove the dough for a second time in a loaf tin before baking for 20 minutes.

Makes: about 10 pizzette bases

15g fresh yeast (or 1 x 7g sachet fast-action yeast)
300ml tepid water
500g strong white flour — Italian 00 is best — plus extra for dusting
2 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil

1. With a whisk or a fork, vigorously combine the fresh yeast and warm water, and set aside for 5 minutes. I like to see a little froth on the surface.

2. Mix the flour and 2 tsp of fine salt in a large mixing bowl with the olive oil and yeasty water. (If using dried yeast, mix the flour, salt and yeast together in a large bowl, then add the water and olive oil.) Stir with a wooden spoon or get your hands dirty to form the mixture into a dough.

3. Once the dough has formed and is nicely sticky, but still rolls into a ball, transfer to a lightly floured surface. Knead the dough by pushing it backwards and forwards simultaneously so you are stretching it and then bullying it back down into a ball. Repeat this, giving the dough a good working over. After 10 minutes of kneading, push the dough back into a ball, flour the top, put back in the cleaned bowl and cover with oiled clingfilm. Leave to rise in a warm place.

4. When the ball of dough has doubled in size, usually after about an hour, it is ready. Separate into 10 even-sized pieces, then, on a very lightly floured surface, roll into rough, thin 20cm discs. Place on a work surface for 15 minutes to rest briefly. If you want to use the dough later, place the small balls of dough on a tray, cover with a damp cloth or oiled clingfilm and leave in the fridge. They’ll be good for up to 24 hours. Just remember to take them out half an hour before you want to use them.

Purple-sprouting broccoli and spicy sausage pizzetta

Spicy sausage with broccoli is such a winning combination I often mix them together with fusilli pasta twists as an easy supper for my children. Here, on a pizzetta, it is better to use the small, long florets of sprouting broccoli, and it’s worth sourcing very good spicy sausages from a delicatessen.

Makes: one pizzetta (multiply by 10 to make 10 pizzette)

2 small, spicy Italian sausages
Extra-virgin olive oil
85g purple-sprouting broccoli
1 clove of garlic, finely chopped
¼ tsp chilli flakes
50g grated block mozzarella — the hard, cheap kind
1 pizzetta base
1 tbsp grated parmesan

1. Heat the oven to 180C. Don’t prick the sausages, place them in a roasting tin, coat with a little olive oil and give them a shake. Cook in the oven for 15 minutes. Remove and allow to cool.

2. Place a pan of salted water over a high heat. Meanwhile, trim the root ends off the broccoli; cut into smaller pieces if too long. Once the water is boiling, cook the broccoli until just tender (about 6 minutes), and drain well. Gently soften the garlic in a frying pan with a glug of olive oil. Dress the broccoli with the garlic and oil, chilli flakes, a pinch of sea salt and a little black pepper. Set aside.

3. Turn the oven up to full whack (240-250C or above). At the same time, put a pizza stone or baking sheet in the oven to heat up.

4. The sausages will be cool enough to handle now, so slice them into bite-sized pieces. Scatter the mozzarella over the pizzetta base, then distribute the broccoli and chopped sausage on top. Sprinkle with the parmesan.

5. Cook on the pizza stone in your heated oven for 6-10 minutes (depending on how hot your oven can go) or until the edges start to blister.

Ribbon steak, chicory and anchovy

The anchovy dressing is a robust companion, but the result, with the addition of bitter, crunchy chicory, is a dish you might describe, with your tongue firmly in cheek, as turf, earth and surf.

Serves: 4

For the steak

1 head of chicory
1 shallot
70g rocket, washed
250g sirloin steak, trimmed of excess fat
Extra-virgin olive oil
20ml red wine vinegar

For the anchovy dressing

1 small egg yolk
2 tsp Dijon mustard
1 generous tbsp ofred-wine vinegar
30g brown anchovies, drained of oil (reserve the oil for later)
½ garlic clove, finely chopped
Tabasco sauce
150ml sunflower oil
2 tsp lemon juice

1. Cut the chicory in half lengthways, and using the tip of a sharp knife, remove the core. Slice it at an angle into bite-sized pieces. Cut the shallot in half, remove the skin and slice thinly. Place these ingredients in a large mixing bowl with the washed rocket. Set aside.

2. To make the dressing, place the egg yolk, mustard, vinegar, anchovies and garlic into a bowl or food processor. Add a few dashes of Tabasco and a good pinch each of sea salt and pepper. Blend to combine with a stick blender or food processor.

3. Now, with the motor still running, slowly drizzle in the leftover anchovy oil, then the sunflower oil, and finally 2 tsp water and lemon juice.

4. Slice the steak into thin ribbons, place in a bowl, season with salt and pepper and toss with a little olive oil. Heat a griddle pan until hot and cook the steak ribbons for one minute on each side, depending on thickness, or until browned and scorched with griddle marks.

5. Add the red-wine vinegar — this will produce a hearty hiss and a cloud of steam. Remove the meat from the heat and set aside to rest while you dress the salad with 6 tbsp of the dressing.

6. Pour the dressing over the prepared leaves, and toss several times until everything is thoroughly coated. Divide between warm plates and top with the warm ribbons of beef.

Aubergine chips with fennel yoghurt

You can have fun with the presentation of this dish by using a shot glass for the fennel yoghurt, then stacking the chips around or to the side.

Serves: 6-8

For the aubergine chips

2 tsp coriander seeds
2 tsp fennel seeds
2 aubergines
100g plain flour
½ tsp black pepper
3-4 medium eggs
150g panko breadcrumbs
2 tsp sesame seeds
1 litre vegetable oil, for deep frying

For the fennel yoghurt

1 tsp coriander seeds
1 tsp fennel seeds
125g mayonnaise
200g plain Greek-style yoghurt
1 tsp lemon juice
Pinch of black pepper

1. First of all, toast the coriander and fennel seeds for both the aubergine and the yoghurt. Put them all — 3 tsp of each — in a nonstick frying pan and dry-fry over a medium heat for a few minutes, until you can smell their spiciness. Do keep an eye on them, as they can burn easily. Remove from the heat, then grind in a pestle and mortar.

2. To make the fennel yoghurt, take 2 tsp of the ground seeds and combine with the rest of the fennel yoghurt ingredients and a large pinch of flaky sea salt. Put it in the fridge.

3. Cut the aubergine into thick 10cm-long chips.

4. Now take three bowls. Mix the flour and 1 tsp of fine salt and pepper in the first. In the second, beat the eggs. Mix together the breadcrumbs, the remaining ground coriander and fennel seeds and the sesame seeds in the third bowl. Dip the aubergine chips in the flour, shake off any excess, then place in the egg wash, shaking off any drips, then coat well with the breadcrumbs. Set aside at room temperature, if not cooking straightaway.

5. Heat the vegetable oil in a pan to 190C (or until a cube of bread dropped in the oil turns golden brown in less than a minute).

6. Fry the coated aubergine chips in batches, for 2-3 minutes or until golden brown. Lift out, drain on kitchen paper and sprinkle with a little salt. Serve hot with the chilled fennel yoghurt.

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Spuntino, by Russell Norman (Bloomsbury £25) is available at the ST price of £22.50 inc. p&p. Tel: 0845 271 2135 or visit thesundaytimes.co.uk/bookshop