In the humble opinion of Simon Towers – owner and pizza chef behind Il Pirata Pizzata (@ilpiratapizzata) in Saltaire, England (the Victorian model village half an hour west of Leeds) and Powered by Ooni member – pistachios are one of the most versatile ingredients, and we have to agree. They go well in both sweet and savoury dishes, which works perfectly on a pizza with a base of pistachio cream topped with fior di latte mozzarella and pecorino, garnished post-cook with prosciutto crudo, crushed pistachios and lemon zest.

The inspiration behind Simon’s pizza started at award-winning, London-based, Italian chef Marco Fuso’s pizza masterclass where he tried a pizza pistachio with mortadella, a classic Italian combo. As a Brit, though, Simon didn’t care much for the mortadella (it reminded him too much of the lesser-quality British supermarket ham), so he decided to put his own twist on the dish by swapping out the mortadella for the traditionally uncooked aged and salt-cured prosciutto crudo. Simon added lemon zest for a bit of extra zing to cut through the sharp saltiness of the pecorino.

As it was Marco Fuso who introduced Simon to the dish (and Il Pirata Pizzata is is named after his childhood hero, cyclist Marco Pantani), he thought it more than apt to name The Marco after these two Italian greats.