Tim says: “It’s pizza. It’s ramen. I probably don’t need to draw you a diagram to explain how delicious this is. While it may sound unforgivably silly, there is some precedent for it. First, in the many tomato ramen that have been around in Japan for years and, more recently, actual pizza-inspired bowls such as the famous pizza-soba at Ajito Ism in Tokyo.

Serves 2

Ingredients

Broth:

Any chintan (see below)
Mushroom Dashi (see below)

Tare:

Miso (see recipe above)
Stout and Tomato Shōyu (see below)

Noodles:

2 portions Springy-Chewy noodles or shop-bought

Oils:

Olive oil

Toppings:

Grated mozzarella
Grated Parmesan
Pizza soboro (see below)
Crispy pepperoni (see below)
Pickled guindilla peppers (or similar), thinly sliced

Optional toppings:

Garlic pizza crust (see below)
Chilli (hot pepper) flakes
Fresh basil

For the garlic pizza crusts (optional):

90ml (6 tablespoons) lukewarm water
½ teaspoon dry yeast
1 teaspoon olive oil
140g (5 oz) plain (all-purpose) flour, plus extra for dusting
1 teaspoon sugar
¼ teaspoon salt
polenta (cornmeal), for dusting
garlic cloves, as needed
melted unsalted butter, as needed
dried oregano, as needed

For the pizza sauce:

1 onion, finely diced
60ml (4 tablespoons) olive oil
10 garlic cloves, finely chopped
140g (5 oz) tomato purée (paste)
1 tablespoon dried oregano
1.6kg (3 lb 8 oz) tinned tomatoes (peeled whole tomatoes or pulp work best – not chopped)
20 grinds black pepper
50g (1.75 oz) basil, roughly chopped
1 teaspoon sugar
½ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon MSG
30g (1 oz) ketchup

For the pizza soboro:

40g (1.4 oz) pepperoni, sliced
30g (1 oz) green olives, sliced
50g (1.75 oz) tinned mushrooms, sliced
200g (7 oz) Sicilian fennel sausage meat

Method

If making the garlic pizza crusts, whisk together the water, yeast and olive oil until the yeast dissolves. Combine the flour, sugar and salt in a separate bowl, then add the wet mix to the dry mix. Knead for a few minutes, then leave to prove for about an hour, or overnight in the refrigerator.

Using plenty of extra flour and polenta, roll the dough out very thinly. Cook the dough until crisp on the bottom in either a very, very hot oven or in a large, flat frying pan.

Rub with garlic and brush with melted butter. Before serving, re-crisp in the oven and garnish with dried oregano. Cut into squares to serve.

For the sauce, fry the onion in the olive oil over a medium heat until soft and translucent, then add the garlic and continue to cook until the onion browns very lightly. Add the tomato purée and oregano and stir through, then add the tinned tomatoes and black pepper. Simmer for 4 hours, then add the basil, sugar, salt, MSG and ketchup. Blend with an immersion blender, but not too much – it should have some texture rather than being totally smooth.

To make the soboro, fry the pepperoni in a dry frying pan over a medium heat until crisp, then remove from the pan and drain. Add the remaining ingredients and sauté, breaking up the sausage into crumbles, for about 10 minutes until the meat is cooked through and browned all over.

Have all the toppings prepared and kept warm before cooking the noodles. To make the ramen, put 3–4 tablespoons of tare in each bowl, then add 200 ml (6.75 fl oz) broth and 100 ml (3.5 fl oz) pasta sauce and whisk well to combine. Cook and drain the noodles, then tip into the broth and top with the grated cheeses, soboro, pepperoni, pickled peppers and, if you fancy it, a little pinch of chilli and a few torn basil leaves. Finish with a drizzle of good olive oil and serve the pizza crusts on the side.

Note: The sauce recipe makes far more than you’ll need for a few bowls of ramen, but this is by design, because it’s a delicious sauce. Use it for actual pizza (duh) or as a dip for mozzarella sticks!

Vegetable Chintan

Ingredients

1 garlic bulb, halved
250g (8.8 oz) onion, skin on, thinly sliced
1 small fennel bulb (150–200 g/ 5.3–7 oz), thinly sliced
80g (2.8 oz) button mushrooms, quartered
100g (3.5 oz) hispi (pointed) cabbage leaves, roughly chopped
150g (5.3 oz) carrot, cut into 1 cm (1/2 in) chunks
30g (1 oz) fresh ginger root, thinly sliced
15g (0.5 oz) kombu, cut into strips about 2.5 cm (1 in) wide
10g (0.35 oz) dried shiitake mushrooms
2 tablespoons nutritional yeast flakes
≈3 litres (102 fl oz) water
1 tablespoon cornflour (cornstarch)

Method

Preheat the oven to 200°C fan (425°F). Roast all the veg, including the kombu and shiitake, on a foil-lined baking tray for 20 minutes. This is partly to get a little bit of colour on everything, but mostly to cook out any harsh, raw veg flavour. Tip everything into a stock pot along with the yeast flakes and water, then bring to a bare simmer and hold between 85–90°C (185–194°F) for 1 hour 30 minutes.

Pass the broth through a sieve, then let the liquid settle for at least 30 minutes; during this time, any bits of veg that might cloud the broth will settle to the bottom of the container. Slowly pour the liquid back into the (rinsed-out) pot, being careful not to churn up the sediment on the bottom. Leave this sediment behind and discard.

Take a little bit (100 ml-ish/3.5 fl oz) of the broth and stir it together with the cornflour to form a thin slurry, then stir this into the broth and bring to a low boil. Simmer for a few minutes until the mixture thickens. (It won’t be very thick, but you’ll be able to tell it’s more viscous from how the bubbles move through the broth as it simmers.)

Pass through a sieve once again, chill and store.

Mushroom Dashi

Ingredients

50g (1.75 oz) kombu
50g (1.75 oz) dried shiitake mushrooms
25g (0.9 oz) dried porcini or similar wild mushrooms
2.5 litres (85 fl oz) water
1 tablespoon cornflour (cornstarch)

Method

Add everything except the cornflour in a pot, and place a drop-lid (see note) directly on top of the ingredients to keep them submerged in the liquid. Set over a low heat, and slowly bring the water to a bare simmer. Once a few small bubbles appear in the water, switch off the heat and leave to infuse for an hour, then pass through a sieve.

When decanting, leave behind any dregs that have settled on the bottom of the container.

To increase the viscosity of the dashi, take about 100 ml (3.5 fl oz) of the liquid and stir it together with the cornflour to form a thin slurry. Stir this into the dashi and bring to a low boil. Simmer for a few minutes until the mixture thickens. Chill and store.

Note: A drop-lid, or otoshibuta, is simply a lid which is slightly too small for the pan it’s in, so it rests directly on top of the food. Use one here to keep the shiitake mushrooms from floating to the surface and ensure maximum contact with the water.

Stout and Tomato Shōyu Tare

Ingredients

300ml (10 fl oz) shōyu
1 star anise
12g (0.4 oz) (about 2–3) dried shiitake mushrooms
100ml (3.5 fl oz) stout (don’t use anything too bitter or too thin; Guinness Export is a good example of what you’re after)
30g (1 oz) tomato paste (purée)
10g (0.35 oz) kombu

Method

Combine everything except the kombu in a saucepan and slowly bring to a high simmer over a low heat. Simmer for 5 minutes, then remove from the heat. Leave to cool for 10 minutes and then add the kombu. Leave to infuse at room temperature for 2 hours, then pass everything through a sieve, pressing down hard on the solids with the back of a ladle to extract as much liquid as possible

Ramen Forever: 3 alternative ramen recipes for noodle soup lovers to try