In hot water

To Try Giorgio Locatelli's cooking you could make a reservation for , say, late July. But there is another way to learn the secret of everyones favourite Italian chef

Everyone is after a taste of Giorgio Locatelli, from Madonna and Guy to Tony and Cherie. The restaurant he opened in February, Locanda Locatelli, immediately became London's hottest table and booked up for months. And there's no secret why – he cooks the best Italian food there is. But with only 84 seats in the dining-room and only so many hours in the day, only so many of us can experience it. Until now that is.

Even before the inevitable Locatelli: The TV Series (this summer) and Locatelli: The Book (just a little later this summer), I was allowed to enjoy a masterclass with the man himself. So I came here to Locanda Locatelli (tel: 020 7935 9088) to see if we can recreate Locatelli's magic at home.

Locatelli has typically Italian passion for earthy, committed flavours. "I've always said Italian food has the heart, it has the palate, but it lacks technique," he says. But in his hands, dishes are raised to a new level of sophistication and refinement. Pasta, the most basic of foods, becomes a gourmet treat, so I'm delighted that Locatelli wants to teach me to make one of his special varieties: chitarra. And he makes it so quickly that I'm eating it, with a sauce, less than 30 minutes after he mixes the flour and water.

Chitarra is a lesser-known country favourite (Safeway has just introduced it into its new Italian range and Loyd Grossman puts his name to one). It looks like spaghetti but the edges are squared, so sauce clings to it better than spaghetti. But before Locatelli starts cooking, I have a chance to preview some of his new dishes, works in progress.

Locatelli never strays far from his roots in northern Italy. His philosophy, he says, is to build up layers of flavour and texture, an example being Caesar salad, with the crunch of lettuce heart and croutons contrasting with the silky smoothness of egg yolk and olive oil and the keen saltiness of anchovy and Parmesan.

A roast onion salad is one of his own recent inventions. He roasts red onions for an hour at 170C, cuts them horizontally and opens them up to make cups. He fills these with lightly boiled green beans (European, not the tasteless Kenyan ones), and dresses them with vinegar and Tuscan olive oil (Frantoio de Giannino). He serves them cold, sprinkled with finely chopped shallots and Parmesan.

More hearty is his new-season lamb with hazelnut crust. Locatelli has just been sent 50kg of roasted Italian hazelnuts – big and crunchy. He'll flour the cutlets, dip them in egg yolk, then in breadcrumbs and the finely crushed nuts, with a few more coarsely chop-ped, before frying in very hot oil, crisping the outside but leaving the inside rare.

Then there's fresh mackerel wrapped in pancetta (cured belly of pork). Newly caught mackerel hasn't had time to develop its heavy oily taste. "I ate some raw at Nobu," Locatelli says. "It's delicious fresh. In Italy mackerel is usually fried in breadcrumbs, but when I tried it here it fell apart. So I had the idea of wrapping it in paper-thin slices of pancetta. You fry it just long enough for the fat to run off." Ravioli stuffed with borage leaves is another recent invention, the stuffing green and glutinous, contrasting with the chewy white pasta.

But we must get on. His staff have cleared a corner in the bakery section of the kitchen. I've made pasta before, but this chitarra is something else. Try the recipe (right). Locatelli uses a mixer but you don't have to – a wooden spoon is fine, he says. He also has a chitarra (Italian for guitar) – a frame, closely strung with nylon threads, that gives its name to the pasta. You lay a thin sheet of pasta dough on top and push it through with a rolling pin. Again, you don't need it – a sharp knife will do. But the first time I tried it at home, I cut the pasta too thick – remember, it swells up.

Use home-made stock, tomatoes on the vine and good passata (he uses the Cirio brand). Pasta flour (strong and fine) is available from Sainsbury's and Italian delis. Olive oil: light Ligurian for cooking, peppery Tuscan (again, Frantoio de Giannino) to finish. Locatelli admits it would be better to rest the dough for 30 minutes. He didn't wait. But then, when it all comes this naturally, who needs rules?

Chitarra with tuna balls Serves 4

For the pasta

500g/18oz Italian pasta flour

Generous pinch salt

Generous pinch saffron threads

For the sauce

300g/10oz trimmings from fresh tuna

2 tablespoons light olive oil

2 cloves of garlic, very thinly sliced

3 vine tomatoes

2 tablespoons dry white wine

Salt and freshly ground pepper

2 tablespoons passata (tomato purée)

2 tablespoons chicken or veal stock

Parsley

Splash of peppery Tuscan olive oil

In a jug or pan, crush saffron threads with the back of a spoon and cover with 250ml (1/2 pint) boiling water. Leave to infuse and cool. Put flour and salt in mixer and, when saffron water is hand-warm, add it and blend on slow speed until it's a soft dough. Remove to pastry board. Dust with flour, roll out and knead towards you (as you do for bread) to develop a smooth, firm dough. Rest for 30 minutes.

Cut dough into two or three. Roll each piece, doubling over, until slightly elastic. Roll out as thin as possible (it will swell in the cooking). Dust with more flour and, using your longest knife, cut into fine strips and toss in more flour. Cover with cloth and put aside.

For the sauce, drop the tomatoes into boiling water, remove and skin. Cut vertically into segments, remove seeds. Trim flesh into ovals. Reserve on kitchen paper. Finely chop tuna. Use a melon-baller (or teaspoon) to shape into small balls. Add oil to frying pan and place over medium heat. Gently cook garlic without colouring, then fry the tuna balls (allowing about eight per person) making sure they don't stick. Pour in white wine and cook until it sizzles. Stir in passata. When mixed, add stock. Season generously. Simmer for a minute, then add a little boiling water. Sprinkle with torn parsley.

Boil pasta in salted water for one minute, (it will float to surface). Drain. Splash with olive oil, add to pan of sauce, sprinkle with parsley, and serve.