Create your own pizza or pasta at Ivano's in Dumfries: how to build it

At Ivano's Italiano, the Italian takeaway at 11 Whitesands in Dumfries, you can build your own pizza from a plain 12-inch base, or your own pasta dish from one of our simple sauces. Every pizza and pasta dish on our menu takes the same add-ons: meats, vegetables, cheeses and seasonings, and seafood too. Here's how it works, with a few combinations to get you started.

Most of our customers find a favourite among the classics and stick with it. Building your own is for when none of them is quite right, or you just like being in charge.

Build your own pizza

We have three plain 12-inch bases, on our Romana-style thin crust, made for adding your own toppings to. They go on sale once our kitchen has checked their allergens:

• Bianca Pizza

  Cheese only, no tomato. Bianca means white, and a white pizza lets the toppings do the talking

• Solo Pomodoro

  Tomato only, no cheese

• BBQ & Mozzarella

  Our BBQ sauce, cooked in a pan with garlic, chilli and pomodoro, with mozzarella

For the classic tomato and mozzarella start, choose a Margherita, in 10-inch or 12-inch. Then add whatever you like. Every pizza on our menu takes the same add-ons:

1. Your cheese

   Ordinary mozzarella, vegan mozzarella, or no cheese at all.

2. Extras

   Extra cheese or extra pomodoro, if you like a lot of either.

3. Meats

   Pepperoni, salsiccia (Italian sausage), sliced chicken fillets, haggis, pancetta, prosciutto cotto (ham), smoked sausage and prosciutto crudo (Parma ham).

4. Seafood

   Tuna, anchovies, mussels and prawns.

5. Vegetables

   Red onions, white onions, roasted mixed peppers, olives, artichokes, capers, jalapeños, sliced cherry tomatoes, sweetcorn and mushrooms.

6. More cheese

   Mozzarella, cheddar, mascarpone, gorgonzola and parmigiano (Parmesan).

7. Seasoning

   Chilli flakes, oregano, thyme, fresh rocket, garlic, garlic oil, infused chilli oil or olive oil.

The add-ons are listed under each section of our menu, with their prices.

Some pizzas to try

These are only ideas, built from the lists above:

• Parma ham and rocket: a Margherita with prosciutto crudo, fresh rocket and parmesan. A classic pairing in Italy.
• White mushroom: the Bianca with mushrooms, gorgonzola and garlic oil.
• Sausage and peppers: a Margherita with salsiccia, roasted peppers, red onion and a little infused chilli oil.
• BBQ chicken, your way: the BBQ & Mozzarella with sliced chicken fillets, red onion and sweetcorn.
• A Scottish one: a Margherita with haggis, red onion and chilli flakes. Our haggis article has more.
• No cheese at all: the Solo Pomodoro with mushrooms, olives, artichokes and oregano. For a vegan pizza, choose one of our four on the menu, or vegan mozzarella on any pizza.

Build your own pasta

There's no blank pasta dish on our menu, and you don't need one: start from one of our simple sauces and add to it.

• Arrabbiata

  Tomato, garlic, chilli flakes and Italian herbs

• Bolognese

  Our homemade, meaty tomato sauce

• Imperiale

  Arrabbiata finished with fresh double cream

• Al Creama

  Cream, white wine and a hint of garlic

Then choose your pasta: penne, spaghetti or tagliatelle (for a small extra charge).

Then add what you like: every pasta dish takes the same cheeses, meats, seafood, vegetables and seasonings as the pizzas, plus a splash of white wine. Our pasta guide explains each sauce and the named dishes built on it.

Some ideas:

• Imperiale with sliced chicken fillets, mushrooms and infused chilli oil.
• Arrabbiata with mussels and prawns: close to our Marinara, so try that too.
• Bolognese with haggis and cheddar: a quick cousin of our haggis lasagne.
• Al Creama with prawns and fresh rocket.

Penne, spaghetti or tagliatelle?

As a general rule of thumb:

• Penne are tubes, so chunky sauces with pieces of meat or vegetable get inside them. A good all-rounder.
• Spaghetti are long, thin strands that suit smooth tomato sauces and Bolognese.
• Tagliatelle are long, flat ribbons that hold on to creamy sauces well. They're usually made with egg.

If you avoid gluten

Penne, spaghetti and tagliatelle are all wheat pasta, and every pizza is made on wheat dough. For gluten-free penne, choose one of our dishes made with gluten-free penne: they're listed with the pasta, and they take add-ons too. A few cautions: haggis contains gluten, and pepperoni and the sausages may contain gluten, so leave them out. And our kitchen handles wheat every night, so please read our article on gluten and allergies before you order.

Allergies: every add-on counts

Each thing you add brings its own allergens. A few from our allergen table:

• All the cheeses contain milk. Vegan mozzarella may contain soya and tree nuts.
• Haggis contains gluten, and may contain celery and sulphites.
• Tuna and anchovies contain fish. Mussels are molluscs and prawns are crustaceans, and both may contain fish.
• White wine contains sulphites.
• Pepperoni and the sausages may contain soya, sulphites, gluten and mustard. Pancetta and the hams may contain soya and sulphites.
• Olives, artichokes, capers and jalapeños may contain sulphites.
• The BBQ sauce may contain celery, mustard, soya and sulphites.

The "Toppings, add-ons and dips" section of our allergens page lists them all. Our three plain bases are new, and they go on sale only once our kitchen has confirmed their rows in the allergen table. If anyone you're ordering for has an allergy, please tell us before you order: add it in the notes box at checkout, ring the shop, or tell us at the counter.

Build it

The bases have their own place on our menu, under Build Your Own 12" Pizza, once our kitchen has checked them, and the pasta sauces are with the pasta. If a word on the list is new to you, our guide to the Italian on our menu explains it. Once we reopen, Thursday to Sunday, 4pm to 10pm, build yours at ivanos.uk for delivery across Dumfries or collection from 11 Whitesands, DG1 2RR.

Have an allergy? Please read our allergen information and tell us before you order.

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