RIVER CAFE COOKBOOK EASY
BY ROSE GRAY AND RUTH ROGERS
Review by Barb & Ron Kroll
River Cafe Cookbook Easy
(Ebury Press) ISBN 978-0091925321 0091925320
Italian cooking is easy and delicious, according to authors Rose Gray and Ruth Rogers. Their 270-page Italian cookbook features Italian recipes for appetizers, main courses and desserts from the River Café restaurant in London, England.
Dishes for each Italian meal course
The simple Italian recipes from River Café are easy to prepare, with straightforward instructions.
Unless accustomed to European measurements, in grams and milliliters, and oven temperatures in gas marks, North American cooks may have problems with ingredient quantities in River Cafe Cookbook Easy recipes.
Chapters begin with introductions to each Italian meal course — bruschetta, antipasti, seafood, meat (chicken, fowl, veal, beef), vegetables, desserts (biscuits, chocolate and almond cakes), fruit and ice creams (tartufo and sorbets).
How to make gnocchi
Several River Cafe recipes include comments about ingredients, cooking techniques and equipment. For example, Rose Gray and Ruth Rogers recommend serving their porcini, sage and orange dish as a vegetarian risotto. They also advise cooks not to pre-chop rosemary or it will turn black.
Delicious and almost edible full-page color photos by Martyn Thompson and other photographers depict most finished dishes in River Cafe Cookbook Easy. Step-by-step photos illustrate how to make gnocchi and other Italian dishes.
Italian sauces
The Sauces and Basics chapter provides recipes for horseradish sauce, salsa verde, salsa rossa piccante, aioli, borlotti and cannellini, used in many Italian dishes. It also describes techniques, like how to clean salted anchovies.
Bruschetta is more than grilled bread with chopped tomatoes, garlic and olive oil, according to River Cafe Cookbook Easy. Twenty-four bruschetta recipes, with photos, range from asparagus Parmesan to roast zucchini.
It is not always easy to find recipes for game. Rose Gray and Ruth Rogers include recipes for guinea fowl with fennel, grouse with bruschetta, spiced pigeon, pheasant with potatoes, grilled partridge and roast quail with sage.
Sample River Cafe restaurant recipes
Ricotta red chilli bruschetta. Porcini and Parmesan antipasta. Beef fillet with thyme carpaccio. Zucchini and cannellini bean soup. Pumpkin crostini soup. Penne with arrabbiata sauce. Zucchini flowers stuffed with ricotta. Porcini, sage and orange risotto. Grilled tuna with fennel seeds. Zucchini fritters. Pistachio almond cake. Walnut and brandy chocolate cake.
Contents
Introduction- Bruschetta
- Basic bruschetta
- Asparagus Parmesan
- Asparagus prosciutto
- Tomato borlotti
- Broccoli olives
- Roast zucchini
- Fennel olives
- Fig rocket
- Prosciutto spinach
- Mozzarella olives
- Mozzarella chillies
- Borlotti prosciutto
- Fennel prosciutto
- Cavolo nero prosciutto
- Tomato prosciutto
- Chickpea chard
- Ricotta red chillies
- Tomato olives
- Broad bean pecorino
- Mozzarella anchovies
- Crab lemon
- Mozzarella tomato
- Chickpea tomato
- Grilled aubergine
- Antipasti
- Bread and tomato
- Mozzarella and red pepper
- Potato and parsley
- Lentil and ricotta
- Green bean and anchovy
- Asparagus and anchovy
- Porcini and Parmesan
- Summer leaves
- Mixed winter leaves
- Puntarelle alla Romana
- Crab and fennel salad
- Toasted ciabatta salad
- Roast beetroot
- Raw fennel and Parmesan
- Fresh borlotti bean salad
- Carpaccio
- Beef carpaccio
- Sea bass carpaccio
- Tuna carpaccio
- Marinated anchovies
- Beef fillet with thyme
- Soup
- Broad bean
- Pappa pomodoro
- Cavolo nero
- Pea, pancetta and zucchini
- Artichoke and potato
- Rice and potato
- Clam and fennel
- Zucchini and cannellini
- Pumpkin crostini
- Quick fish
- Chickpea and shrimp
- Spaghetti
- Sardinian bottarga
- Butter and cheese
- Marinated raw tomato
- Garlic, chilli and parsley
- Pea and spring onions
- Tomato and anchovy
- Clam and Prosecco
- Zucchini and capers
- Spaghetti in a bag
- Short pasta
- Penne arrabbiata
- Penne, mussels, zucchini
- Penne, sausage, ricotta
- Penne, zucchini, butter
- Rigatoni, cabbage, fontina
- Orecchiette, broccoli
- Spirale, clams, prawns
- Fusilli carbonara
- Tagliatelle
- Fig and chilli
- Borlotti bean
- Crème fraîche and rocket
- Green bean and tomato
- Prosciutto and radicchio
- Dried porcini and sage
- Tutti ricotta
- Gnudi bianchi
- Gnudi spinaci
- Sformata di ricotta
- Stuffed zucchini flowers
- Risotto
- Broad bean and pancetta
- Fresh tomato
- Asparagus and herb
- Clam and Pino Grigio
- Leek and prosciutto
- Porcini, sage and orange
- Vin Santo with prosciutto
- Seafood
- Roasted langoustine
- Poached langoustine
- Mussel pangrattato
- Crab with polenta
- Roast whole squid
- Monkfish spiedini
- Grilled scallops
- Fried scallops
- Roast monkfish
- Sea bass with potatoes
- Dover sole with capers
- Grilled tuna with fennel seeds
- Roasted sardines
- Red mullet with bay
- Sicilian fish stew
- Birds
- Chicken with nutmeg
- Chicken in milk
- Chicken with lemon
- Flattened chicken
- Boiled chicken
- Guinea fowl with fennel
- Grouse with bruschetta
- Spiced pigeon
- Pheasant with potatoes
- Roast quail with sage
- Grilled partridge
- Duck with tomatoes
- Veal, lamb, pork, beef
- Beef steak Fiorentina
- Arista di maiale
- Leg of lamb with garlic
- Veal chops
- Pork chops with lemon
- Grilled fillet of beef
- Cotechino lentils
- Sausage and wine
- Lamb chops scottadito
- Potatoes
- Roast potatoes in a pan
- Potato and fennel
- Potatoes and mustard
- Stuffed pumpkin
- Potatoes with lemon
- Potato gnocchi
- Gnocchi with prosciutto
- Gnocchi with tomato sauce
- Mashed potatoes
- Verdura
- Zucchini fritti
- Whole zucchini
- Swiss chard
- Peas and prosciutto
- Spinach and balsamic
- Green beans and tomatoes
- Broad beans and peas
- Cauliflower, fennel seeds
- Slow-cooked fennel
- Grilled tomatoes
- Dried plum tomatoes
- Slow-roast tomatoes
- Grated zucchini
- Grilled radicchio
- Roasted squash
- Fruit & ice cream
- Wild strawberries
- Peaches in Pinot Nero
- Raspberries with ricotta
- Orange ice cream
- Fig sorbet
- Lemon ice cream
- Fig ice cream
- Tartufo gelato
- Peach and lemon sorbet
- Blackberry sorbet
- Strawberry granita
- Mascarpone sorbet
- Marsala ice cream
- Roasted almond ice cream
- Crème anglaise
- Pears in mustard syrup
- Italian biscuits
- Ricciarelli
- Ciambelline
- Amaretti
- Almond cakes
- Plum and orange
- Pistachio
- Pine nut
- Polenta crumble
- Chocolate cakes
- Dark truffle
- Walnut and brandy
- 15-minute chocolate cake
- Espresso and hazelnut
- Easy small nemesis
- Sauces & basics
- Fresh red chilli
- Anchovy and rosemary
- Horseradish
- Salsa verde
- Aïoli
- Salsa rossa piccante
- Quick tomato
- Coarse breadcrumbs
- Peeling tomatoes
- Salted anchovies
- Dried chickpeas
- Dried borlotti and cannellini beans
Suppliers
Index
Authors
Rose Gray and Ruth Rogers have written nine other River Cafe cookbooks.
Other River Cafe books:
River Cafe Pocket Books - Fish & Shellfish