Welcome to the first of two extracts from River Cafe Two Easy, the second volume of River Cafe Cook Book Easy. In the first book, we featured many of the simple dishes from the restaurant menus; in this one, we set out to find the easy recipes from some of our favourite regions of Italy.
The result is a collection of recipes that reflect both place and season. We went to Milan in early spring, and loved the simple and robust soups - many of them meals in themselves; later in the year, we were in Puglia, where every seaside restaurant is proud of its own special fish-based pasta.
This week's extract focuses on antipasti, pasta and soup. The opening section on mozzarella, like the one on bruschetta in River Cafe Cook Book Easy, is simply a putting-together of ideas: each dish has just a few seasonal ingredients. The quality of the mozzarella is very important. The best by far is buffalo mozzarella, the fresher, the better; you can now buy it from many supermarkets.
Antipasti and salads, for us, are simple combinations of vegetables served at room temperature, be they grilled, boiled, roasted or raw. The pasta section includes two tomato-based pastas, as well as four of the most intriguing fish pastas. We end with some of those thick soups from Milan.
It is in the simplicity of these dishes that we find much of the pleasure and excitement in cooking. We hope you enjoy these easy recipes as much as we do.
Rose Gray & Ruth Rogers, 2005
All recipes serve four.
Beetroot, tomato, capers
Boil the beetroot until tender, then peel and slice into 5mm discs. Slice the plum tomatoes into similar discs. Wash the salt from the capers, and drain. Mix the capers with red-wine vinegar and olive oil. Combine the tomato and beetroot, season, then stir in the capers and juices. Place on the plate with the mozzarella, and serve with torn-up basil leaves.
Broad bean, olives
Boil the broad beans until tender. Drain and season, add stoned small black olives. Toss the rocket and mint leaves with lemon juice and olive oil, and season. Tear the mozzarella into four. Put the leaves on the plate with the mozzarella. Sprinkle over the olives and beans.
Raw zucchini, prosciutto
Using a Y-shaped potato peeler, shred the zucchini into fine ribbons. Mix lemon juice with some olive oil, and season. Toss the zucchini in the dressing, adding a few rocket and mint leaves. Place on a plate, add the mozzarella, and lay slices of prosciutto over.
Bruschetta, tomato, olives
Cut the tomatoes into quarters and squeeze out the seeds and juice. Mix with basil and olive oil, and season. Stone the small black olives, mix with black pepper, dried chilli, lemon juice and olive oil. Grill a piece of sourdough bread on both sides, then lightly rub one side with garlic. Season and pour over olive oil. Place on the plate with the olives, tomatoes and mozzarella.
Grilled aubergine, roast tomato
Cut the plum tomatoes in half lengthways, and remove the seeds. Season with salt and pepper, and drizzle with extra-virgin olive oil. Bake in a 200C/400F/gas mark 6 oven for 15 minutes. Slice an aubergine into 1cm discs, and grill on both sides. Toss with basil, olive oil and lemon juice. Season and place on the plate with the tomatoes and mozzarella.
Salami, cannelini, olives
Drain and rinse a tin of cannellini beans, and gently heat with lemon juice and some olive oil. Season and purée. Stone the small black olives and toss in a little olive oil. Finely slice the fennel salami, and place on the plate with the mozzarella. Put the bean purée alongside, and scatter over the olives.
Asparagus, rocket, parmesan
Cook the asparagus for five minutes in boiling salted water. Drain, toss with olive oil and season. Toss the rocket in lemon juice and olive oil, and mix with the asparagus. Add shavings of Parmesan.
Summer herb, crème fraîche
Boil chard leaves until tender, then drain, cool and roughly chop. Dress with olive oil and lemon juice, and season. Slice the mozzarella into 1.5cm slices and place in a bowl. Add crème fraîche, seasoning and a few crushed fennel seeds. Roughly chop a little fresh basil, parsley and mint, and lightly stir into the cheese mixture. Place on the plate with the chard, and drizzle with olive oil.
Red and yellow peppers, capers
Wash the salt from the capers and drain. Grill a red and a yellow pepper until the skins are blackened. Peel, remove seeds, then tear lengthways into quarters. Toss with olive oil, red-wine vinegar, torn basil, capers and black pepper. Place on the plate with mozzarella.
Marinated anchovy, spinach
Boil spinach leaves until tender, drain and cool. Wash and fillet the salted anchovies, add pepper, then squeeze over lemon juice. Mix together lemon juice and olive oil, and season. In the dressing, toss the rocket and, separately, the spinach, then combine. Put the greens on a plate with the mozzarella. Place the anchovies over the top.
Celery, radish, parmesan
Wash radishes and some of their leaves, then slice finely. Use the pale heart of celery. Finely slice the stem and keep a few of the leaves. Shave the Parmesan. Mix lemon juice with red-wine vinegar and olive oil, and season. Toss the radish, celery and celery leaves in the dressing. Place on the plate with the mozzarella. Place Parmesan shavings on top and drizzle with olive oil.
Grilled fennel, prosciutto
Slice the fennel lengthways into 1cm pieces, and boil until just tender. Drain and dry on a cloth, then grill on both sides. Toss the rocket and grilled fennel in olive oil and lemon juice, and season. Place on a plate with slices of prosciutto and the mozzarella.
Toasted bread, olives, vinegar
We vary the dressings for salads depending on the ingredients. With this salad of bread and olives, use red-wine vinegar rather than lemon juice, because it has a sweetness and sharpness that goes well with the olives.
Ciabatta slices 4
Rocket leaves 100g
Small black olives 4 tbsp
Fresh red chilli 1
Garlic clove 1
Extra-virgin olive oil
Red-wine vinegar 2 tbsp
Thyme leaves 1 tbsp
Preheat the oven to 220C/ 425F/gas mark 7.
Cut the crusts off the bread. Wash and dry the rocket. Stone the olives. Split the chilli in half lengthways, remove and discard the seeds, and chop finely. Peel the garlic.
Put the bread in a roasting tin, drizzle with olive oil and toast in the preheated oven for five minutes. Turn over, drizzle with a little more oil, and cook until brown - another five minutes. Rub the toasted slices on one side with the garlic.
Combine the vinegar with six tablespoons of olive oil, and season. Put the olives in a bowl with the chilli, thyme and a tablespoon of olive oil.
Break up the bread and put it in a bowl with the rocket. Toss with the dressing. Add the olives.
Cucumber, mint, mascarpone
Look for cucumbers that are unwaxed. They should be firm and rounded to the ends. Avoid any with withered, shrivelled tips or ones that bulge in the middle, because they are likely to be filled with large seeds.
Cucumbers 1½
Mint leaves 2 tbsp
Fresh red chilli 1
Mascarpone 250g
Crème fraîche 5 tbsp
Extra-virgin olive oil
Lemon 1
Peel the cucumbers, cut in half lengthways, remove the seeds. Cut in half again and into 5cm lengths. Chop the mint. Wash the chilli and finely slice on the diagonal. Squeeze the lemon.
Combine the mascarpone and crème fraîche, and season well.
Combine the cucumber and mint with the lemon juice and three times the volume of olive oil, season.
Serve with mascarpone and the chilli sprinkled over.
Crab, fennel, tomato, radicchio
If you buy live crabs, kill them just before cooking - males are best. Turn the crab on its back, and push a skewer or spike into the centre of the belly, where there is an easily identifiable dent. Then put the crab in boiling salted water for eight to 10 minutes, according to size, and pick the meat while the crab is still warm - it will be easier to get the meat out of the shell. If you buy crab meat, get some brown meat, too, and serve a spoonful of each per serving.
Crab meat 500g
Fennel bulbs 2
Radicchio head ½
Lemons 2
Dried chillies 2
Flat-leaf parsley leaves 2 tbsp
Extra-virgin olive oil
Plum tomatoes 4
Remove the tough outer leaves and stalks from the fennel. Remove the tough outer leaves from the radicchio. Squeeze the lemons. Crumble the chillies, and chop the parsley.
To make the salad, finely shave the fennel into a bowl. Finely slice the radicchio into the same bowl. Slice the tomatoes across as thinly as possible. Let any seeds and juice drop out. Add to the bowl.
Mix the lemon juice with four times its volume of olive oil, and season. Use half this dressing to dress the salad, and mix the remainder into the crab meat with the chilli and parsley.
Serve the salad with the crab meat alongside.
Smoked haddock carpaccio
The smoked haddock for this recipe should be the Finnan haddock from the east coast of Scotland. Small haddocks are split open, the heads removed but the bones kept in, lightly salted in brine and then cold smoked to a pale straw-yellow. Avoid bright yellow fillets of large haddock as the flavour is too strong for carpaccio.
Smoked haddock 600g
Fennel seeds 1 tbsp
Lemons 2
Extra-virgin olive oil
Crush the fennel seeds. Squeeze the juice of one lemon and cut the other into wedges.
Using a long, flat-bladed knife, slice the haddock as thinly as you possibly can along the length of the fish.
Arrange the slices to cover each plate. Sprinkle with black pepper and fennel seeds. Drizzle the lemon juice over and then sprinkle each plate with a tablespoon of olive oil.
Serve with a wedge of lemon.
Finocchiona salami, boriotti
Finocchiona is a fat, loose-textured, soft salami typical of Tuscany. Fennel seeds and garlic are combined with pork, and it is then aged to develop the flavour.
Finocchiona salami 300g
Fresh borlotti beans 1kg
Garlic cloves 2
Red-wine vinegar 3 tbsp
Extra-virgin olive oil
Plum tomatoes 4
Pod the borlotti beans. Peel the garlic.
Put the beans in a medium saucepan with the garlic and cover with water. Bring to the boil, then simmer until tender, about 25-35 minutes. Drain, season generously, and add the vinegar and three tablespoons of oil.
Slice the plum tomatoes in half lengthways and then each half into three lengthways. Season the tomatoes, then mix with the borlotti beans.
Slice the salami as finely as possible. Divide the borlotti beans and tomatoes between four plates and place the salami over. Serve drizzled with olive oil.
Prosciutto, rocket
This dish is pictured on the back cover. Use broad-leaf, cultivated rocket in this salad; it is more tender and less peppery than wild rocket.
There are many other varieties of rocket. Turkish, Greek and Cypriot shops often sell a large-leafed rocket in bunches, which has a strong, peppery taste and is quite fleshy. The problem is that it doesn't keep well.
We actually grow a Turkish variety of wild rocket. This perennial, bush-like plant regrows its slender leaves each time it's picked and is the strongest-tasting rocket of all.
Prosciutto 400g
Rocket leaves 100g
Red-wine vinegar 1 tbsp
Dijon mustard 1 tsp
Extra-virgin olive oil 3 tbsp
Wash the rocket carefully, and dry well.
Combine the red-wine vinegar and mustard. Slowly stir in the olive oil, season.
Toss together the dressing and leaves, and place on plates in mounds. Drape the prosciutto over the rocket to cover it completely.
Spaghetti, tomato, green bean
Vegetables, cooked until soft and then combined with thick tomato sauce, are typical of southern Italian cooking. We were excited by this combination of green beans, tomato and spaghetti. The green beans should be incredibly fine, so they will twirl around the fork with the spaghetti. In midsummer, you can find fine green beans from France and Italy.
Spaghetti 320g
Garlic cloves 2
Dried chilli 1
Parmesan 50g
Extra-virgin olive oil 1 tbsp
Tin tomatoes 400g
Green beans 100g
Peel and finely slice the garlic. Crumble the chilli. Grate the Parmesan.
Heat a thick-bottomed pan. Add the olive oil, then the garlic, and cook until soft but not brown. Add the tinned tomatoes, season, add the chilli and cook over a medium heat for 20 minutes.
Top and tail the green beans, then cook in boiling salted water until very tender. Drain well. Combine the green beans with the tomato sauce.
Cook the spaghetti in boiling salted water until al dente. Drain and stir the pasta into the tomato and green beans. Season and toss with a little olive oil. Serve with the Parmesan.
Rigatoni, tomato, beef, red wine
Red wine is traditionally added to meat-based sauces. Here, the wine is reduced with the tomatoes before the beef is added. In sausage sauces from Tuscany, the wine is cooked with the sausage to soften and sweeten the flavour. All'amatriciana is the Roman sauce where red wine is added to a crisp onion and pancetta base used to flavour the tomato.
Rigatoni 320g
Beef fillet 200g
Garlic cloves 4
Parmesan 50g
Unsalted butter 100g
Tin tomatoes 600g
Chianti wine 350ml
Ground black pepper 1 tbsp
Extra-virgin olive oil 3 tbsp
Trim the fillet and cut across into 5mm slices. Cut the slices into 1cm strips. Peel and slice the garlic. Grate the Parmesan.
Heat the butter in a thick-bottomed pan, add the garlic and fry gently until brown. Add the tomatoes and season. Cook over a high heat for five minutes, stirring to break up the tomatoes, then add half the red wine. Continue to cook quite fast, adding more wine as the sauce reduces. Cook for a total of 15 minutes, using up all the wine, then stir in the pepper.
Heat the olive oil in a frying pan until very hot. Add the beef pieces and fry very briefly, just to brown each piece on each side. Stir the beef into the sauce with any juices from the pan.
Cook the rigatoni in boiling salted water until al dente. Drain and add to the sauce.
Serve with the Parmesan.
Linguine, sardine, saffron
Pasta with sardines is one of the classic dishes from Sicily. As in any beloved regional recipe, the ingredients vary from cook to cook. This version includes the traditional pine nuts and raisins, but has the addition of saffron. Buy the threads, not the powder; the colour should be deep orange.
Linguine 320g
Sardines 12
Garlic cloves 2
Flat-leaf parsley leaves 2 tbsp
Dried chillies 2
Saffron threads ½ tsp
Extra-virgin olive oil
Pine nuts 50g
Raisins 50g
Lemon 1
Fillet the sardines. Peel and finely slice the garlic. Chop the parsley and crumble the chillies. Sprinkle the saffron threads over three tablespoons of hot water and let stand for 20 minutes. Soak the raisins in warm water for 20 minutes. Cut the lemon into quarters.
Heat three tablespoons of olive oil in a heavy-bottomed pan, and fry the garlic and parsley. Add the sardine fillets in one layer and fry gently for two minutes or until cooked through, spooning over the garlic and parsley. Season.
In a separate frying pan, brown the pine nuts.
Cook the linguine in boiling salted water until al dente, then drain and return to the pot. Drain the raisins and add to the pasta with the saffron. Toss to combine. Add the sardines and juices from the pan, and check the seasoning. Scatter over the pine nuts.
Serve drizzled with extra-virgin olive oil and lemon.
Dittaloni, mussels, white wine
Ditaloni is a small, tubular pasta. Cavatelli or short penne can be used as an alternative. Buy small mussels, so they are the same size as the pasta.
Ditaloni 320g
Mussels 1kg
Garlic cloves 2
Flat-leaf parsley leaves 4 tbsp
Unsalted butter 200g
Extra-virgin olive oil 1 tbsp
White wine 120ml
Double cream 150ml
Scrub the mussels. Peel and finely chop the garlic. Finely chop the parsley.
Heat half the butter with the oil, then add the garlic and mussels. Pour in the wine, season, cover and cook over a high heat until the mussels open. Drain the mussels, keeping the cooking liquid. Remove the mussels from the shells, and discard the shells and any that haven't opened.
Heat the remaining butter in a pan, and add the mussel juices and the cream. Cook gently to reduce to a rich, creamy consistency, then add the mussels and parsley.
Cook the ditaloni in boiling salted water until al dente, then drain and add to the sauce.
Toss together over a low heat and serve.
Spaghetti, roasted red mullet
Mullet has a strong flavour and firm flesh, so it stays intact when tossed together with the olives, tomatoes and spaghetti. It is the most perishable of fish and should be eaten on the day it is bought.
Spaghetti 320g
Red mullet 2 x 500g
Small black olives 100g
Dried chillies 2
Cherry vine tomatoes 400g
Extra-virgin olive oil
Thyme leaves 1 tbsp
Preheat the oven to 200C/400F/gas mark 6.
Ask your fishmonger to fillet the mullet.
Stone the olives. Crumble the chilli.
Toss the tomatoes with a little olive oil. Season and put in a baking tin in one layer. Prick each with a fork. Roast in the preheated oven for 20 minutes.
Place the mullet fillets in one layer in a shallow baking dish, and sprinkle with thyme and chilli, season. Drizzle with olive oil and roast in the preheated oven for five minutes.
Cook the spaghetti in boiling salted water until al dente. Drain and return to the pan.
Add the olives and tomatoes to the pasta with a tablespoon of olive oil, and season. Add the mullet and toss gently. Serve.
Spaghetti, squid, zucchini
Spaghetti 320g
Squid 500g
Zucchini 400g
Garlic cloves 2
Dried chilli 1
Lemon 1
Extra-virgin olive oil
Marjoram leaves 2 tbsp
Prepare the squid by pulling away the head and tentacles from the body. Cut off the tentacles and squeeze out the beak. Open out the body into a flat piece and scrape away the soft interior pulp. Finely slice the body. Separate the tentacles. Wash and pat dry.
Wash and grate the zucchini at an angle on the large side of a cheese grater. Sprinkle with salt and put in a colander to drain for 15 minutes. Wash off the salt and pat dry.
Peel and finely slice the garlic. Crumble the chilli. Grate the rind of the lemon finely, and then squeeze the juice.
Heat a large, thick-bottomed frying pan, add three tablespoons of olive oil and, when smoking hot, add the squid. Stir briefly, then add salt, pepper and chilli, followed by the zucchini and garlic. Stir-fry just to brown the squid and soften the zucchini. Add the lemon juice and zest and the marjoram, and stir. Remove from the heat.
Cook the spaghetti in boiling salted water, then drain and add to the squid mixture. Toss.
Serve drizzled with olive oil.
Bread, tomato, basil, cucumber
The Tuscan tradition of adding bread to soups is exemplified by the Florentine soup pappa pomodoro. We have four different recipes in our previous books. This is a light, uncooked version and is very easy to make.
Tomatoes 4
Cucumber 1
Garlic clove 1
Fresh red chillies 2
Ciabatta slices 4
Red-wine vinegar 4 tbsp
Extra-virgin olive oil
Basil leaves 4 tbsp
Bring a large pan of water to the boil and add one tablespoon of sea salt. Add the tomatoes and leave them in the water until it comes back to the boil. Remove the tomatoes with a slotted spoon, and peel off the skins while still warm. Cut the tomatoes in half, and squeeze out the seeds. Chop the flesh to a pulp and put in a bowl.
Peel the cucumber, cut in half and half again lengthways, then cut out the seeds. Finely chop the flesh. Peel and finely chop the garlic with a teaspoon of sea salt. Cut the chillies in half lengthways, scrape out the seeds, and finely chop. Add everything to the tomatoes.
Soak the ciabatta slices in a little cold water so they are thoroughly moist. Sprinkle with the vinegar, and leave for 10 minutes.
Squeeze out the bread and chop finely. Stir into the tomato mixture. Add black pepper and three tablespoons of olive oil, and mix thoroughly.
Tear the basil into small pieces and stir into the soup. Serve with more olive oil.
Pea, zucchini
Italian soups are distinctly thick - in this recipe we pulse-chop the cooked vegetables in a food processor and add more peas at the end. Frozen petit pois work just as well.
You can choose either chicken or vegetable stock cubes for this soup - we use chicken.
Zucchini 500g
Garlic cloves 2
Parmesan 50g
Stock cubes 2
Extra-virgin olive oil
Podded fresh peas 500g
Basil leaves 3 tbsp
Trim the ends of the zucchini, cut them in half lengthways, and then into 1cm pieces. Peel and chop the garlic. Grate the Parmesan. Dissolve the stock cubes in 700ml of boiling water.
In a thick-bottomed saucepan, heat two tablespoons of olive oil and fry the garlic until soft. Add the zucchini and cook, stirring, until soft. Add half the peas, stir and then add half the stock. Cook until the peas are tender. Put into a food processor and pulse-chop to a coarse purée.
Bring the remaining peas to the boil in the remaining stock, and cook for five minutes. Scoop out the peas with a slotted spoon, and stir into the soup, adding a little of the stock if the soup is too thick.
Serve with torn basil leaves and grated Parmesan.
Next week
Mains, vegetables, puddings and cakes
· River Cafe Two Easy is published on May 23 by Ebury at £20.
