Gray Rose - The River Café cookbook

About the Book

The River Cafe Cook Book is one of the most influential cookbooks to have been published this decade and is the winner of both the Glenfiddich Food Book of the Year and the BCA Illustrated Book of the Year awards. Acclaimed for their innovative re-interpretation of Italian farmhouse cooking cucina rustica at the River Cafe restaurant, Rose Gray and Ruth Rogers have produced an outstanding selection of recipes with an emphasis on uncomplicated food which is vibrant with flavour. Beautifully illustrated, The River Cafe Cook Book is a wonderful guide to this approachable and exciting form of Italian cooking and a celebration of a great restaurant.

What we love most about Italian soups is what we love most about Italian food. They are regional, seasonal and their ingredients are undisguised and definite.

You would be as unlikely to find a Pappa al Pomodoro served in a home or restaurant in Aosta as a Zuppa di Aosta in Tuscany. Both are soups of their region Tuscans are proud of their bread, considering it more important than pasta and every garden has its row of tomatoes. In the high mountainous province of Aosta, the soups are filling and comforting made with stock, salted anchovies, butter and Fontina cheese.

The seasonal quality of Italian soups is reflected in the method of cooking and the ingredients used. Dried cannelli are best in November and coincide with the arrival of the new oil, winter minestrones are dark green and cook for a long time. The soups of spring and summer are still strong and definite but lighter, fresher and more fragrant. Summer minestrone is a vivid green with an abundance of fresh herbs and hardly cooked young peas and asparagus.

Apart from the minestrones and fish stews, Italian soups have few ingredients. Our zucchini soup uses large quantities of zucchini and basil, whilst the cannellini bean soup is no more than parsley, garlic, cannellini beans and extra virgin olive oil.

This mussel soup comes from the Ligurian coast. It is called bianco because, unusually for Italian fish soup, it contains wine and garlic, but no tomato.

2.5 kg (5.1/2 lb) mussels

75 ml (2.1/2 fl oz) olive oil

4 garlic cloves, peeled and chopped

1/2 bottle white wine

1 small dried chilli, crushed

1 bunch flat-leaf parsley, chopped

sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

6 slices ciabatta bread, cut at an angle

1 garlic clove, peeled and halved

extra virgin olive oil

Clean the mussels very thoroughly under cold running water. Scrub well with a stiff brush, and scrape off any barnacles. Discard any that are open or have cracked or broken shells.

Heat 60 ml (2 fl oz) of the olive oil until very hot in the biggest pan you have, one with a tight-fitting lid. Add two-thirds of the chopped garlic; it will colour immediately. Throw in the mussels, put on the lid and shake the pan fiercely to coat the mussels with oil. Add the wine. Return to the heat, shake, cook and stir until all the mussels are open. This will only take a couple of minutes.

Put the opened mussels and their juices into a large bowl to cool, then remove half the mussels from their shells. Discard any that have not opened.

In the same pan heat the remaining olive oil and fry the rest of the garlic until light brown, then add the chilli, half the parsley and the liquid from the mussels. When hot, add all the mussels, shelled and unshelled, salt and pepper and most of the remaining parsley.

To make the crostini, toast the ciabatta slices on both sides, and rub with the garlic. Serve the soup in flat open dishes with the crostini and pour over a generous amount of extra virgin olive oil. Scatter with the remaining parsley.

In its use of chillies, anchovies and tomatoes, this mussel soup from Puglia is typical of the southern Italian style of cooking.

2.5 kg (5.1/2 lb) mussels, cleaned as in the previous recipe

75 ml (2.1/2 fl oz) olive oil

150 ml (5 fl oz) white wine

4 garlic cloves, peeled and finely chopped

6 anchovy fillets

3 small dried chillies, crumbled

1 800 g (1.3/4 lb) tin peeled plum tomatoes, drained of most of their juices, chopped

sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

1 bunch flat-leaf parsley, chopped

6 slices pugliese bread, cut at an angle

1 garlic clove, peeled and halved

extra virgin olive oil

Heat 60 ml (2 fl oz) of the olive oil in a large saucepan, then add the mussels, the white wine and 120 ml (4 fl oz) water. Cook over a high heat until all the mussels are open, discarding any that remain closed. You may need to cook the mussels in batches; divide the oil, wine and water accordingly.

Remove the mussels, and boil to reduce the liquid by half. Remove half the mussels from their shells.

Heat the remaining olive oil in a large pan and fry the garlic until lightly brown. Add the anchovies, and mash with the garlic into the hot oil until dissolved. Add the mussel liquid, the chilli and the tomatoes. Cook gently until the tomatoes have reduced to a medium-thick consistency. This should take about 30 minutes. Season with salt and pepper and more chilli if necessary. Finally, put in the mussels, shelled and unshelled, and half the parsley.

To make the bruschetta, toast the bread on both sides and rub with the garlic. Serve the soup in flat open dishes with the bruschetta, the remaining parsley and a generous amount of the very best extra virgin olive oil.

2.5 kg (5.1/2 lb) mussels, cleaned (see )

120 ml (4 fl oz) olive oil

3 garlic cloves, peeled (2 in slivers, 1 chopped)

1 large bunch basil, stalks removed

1.25 kg (2.3/4 lb) ripe plum tomatoes, skinned, seeded and chopped, juices retained

sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

6 slices ciabatta bread, cut at an angle

2 garlic cloves, peeled

extra virgin olive oil

Heat 4 tablespoons of the olive oil in a large, heavy saucepan, add the garlic slivers, and cook gently until light brown. Add half the basil leaves and the tomatoes, and cook, stirring over a fierce heat, until the tomatoes break up and reduce to a thick sauce. This should take about 15 minutes, if the tomatoes are ripe. If the tomatoes are unripe, they will be less juicy, so add some of the reserved tomato juices.

In another large, heavy saucepan, fry the chopped garlic in the remaining olive oil until light brown, then add the mussels and a few basil leaves and the remaining tomato juice, about 750 ml (1.1/4 pints). Cover with a tight-fitting lid, shake and cook over a high heat until the mussels are open (discard any that remain closed). You may need to do this in batches; divide the other ingredients accordingly. Leave to cool and then remove all the mussels from their shells.

Add the mussels to the tomato sauce with the rest of the basil, and season with sea salt and black pepper.

To make the bruschetta, toast the bread on both sides, then rub with the garlic. Serve the soup in flat open dishes with the bruschetta and a generous amount of extra virgin olive oil.