Rose Gray and Ruth Rogers
proprietors and chefs of the River Café

Join Rose Gray and Ruth Rogers, proprietors and chefs of the River Café and authors of The River Café Cook Book Easy, for an online chat on Wednesday May 28th, 7.30-8.30pm in association with Waitrose.

Transcript


Rose Gray
"Well its very nice to be here to talk to all of you out there. I'm alone my partner Ruthy is lounging in the Cincqueterra, the languoring coast of Italy but that's how we love to work. One of us is eating in Italy and learning and I'm here talking about what we've learnt in the past".

Janette Davey wants to know:
"The recipes I have seen from your new book sound and look absolutely delicious. Do you have any simple recipes that will encourage fussy children to be more adventurous with food? ie without too many 'obvious' vegetables!!"

Rose said:
In my experience children love pasta. in our new book we have a number of very simple and quick recipes with few ingredients that even the children can make themselves. One is spaghetti with two cheeses, this is a Roman recipe and only requires grating the cheese, melting the butter and mixing the pasta with it. The other is a spaghetti with chopped peeled tomatoes mixed with a little bit of vinegar, olive oil, salt and pepper and fresh basil leaves. Both are in the spaghetti chapter in the new book.

Janet wants to know:
"Rose Here is my question: Can you give me some tips on how to cook with balsamic vinegar? I tried last week but the sauce tasted rather bitter despite using a rather exprensive vinegar. Regards, Janet"

Rose said:
We've got many very successful recipes using balsamic vinegar. Balsamic vinegar itself is a very varied product, if its quite thin and consequently cheap or cheapish a delicious recipe is to roast potatoes, and as they roast, near the end of the roasting time you add the balsamic vinegar quite generously, a little bit of thyme and olive oil and the vinegar soaks into the potatoes and they are absolutely delicious If you manage to get your hands on a bottle of the thick syrupy balsamic vinegar, which is very expensive, a 100ml bottle will cost around £35, a few drops on a vine tomato salad can enhance a simple dish. When roasting ducks, brush the skin with balsamic vinegar whilst roasting and you get a most delicious sweet, crisp, vinegary result.

Lesley Curtress wants to know:
"I need suggestions for a simple 3 course supper for 4 friends, when the hostess is hostless! As a single person, I find it extremely difficult to welcome guests, offer drinks, chat etc at the same time as coping with the cooking but I don't want to resort to packets. My invitation cards are on hold until inspiration strikes!"

Rose said:
A lentil salad with sliced fresh ricotta over the top and summer herbs. You can pre cook the lentils, prepare the herbs and at the last minute, just warm the lentils season generously with olive oil, cover with thin slices of fresh ricotta and put a basil leaf on top, and drizzle with olive oil For the main course I suggest a whole sea bass baked over sliced potatoes, which have been pre boiled. Pour white wine over the fish, throw a few olives amongst the potatoes and a little bit of fresh thyme, and drizzle with olive oil. Then bake for 20 minutes and the whole meal is ready in one go and in one pan For pudding go out and buy some organic strawberries or wild strawberries, squeeze the juice of a lemon over them and a little bit of caster sugar, leave them to marinate and serve them up in individual bowls. This is how they eat strawberries in Naples!

Caroline wants to know:
"Is it better to buy tinned Italian tomatoes than the tasteless fresh things you can usually buy in the UK, or do you think we should wait for the fuller flavoured summer tomatoes to turn up in the shops?"

Rose said:
Well I think things have changed hugely in regards to tomatoes in supermarkets and right now there are 3 or 4 varieties of tomatoes to choose from. We always choose tomatoes that are attached to the vine, never keep them in the fridge and leave them for a couple of days on the vine to develop their flavour. Medium sized cherry vine tomatoes are particularly good like this. Plum tomatoes also need to be ripe and slightly soft and if they're hard and green you're better off using tinned plum tomatoes. The little cherry vine tomatoes have the most flavour as far as I'm concerned, they are just rather fiddly to prepare.

Pauline Burney is asking:
" I do a lot of Italian cooking, I visit an Italian friend annually and she is a great teacher. I'm a dab hand at Pasta, polenta and gnocci. I return with as many ingredients as possible. I live in the backend of beyond making buying many essential ingredients difficult. Ricotta is one, mascapone another. I would love a panetone recipe as I am a bread hand. Any mail order suggestions for ingredients ? and hints of where to find a recipe for the cake? please. Best wishes Pauline Burney"

Rose said:
Quite a good quality Ricotta is now sold in tubs in big supermarkets such as Waitrose. In our book we have a list of people who supply all Italian cheeses from all over the country, such as www.espero.it or www.portobellofoods.com. If you would like to contact us at www.rivercafe.co.uk, I will send you a panetone recipe.

Suzanne wants to know:
"What is your recipe for the perfect pizza base?"

Rose said:
"Hi Suzanne, I've always had huge success with a recipe from the Chez Paniss cookbooks. The recipe makes a light, crisp pizza. It uses a little bit of Rye flour, dried yeast, olive oil and tipo 00 flour. The full recipe is in River Cafe Cookbook Two Adam wants to know: "Please suggest an Italian style, vegetarian soup for a winter wedding meal ie something a bit special."

Rose said:
"Hi Adam, our favourite soup in the winter is the famous Ribollita which is made with cavolo nero, borlotti beans and the new season's olive oil, which has got to be newly pressed, single estate Tuscan it's a very special soup, perfect for a wedding. I wish I was coming! Nik wants to know: "I've read that you have a lot of celebs at the River Cafe - why do you think that is...the good food or reputation?"

Rose said:
Well Nik, we have one of the most beautiful restaurants in London, on the river, with a garden, full of herbs and vegetables. We have great, informed, clever staff, obviously two brilliant chefs! We buy 90% organic produce every day and are deeply passionate about what we do.

mazza wants to know:
"What was the River Cafe's most successful dish?"

Rose said:
Grilled squid, fresh red chilli and rocket. Its the one thing we do every day and have done for the last 15 years.

Ben wants to know:
"My homemade pasta tastes floury - what am I doing wrong? "

Rose said:
With fresh pasta it is important to follow a recipe exactly. We have 3 different recipes from 3 different regions of Italy and the difference will be the proportion of whole eggs to egg yolks to flour. Buy an Italian flour, tipo 00 which means very finely ground. The addition of semolina flour is in one recipe. All these recipes are in River Cafe Cookbook Green

Bradley wants to know:
"Which of your recipes is your own personal favourite?"

Rose said:
One of my own personal favourites is the thick soup called pappa pomodoro. We've got three versions in three different books but it is always a pleasure to make.

Anthony is asking:
"Who has been the best person you have ever cooked for?"

Rose said:
I loved cooking for Tina Turner, she said it was the most divine meal she'd ever eaten in a restaurant.

dave wants to know:
"Do you on the River Cafe, good and bad alike? And do you ever make changes as a result?"

Rose said:
Yes we do read every review and we are constantly changing because we believe in listening. We are only 15 years old and we do feel that we have a lot to learn.

Carly wants to know:
"Hiya. I have a busy working day and also have two small children. My husband and I really like to have a good meal in the evening but everything takes so long, he is also not a fan of pasta so do you have any suggestions?"

Rose said:
We have written our latest cookbook, River Cafe Cookbook Easy for people like you. There are many many recipes, fish dishes which take 20 minutes, simple grilled meats that are Italian and delicious.

Anna wants to know:
"Are you finding that more customers these days are requesting organic food and do you think they'll come a time when everything on the River Cafe's menu is organic? "

Rose said:
We strive to be organic because we know that is what our customers would like. I remember the day that I asked the milkman for organic milk for the cappuccinos and he nearly died! We've always bought organic eggs, our meat and poultry is organic, but we do love wild food which can never be organic by nature. Obviously fish is a wild food, we never buy farmed so we don't buy organic fish. There is an important difference.

Victoria Plum wants to know:
"What would you say are store cupboard essentials?" Rose said: I think everyone should have in their store cupboard: a good extra virgin single estate olive oil, your bog standard extra virgin olive oil to cook with; then in the Italian kitchen you always need little dried red chillis, fennel seeds, nutmeg, salted capers, tins of anchovies, aged balsamic vinegar, its good to have spaghetti, tagliatelle and risotto rice. In the tinned area I'd have tinned plum tomatoes, chickpeas and borlotti beans. I think it is always good to have a bar of 70% chocolate and some blanched almonds. In the fridge I'd have a piece of parmasen cheese, a piece of pancetta, and a piece of unsalted butter (the only supermarket which sells this is Waitrose) and finally some free range organic eggs. You've always got to have fresh garlic, red onions and a head of celery. I also think that any good cook should have some fresh herbs knocking around.

Meredith Adonis wants to know:
"What do you suggest for dinner for a vegan who is allergic to wheat and dairy? I am having a dinner party and have no ideas what to serve this woman!

Rose said:
I'd make her a fantastic plate of mixed vegetables such as peas cooked with broad beans and swiss chard, some roast cherry vine tomatoes, some borlotti beans with delicious extra virgin olive oil, a bit of rocket salad and I think she'll be quite happy. Borlotti beans are very seasonal and are just coming into the supermarkets right now.

Anna wants to know:
"Are you still in touch with Jamie Oliver and is there any envy about his success from other chefs in the kitchen, I wonder?!"

Rose said:
Yes I am still in touch with Jamie, I love him, he is a great cook and worked for us for 3 years so I feel he is like one of my children. I think some of the chefs in the kitchen envy his phenomenal success but because he is such a nice guy they get over it.

Sally wants to know:
"What's the perfect snack to make if you only have ten mins to eat and run? But that isn't beans on toast...'"

Rose said:
How about making some bruschetta. For instance, boil a little asparagus, toss it with oil and lemon, shave a few slices of parmasan. Toast a piece of sour dough bread on both sides, lightly rub it with garlic, drizzle over some olive oil, place the asparagus, a few leaves of rocket and the shavings of parmasen on top.

Rose said:
Thank you very much for asking me such interesting questions. I just hope that I've given you answers that will inspire you.