A slew of new European cookbooks save us from the
summer doldrums
By Dorothy Kalins
Newsweek
July 19 issue - If I close my eyes, I can see
the light in the River Cafe, coming in flat and crisp and lemony off
the Thames, through the industrial windows of this onetime warehouse,
spilling over white tablecloths onto plates of fava beans and peas,
tagliatelle with prosciutto and radicchio, roast chicken with nutmeg.
When my eyes pop open, the reality I see is jolting—the dim refrigerator
bulb in my uninspired larder, illuminating little. But wait. Riding
to the rescue of our summer doldrums is the bright new book from the
owners of that wondrous restaurant. Italian Easy: Recipes
From the London River Cafe ($35), by Rose Gray (a Brit)
and Ruth Rogers (an American), features food with the same kind of
willed clarity as the light. Not just simple, but reductively so. Italian
haiku.
Open to two double-page spreads devoted to photo-graphs of bruschetta,
that sublime slice of grilled sourdough bread, moistened with good olive
oil, that is canvas here to 24 topping variations—figs and arugula;
asparagus and parmesan; ricotta and red pepper—combinations that
have a "why didn't I think of that" obviousness. The restaurant (designed
by Ruth's husband, that Richard Rogers, of Pompidou Center fame)
is a design experience, but not one where contorted flatware and X-Men
lamps rule. It's design that enhances the food experience. And so with
the book, where each unadorned plate is a photograph, each page enhances
our cooking and looking pleasure. Bring this book to a lucky summer host.
Or better, give yourself the present.
Coincidentally, another favorite London restaurant
has just published the American version of its cookbook. Fergus Henderson
is chef-owner of the singular St. John, in the Smithfield meat market
that has existed here since the 17th century. His book, The
Whole Beast: Nose to Tail Eating ($19.95), deals with
the foodstuffs of childhood rhymes: pig's trotters, ox tongues, lamb's
brains, duck legs, jugged hare and hairy tatties (not to worry, it's
salt cod and potatoes). That litany may be more fun to read than to
cook, but it states the obvious: Henderson is the real thing. In his
restaurant, these preparations are as clean and confident as three
radishes on a white plate with a square of butter.
This is indeed the summer of European books for
the rest of us: the first two will satisfy if a trip to London isn't
in the cards, and Patricia Wells's The Provence Cookbook ($29.95),
if France is out of the question. Wells, whose seminal "Food Lover's
Guides" we still lug around on our travels, even though, sadly, they're
years out of print, just can't stop herself from piling on the information.
Her enthusiasm tugs at our sleeve, revealing secrets like her vegetable
man's asparagus flan. A method for seasoning goat cheese with fresh
herbs prompts a three-page essay on "My Cheese Tray."
As Eugenia Bone recounts the tale (with recipes;
she's the daughter of locally renowned cook Edward Giobbi) of her young
New York City family's move to Crawford, Colo. (population: 404), she
proves she is heir, in a way, to Pat Wells and Peter Mayle. At
Mesa's Edge: Cooking and Ranching in Colorado's North Fork Valley ($24)
begins with her motive for the move: "Kevin [her husband] suffered
from a kind of yearning without name, a desire he couldn't articulate,
a lack of vigor and contentment that would have been mopey in a lesser
man."
Be honest. Do you know which cut of beef to use
for fajitas (skirt steak), or how to pan-sear a duck breast? In How
to Peel a Peach ($29.95), well-known cooking teacher Perla
Meyers answers those "and 1,001 other things every good cook needs
to know." It's a whole year's cooking class between two covers.
And here's my vote for best beach read: Sirio:
The Story of My Life and Le Cirque ($29.95). By Sirio
Maccioni and Bloom-berg radio's food personality, Peter Elliot,
it's the dishy inside story of a simple Tuscan from Montecatini
who made a restaurant that drew—and still does—the
world's boldest-faced names.
