The delicate moment in the year when the last tomatoes meet the first mushrooms has passed. At home and in the River Café, slightly richer and more sustaining food is on the menu. My family has returned from a fortnight’s holiday in Italy, travelling south from Florence. The grape harvest is over, the cold mornings and nights tell of the change mid-season. Inspired by the trip, the next two weeks’ columns will be for autumnal, Italian-influenced suppers, following the flow of an Italian meal, but without any regional specificity.
I was lucky to learn early on that shopping for food is as important as what you do with it. You’ll find most of the ingredients you need for these recipes are easily available in the UK and they should all be at their best right now. Once you’ve done the shopping, the cooking is straightforward. These are simple dishes designed to show off a few ingredients.
Autumn is a time of bounty. While there are stacks of treats to be had, some are more expensive than others. Take early-harvest extra-virgin olive oil. You’ll know when you’ve found a bottle as it will be double or even triple the price of a regular extra-virgin olive oil. The arrival of the first green oil is more anticipated than ever this year as the harvest of 2014 was one of the worst on record. It remains to be seen what 2015 will bring, but early indications are good.
Good olive oil can go with everything, even vanilla ice cream. The first press is celebrated with a simple slice of toast dripping with the stuff. The next step is to assimilate its punchy characteristics into cooking. The rice dish below is fine with any good oil, but I recommend trying it with some of the new stuff if you can.
Rice with Savoy cabbage and pine nuts
Serves 4-6
garlic 2 cloves
pine nuts 10g
savoy cabbage a third of one. Use the dark outer leaves and some pale inner ones. Wash and remove tough spines
olive oil 50ml
risotto 300g, or use short-grain rice
parmesan or pecorino cheese
black pepper if the oil’s not spicy enough
Bring about 3 litres of water to the boil in a large pot with the garlic in it and 1 heaped tbsp of salt. Leave simmering until the garlic is well cooked so as to soften its flavour. Then add the pine nuts and cabbage leaves and boil for 10 minutes. Remove everything with a slotted spoon and blend in a food processor. Add the oil and adjust the seasoning if necessary. Top up the water, should it have boiled down, then add the rice. Give a quick stir and boil for about 10 minutes or until the rice is just cooked and drain. Overcooking will make a mush. Only gently warm the green sauce. Frying it will spoil the flavour. Stir it into the rice. Serve with plenty of freshly grated cheese and more oil or freshly cracked black pepper, as you like.
Beef with chestnuts and lardo
The mountains around Avellino are known not only for their wines but also for their famous nuts. Once chestnuts were so essential to survival they were called “tree bread”. Now they are often eaten sweet, but sometimes this recipe is used.
Serves 4-6
chestnuts 600g, fresh
beef brisket 1kg piece, or similar meat
garlic as much as you like
rosemary a few sprigs
salt and pepper
butter 80g
olive oil
lardo 100g, or pancetta
bay leaves 5
red wine 200ml, good and strong
Heat the oven to 220C/gas mark 8. Score, roast and then peel the chestnuts. That’s a short sentence for probably 30 minutes’ work, but don’t worry about cooking the chestnuts through – you only need to remove their skins.
Make incisions with the point of a knife all around the beef. Stuff some thick slices of garlic and rosemary leaves into each cut. Season well with salt and pepper.
Heat a heavy pan just big enough to fit the beef, and melt the butter in the olive oil. When hot begin to colour the meat turning slowly to brown all sides for extra flavour. Distribute the lardo around the beef allowing it to fry for a minute before throwing in more garlic cloves, the bay, wine and chestnuts.
Cover with foil and a lid and cook on a low heat for two hours, basting from time to time. Should the pot ever seem dry add a little wine or water.
Slice the beef and serve covered with the chestnuts and everything else in the pan.
Whole baked chicory
I am excited about the return of bitter vegetables at this time of year, and the flavour of these chicories will cut right through the braised beef (see above). But you could just as well cook them and enjoy with a luxurious soft cheese.
Serves 4-6
chicories 4
salt and pepper
olive oil
red-wine vinegar 10ml
Trim only the exposed darker bottom of the endives so that they remain intact, and then wash and season them. Heat a generous pour of olive oil in a pan that just fits them, the closer the better, and add the chicories. Turn them from time to time as you would a piece of meat. Add the vinegar and stand back to avoid the sharp fumes. Add half a cup of water. Cover with a piece of foil and the lid and turn the heat down to medium low. Cook for 45 minutes opening and turning them from time to time. Check that they are not burning or sticking, but allow them to cook in their own juices.
Apple and almond cake
This is a very light cake that shows off the apples delicately, but like a pie it could handle some cream.
Serves 4-6
butter and breadcrumbs for the tin, unless it has to be dairy and gluten-free almonds 300g, whole with skins on
apples 300g, sharp fruit
eggs 4, separated
caster sugar 250g
potato flour 70g
lemon zest of 1
amaretto 30ml
Heat oven to 160C/gas mark 3.
Butter and crumb a 24cm cake tin. If the almonds are dusty rub them with a towel, but don’t peel. Chop them finely in a food processor. Wash the apples, core and coarsely grate. In a bowl mix the yolks with a rough half of the sugar and whisk until lighter in colour. Then add the almonds, apples, potato flour, lemon zest and amaretto.
Whisk the whites into stiff peaks, adding the rest of the sugar once they begin to hold. Mix a spoonful of whites into the almond mix to loosen and then carefully fold in the rest, retaining as much volume as possible. Gently transfer to the prepared tin and bake for a about 50 minutes.
Joseph Trivelli is co head chef at the River Café, London
