The River Cafe Look Book: Recipes for Kids of all Ages

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The River Cafe favours ‘zucchini’, the Italian loan-word commonly used for this vegetable in the US, over ‘courgette’ , the name more commonly employed in Great Britain. Matthew flicks through the pages, pausing over a photo of a staircase, zigzagging up a white building in bright sunlight, matched with a parmesan-flecked bowl of soup. After 35 years and a roster of cookbooks, there had been plans in the works for some time for the next River Cafe book to be aimed at a different kind of audience.

As Ruthie says, flicking through the opening pages, ‘I dedicated it to Richard,’ pointing out the inscription to her husband, ‘who taught us to look’. The vivid and playful pages of this witty and innovative book showcase garden-fresh meals such as Smashed Broad Bean Bruschetta, Fusilli Zucchini, and Raspberry Sorbet, along with new versions of River Cafe classics, including a delectable lemon tart, a luxurious chocolate torte, and tasty pesto. This makes the book feel, she notes, more like a ‘manual’ – something intended as ‘a thing to use’, rather than to be left sitting decoratively on a shelf, with Matthew stressing, ‘that’s its primary purpose. Ruthie jokes that as a chef, ‘one of the biggest struggles for me was having a photograph of somebody’s hair, hair and food!Immediately put the potatoes through a Mouli grater (food mill) or potato ricer onto a clean work counter.

A compilation of the Hammersmith institution’s much loved recipes, it’s light enough to carry around the kitchen as you move between a cutting board and a simmering pot, but still gorgeous enough to display. The 50 corresponding recipes in the “Cook” section, meanwhile, weave transferable lessons into foolproof instructions. Ruthie adds that she feels indebted to the team behind the original books and has ‘tried to get in touch with them’ – ‘I’d like to tell them, you know’ – but to no avail as yet. From the ebullient brightness of the space (designed by Ruth Rogers’ late husband, legendary architect Sir Richard Rogers); to the accessible menu (what child doesn’t adore pesto pasta?

It might seem peculiar for the chef-founder of the River Cafe—arguably London’s most famous restaurant—to release anything designed for children, but, as Rogers affirms, her dishes are “actually quite simple. Similarly, the photos in the first half of the book have a reference at the bottom to the appropriate recipe page. Pointing to a plate of penne all’amatriciana, displayed opposite a photo of a riding school, he notes, ‘My daughter said, “I know why you put that there.