Speaker 1: You were listening to Ruthie's Table four in partnership with Montclair.
Speaker 2: I'm Ruthie's Table four.
Speaker 1: We're always getting people to talk about their memories of food,
Speaker 1: how food has affected their lives, how they think of
Speaker 1: food as comfort, of sharing, of joy, pleasure, and from us,
Speaker 1: how does it happen, How does a restaurant work? What
Speaker 1: are the concerns that we have as chefs, as managers,
Speaker 1: as waiters, as suppliers. The sun has come out, there
Speaker 1: are holidays, Wimbledon's going to be coming soon, and we're
Speaker 1: doing parties, and we're doing a wedding, and so every
Speaker 1: day is a different day, and so we thought today
Speaker 1: we would talk to you, Sean, Joseph and myself about
Speaker 1: the River Cafe and what we're thinking about and doing
Speaker 1: right now over to you. So tell me.
Speaker 2: We had a pretty intense weekend.
Speaker 3: So I'm reeling off the back of yesterday lunch, which
Speaker 3: was a Sunday our two hundred and eighty cover lunch
Speaker 3: in the in the main restaurant, and feeling like it
Speaker 3: probably run a small marathon, maybe a little mini marathon.
Speaker 1: When you say two hundred and eighty, what does that
Speaker 1: feel like? Because would you say, if it had only
Speaker 1: been two hundred and twenty, or if it had been
Speaker 1: one eighty, what do you balance that? Again?
Speaker 3: Probably it's not a number, is it When you're looking
Speaker 3: at the number of people you cook for. It's more
Speaker 3: about how that number rolls through the day. And I think, I,
Speaker 3: on reflection, if this is the therapist culture, I would
Speaker 3: say that I probably wrote too difficult menu.
Speaker 2: I'll be introspective here.
Speaker 3: So I thought, because it was Father's Day, I thought
Speaker 3: I'd try and do some dishes for families. I thought
Speaker 3: there'll be a lot of families coming out. So I
Speaker 3: did one dish, which was the beasteak of Fiorantina. It
Speaker 3: takes you to Tuscany. It's a really class sick dish
Speaker 3: that I think is fun because you basically get a
Speaker 3: whole a beef steak off Charantina is a tea bone,
Speaker 3: but it's thick cut it.
Speaker 2: It's cut as if it.
Speaker 3: Was a double thickness, and it has surloin on one
Speaker 3: side and fill it on the other, and we charg
Speaker 3: grill it and then would roast it to finish it off,
Speaker 3: and then we serve it on a massive plate and
Speaker 3: you can share it for two or three people, and
Speaker 3: I thought, that's going to be amazing, all the fathers
Speaker 3: out there having their steak. Specific I thought, what would
Speaker 3: be really nice would be some tuscan and roasted potatoes,
Speaker 3: some little potatoes, rosemary and garlic and olive oil, another
Speaker 3: plate of some green bit of green vegetables.
Speaker 2: Some checoria with olive oil.
Speaker 3: And then I thought it would be really nice with
Speaker 3: two sauces, horseradish fresh, horse readish your crome fresh, and
Speaker 3: salsa verde. That all sounds like dreamy, But what I
Speaker 3: hadn't really thought through was the fact that you need
Speaker 3: for that one dish, you need one plate with a
Speaker 3: beef on, one plate with potatoes on, one plate with
Speaker 3: greens on, one plate with sauces on, and the plates
Speaker 3: for the people. So the person who's taking the food
Speaker 3: out had to basically go back to the table several
Speaker 3: times with all these extra accoutrement, which was just people
Speaker 3: were in a lather taking the food out. It was
Speaker 3: just like for every steak there was six plates, rather
Speaker 3: than someone having a steak and having one plate. It
Speaker 3: was like a feast arriving.
Speaker 1: We had it. So I came as a guest yesterday
Speaker 1: and Noah always we love a beef and it was incredible.
Speaker 1: It was incredible, It was so it was just so
Speaker 1: great to have this piece of beef brought to the
Speaker 1: table and actually the sides looked beautiful on the separate plates,
Speaker 1: and you could choose. The potatoes are dark and crisp,
Speaker 1: and the greens were just kind of juicing the sauces.
Speaker 1: So as you were describing it, it doesn't sound like
Speaker 1: the easiest thing.
Speaker 2: But did a lot of people order it?
Speaker 3: We had We had sixteen whole fiorantinas to sell, and
Speaker 3: we sold all of them. We could have sold more.
Speaker 3: So that's about thirty two people forty people having that
Speaker 3: and the other dish. I'll tell you about the other dish.
Speaker 3: I decided to totally stitch up the kitchen early on
Speaker 3: in the day by doing another dish that I thought
Speaker 3: would be really family focused, which was in a roster mysto.
Speaker 3: I don't know why I thought of doing that on
Speaker 3: such a busy day. So I sent a note to
Speaker 3: the kitchen when I woke up in the morning, but
Speaker 3: I was up earlier, but I sent a note saying
Speaker 3: I wanted to debone three rabbits and then so we
Speaker 3: need to debone the rabbits. That's already quite a skillful job.
Speaker 3: Then we wanted to stuff them with bread crumbs, livers,
Speaker 3: rosemary panchetta, roll it up and then wrap it in
Speaker 3: presciutto then tie it and then that would be roasted
Speaker 3: as one dish.
Speaker 4: That's what I'm ordering.
Speaker 3: It was, and then that was going to be served
Speaker 3: with a live a Crostino, slow cook peas and a
Speaker 3: half a pigeon. And so in theory for a nice
Speaker 3: fifty to one hundred cover lunch, that's manageable, but for
Speaker 3: that many people it was really cardgoing.
Speaker 1: It's finally because I was here the Saturday night and
Speaker 1: I saw that it was on Saturday night, I think
Speaker 1: it was Carlotta, and she was laying out the menu,
Speaker 1: you know, just saying what was available, what we're going
Speaker 1: to have, and I saw a rosta misto and I thought,
Speaker 1: whow okay, I thought it was Joseph's idea. I thought
Speaker 1: it was Joseph. Yeah, I said it was Joseph on
Speaker 1: and he thought that would be a nice thing for
Speaker 1: Sean to do on Sunday lunch. And no, the message
Speaker 1: came back it was Shann's idea. So I thought, okay,
Speaker 1: it's a Shan's idea and she's doing it.
Speaker 2: That's okay.
Speaker 1: And I did notice a few antinas, but both of
Speaker 1: them were you know, was it fun?
Speaker 2: It was? It was fun.
Speaker 3: And the fact that it was a busy day and
Speaker 3: we sort of spend the whole year knowing that in
Speaker 3: this week, the next few weeks we've got Queen's Tennis, Wimbledon,
Speaker 3: there's Henry. It's a London season. People come to London
Speaker 3: for art, people come to London for parties, don't they actually,
Speaker 3: And so the River Cafe over the next two months
Speaker 3: is full throttle, and so all the chefs know that.
Speaker 3: So people they're kind of pumped. I guess they kind
Speaker 3: of know what's expected of them.
Speaker 2: And because a few times and you don't usually you see.
Speaker 1: And the thing that scares me is when you go
Speaker 1: in there, when I'm working in there, was so you
Speaker 1: just have a build up of tickets and you see
Speaker 1: the whole line of tickets. But I never saw more
Speaker 1: than like four or five on each level of the
Speaker 1: dett Gravidge tables. I think, yeah, maybe, oh yes, did
Speaker 1: it and then took a table down.
Speaker 3: I think there were lots of bigger tables, so there
Speaker 3: were sixes and eights rather than like so you could
Speaker 3: have a whole order board full of tables of two,
Speaker 3: or you could have a smaller order board but with
Speaker 3: bigger tables. I think maybe that was it. But never
Speaker 3: has the staff drink at the end of the day.
Speaker 3: Taste is so good.
Speaker 2: That was a fun part. Decompress what you've been cooking to.
Speaker 4: What have we been cooking a lot this week? Been
Speaker 4: thinking about the pizzas this week that we've been serving
Speaker 4: and looking at the types of flour and the recipe
Speaker 4: for our pizza. Though. I like the way in the
Speaker 4: River Cafe is so it's this combination of like what
Speaker 4: chance be talking about things you do in the moment
Speaker 4: that are just you know, could be just In fact,
Speaker 4: Keith mcnaledge was just asking us about the menu, were saying,
Speaker 4: is that when do you try out stuff? You know,
Speaker 4: we can just have a go at doing something and
Speaker 4: then we might not do it again, which is really lovely.
Speaker 4: But aside that kind of incredible freedom, really there's also
Speaker 4: these things that we constantly do, like pizza and squid
Speaker 4: and it's really nice. Actually, I quite like the just
Speaker 4: digging a bit more down into We've got a new
Speaker 4: baker here who's making the dough for us, and I've
Speaker 4: been talking to him this week about making some adjustments.
Speaker 1: I think the great thing is that we've been having
Speaker 1: lately is the pesta. You know that we're doing pesta
Speaker 1: right now, and we've been waiting for pesta to start,
Speaker 1: and still I don't know how you feel about the basil,
Speaker 1: whether it's sort of that really green peppery that you
Speaker 1: get more in July. We do have a way of
Speaker 1: making it that is quite light. Now let's talk to
Speaker 1: the people who are listening about pesto. I mean, what
Speaker 1: is your idea of pesta.
Speaker 3: I would start with the basil, because we already have
Speaker 3: a situation in the kitchen with the basil, how it's prepped.
Speaker 3: Because we get this basil, which is the op basil.
Speaker 1: From described to listener what dop is?
Speaker 2: Will you describe the op basl?
Speaker 4: So it's not often it's used for wine or for
Speaker 4: things that it's come it's protected, are protected, comes from
Speaker 4: the specific place. So the basil that they grow in Liguria,
Speaker 4: I've always been told, doesn't grow anywhere else. You know,
Speaker 4: you can't. They try and take the same seeds south
Speaker 4: and it doesn't work. So the daguri and basil that
Speaker 4: we buy comes in these little light green leaves in
Speaker 4: a bunch that is protected in a box and is
Speaker 4: so delicate. As soon as you open the box and
Speaker 4: start using it, the basil starts to you know, will
Speaker 4: to go away. I'm not going to talk about how
Speaker 4: much it costs, but it's phenomenal.
Speaker 1: And because somebody listening and they might want to get
Speaker 1: this basil, can they find it?
Speaker 4: Well, we buy this basil sometimes as much as seven
Speaker 4: pounds a bunch of basil, and that's you know, bringing
Speaker 4: mind with buying boxes of it. It's very expensive.
Speaker 2: It almost looks like a bridal bouquet.
Speaker 4: Yeah, so beautiful and then a great big thing. You
Speaker 4: should see the box. It really is beautiful. Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 4: And so you're right. Over the last few years, I
Speaker 4: think we've really perfected this kind of like kind of
Speaker 4: light green paint emulsion paint type kind of pesto that
Speaker 4: is absolutely beautiful and is so and it's really useful
Speaker 4: here on days obviously days like today when it's sunny
Speaker 4: and bright, but also you know, like you get in London,
Speaker 4: you get bad weather in the summer, and I always
Speaker 4: think putting this beautiful pesta on the menu brings this
Speaker 4: brings the sun in, you know. It's a lovely way
Speaker 4: we can we can use the menu. And at the
Speaker 4: same time, sometimes when you just need a tiny bit
Speaker 4: of pesto, might make it old fashioned innner mortar and pestle,
Speaker 4: you know, putting leaf by leaf, you know, and crushing
Speaker 4: leaf by leaf and getting a slightly more rustic sort
Speaker 4: of dark green pesto, which I don't mind so much
Speaker 4: to put like a doll up in the middle of
Speaker 4: the soup or something.
Speaker 1: And I had the soup, I had the ministrooney with
Speaker 1: the in the middle. And also we do the peace
Speaker 1: soup pesta. I like pesta in soups, you know, just
Speaker 1: to a little dark what is your.
Speaker 3: We went what was the name of that restaurant we
Speaker 3: went to in Liguria? We went together where they put
Speaker 3: the bibs around an x and then they made us
Speaker 3: this super smooth pesta, and we got the feeling they
Speaker 3: were making it like literally to.
Speaker 1: Order to margarita. They give you that that very well,
Speaker 1: what's your technique for making?
Speaker 3: So there's the there's like various house styles, aren't there
Speaker 3: so since then we were like, how do they make
Speaker 3: this pesto? It's so pale green, you not like what
Speaker 3: you might imagine you can buy in a deli. It's
Speaker 3: almost I we really think farm Ball should make a
Speaker 3: paint color called the River Cave pisto.
Speaker 4: Maybe it could be a pain that sort of will
Speaker 4: go khaki quickly.
Speaker 2: Well, how would you describe the green?
Speaker 3: It's almost like it's pale, pale green.
Speaker 1: There was no pale and that comes from I mean
Speaker 1: when I was in you know, Todd in the kitchen.
Speaker 1: They put it in a vertical blender. They don't put
Speaker 1: it in the neither in the queisin, nor do they
Speaker 1: pounded or you know. Yeah, it's that verticalness which really
Speaker 1: wizards it up almost, you know, and.
Speaker 3: You're trying to avoid the basil oxidizing, really, aren't you.
Speaker 2: I think they're trying to retain the green.
Speaker 1: So tell somebody listening.
Speaker 3: So we used to think, oh do we how do
Speaker 3: they get it this pail? Then we found that with
Speaker 3: a little bunch of basil packed I found that you
Speaker 3: don't want to pick the basil pick the leaves because
Speaker 3: the stalks are so delicate that you can just.
Speaker 2: Use a stalk as well.
Speaker 3: So I would fill a large bowl of water, dip
Speaker 3: the basil head in it, and swish it around. But
Speaker 3: then any of the water that's left I think helps
Speaker 3: with thermossifying.
Speaker 2: Of the oil and water, because you need a bit
Speaker 2: of water in it.
Speaker 3: And then you have, you know, for one bunch of basil,
Speaker 3: probably fifty grams of pine nuts and maybe half a
Speaker 3: clove of garlic, probably about fifty grams of parmesan, and
Speaker 3: then we put it all in the liquidizer with a
Speaker 3: probably about one hundred fifty mili olive oil, give or take,
Speaker 3: and then switch on and the water and the oil
Speaker 3: and all of that washes up, and then it becomes
Speaker 3: this green, pale green paste which is just so you think,
Speaker 3: I wonder what that's going to taste like, and then
Speaker 3: you taste it and it's literally like all the flavors
Speaker 3: in the pesto in this smooth liquid amazing.
Speaker 2: So it's so beautiful on the plain.
Speaker 1: Also, I think, especially you know the pesta that you
Speaker 1: have in Liguria, you often have with Lasagnetti. It's very
Speaker 1: thin sheets of a pasta, and I used to watch
Speaker 1: the woman and she just would spoon it over and
Speaker 1: it was just so so thin and yet so strong.
Speaker 1: But I think you do need something liquid. You need
Speaker 1: a bit of water or something other than the olive
Speaker 1: oil and the pine nuts, because it just doesn't whizz up.
Speaker 2: You need some something.
Speaker 4: I remember a Lagurian chef who worked here, Lorenzos, Yes,
Speaker 4: Lorenzo long Ago, and I remember making pesto with him
Speaker 4: when I was, you know, a chef in the back
Speaker 4: of the kitchen with him and him asking me what
Speaker 4: the ingredients were, the classic kind of so what do
Speaker 4: you think guys did a pesta pie that's you know,
Speaker 4: cheese whatever, And he said, you've missed an ingredient now
Speaker 4: and I was like, what have I missed out? And
Speaker 4: what's your Is that water? Yeah? That was that was
Speaker 4: It was like, you need to have a little bit
Speaker 4: of water to make so good.
Speaker 1: We are now officially expecting a heat wave, okay this week,
Speaker 1: and so we've got to think about what when we
Speaker 1: order what what are we thinking about.
Speaker 3: When it gets hot and I know that we're gonna
Speaker 3: it'll be hot in the kitchen, you sort of think
Speaker 3: about the well being of the team because it's kind
Speaker 3: of I remember a few summers ago where we had
Speaker 3: a proper mega heat wave in London and we ran
Speaker 3: a sweep steak on how hot it was going to
Speaker 3: get above the grill and the person who got the temperature.
Speaker 4: Right and we bought we bought big blocks of ice
Speaker 4: and we brought these people buy to like calve, just
Speaker 4: to have them like hanging around.
Speaker 2: We don't have air conditioning.
Speaker 3: No, probably try and do the cooking early on in
Speaker 3: the morning when it's cool, and then turn the ovens off.
Speaker 3: So you like you guys say like we do, like
Speaker 3: the wild trout cooked in sea salt, or turbert in
Speaker 3: sea salt, and do vitello tonato, seabast cupacchos cold longestings
Speaker 3: with ioli.
Speaker 4: I really like fish Cookbook one.
Speaker 3: Yeah, and think about I always think about the customer
Speaker 3: sitting outside with a cold glass of rose that always
Speaker 3: looks so appetizing, and then like what food goes with what?
Speaker 2: You know?
Speaker 3: That kind of thing, isn't it. You kind of think
Speaker 3: do you want to eat finely chopped up raw veal
Speaker 3: on a boiling hot day? I don't know, you sort
Speaker 3: of think maybe not, so you probably don't be careful
Speaker 3: with rosottos on hot days. We don't often serve rosotto
Speaker 3: just because of the rice being a bit something you
Speaker 3: might not fancy on a hot day, although.
Speaker 4: There's tomato rosottos sometimes. Summary this is thank you, thank
Speaker 4: you for listening to Ruthie's Table four in partnership with
Speaker 4: Montclair