Italian Two Easy
This might be a case where it is acceptable to judge a book by its cover. The clean, fresh, hip design on the cover of Rose Gray and Ruth Rogers’ Italian Two Easy: Simple Recipes from the London River Cafe apparently matches the contents of the cookbook, published in June of this year. Gray and Rogers co-founded the River Cafe in London, England, which is both an Italian restaurant and a magnet for the rich and famous. Reviews of the restaurant consistently note how expensive it is, but do not despair because the chefs use the cookbook to share some of their coveted secrets.
According to Publisher’s Weekly, the techniques utilized in Italian Two Easy are, at first blush, highly complicated. However, the recipes are “appealing and time-conscious.” Examples of the recipes include: Fried Eggplant, Basil and Tomato; Orecchiette, Tomato, Ricotta; Sea Bass Baked in Sea Salt; and Chocolate and Coffee Sorbet. Publisher’s Weekly was not impressed by the organization of the book, which they refer to as odd and haphazard. The recipes are “divided into chapters such as Mozzarella, Tomato Pasta and “Fish with….” One bonus for Publisher’s Weekly was the addition of full-page color photos and a list of Italian food suppliers. The most scathing criticism is reserved for the basics: “yet, basic information such as serving sizes (listed away from recipes) and curiously placed headnotes, which warn of unusual ingredients or difficult preparation (placed at the end of instruction), are counterintuitive.”
Booklist was much happier with Italian Two Easy, praising its reliance on fresh, seasonal ingredients that are combined in unique ways. Most importantly (to me, at least), Booklist found that many “of these recipes make getting a meal on the table after a day’s work less burdensome and require only a modicum of planning and shopping.”
Magdalena Ball at the Compulsive Reader found that the organization of the cookbook worked well:
The book is set up in order of when you might serve the foods in a meal, beginning with salads (including a section of 12 salads solely devoted to mozzarella), salted, smoked and dried fish and meat–primarily starters–pastas, soups, fish, birds, roasted meats, grilled fish and meat, vegetables, baked fruit, puddings, chocolate and coffee. There is also a chapter devoted to providing instructions on cooking basic Italian provisions such as wet polenta, beans, porcini, making your own breadcrumbs, and organizing an Italian store cupboard.
I guess we will just have to decide for ourselves who to agree with!
