The Cafe Cook Book: Italian Recipes from London's River Cafe
At The River Café, chefs Rose Gray and Ruth Rogers serve dishes inspired by Italy's rustic regional cooking. In traditional Italian dishes, Prosciutto and Radicchio with Balsamic Vinegar and Wood-Roasted Asparagus, for example, they demonstrate the felicitous minimalism of fine Italian food. Lemon Risotto, livened with basil and mascarpone cheese, and Pigeons Braised in Red Wine, seasoned with chile, cumin, and Dijon mustard prove how these chefs are also creative. Most recipes in this book are short and simple; for Tagliatelle with Walnut Sauce, just pound the sauce ingredients together in a mortar and boil the pasta. However, dishes like Rise e Bisi, Risotto studded with green peas and seasoned with fresh mint, and most of the others in this book, require impeccable ingredients. If you go after them, you can turn out dishes as  breathtakingly flavorful as those earning raves from London diners and restaurant critics; if you do not, the results will taste pleasing  but not stunningly special. Martyn Thompson's many magnificent color photos of  the food by Gray and Rogers are so precisely vivid and engaging that they recall work by Irving Penn.--Dana Jacobi