Walnut Tree In

An obscure hillside in Wales seemed an unlikely place to establish a top-class Italian restaurant almost 40 years ago. But Franco and Ann Taruschio are an unusual couple in almost every respect, with a determination, dedication and clarity of vision that few restaurateurs possess.

It took them some years to wean the Walnut Tree's existing clientele off roast chicken and scampi in the basket and on to Italian classics from Franco's native Marche region, using local Welsh produce - an unheard of practice in those days. It took them even longer before they started registering with the wider eating public, but, with the support of the likes of Elizabeth David and Simon Hopkinson, little by little the Walnut Tree became famous. But it never became smart, or pompous, and it never lost its accessibility. Franco and Ann retired last year, but their vision continues in the hands of Stephen Terry and Francesco Mattioli.

Brodetto
The fish stew of the Marche, as made in Wales by Franco Taruschio. Serves six.

1.6kg mixed fish (red mullet, monkfish, whiting, gurnard, sole, mussels and Dublin Bay prawns), as available
425g squid
1 onion, chopped very fine
1 clove garlic, crushed
3 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
6 ripe plum tomatoes, peeled, seeded and chopped
150ml dry white wine
White-wine vinegar
425g plum tomato passato or coulis
3 tbsp finely chopped parsley
Toasted country bread

Clean the fish and cut them into largish chunks. Clean the mussels and prawns, but do not shell the prawns. Discard any mussels that are damaged or open. Clean the squid and slice finely.

Fry the onion and garlic in olive oil in a shallow pan (preferably one with two handles) until golden. Add the squid and cook for three to four minutes. Stir in all the tomatoes together with the wine and a few drops of vinegar.

After a few minutes, add two tablespoons of the parsley, then the prawns and the thicker pieces of fish. Cook for a few minutes, then add the remaining fish and the mussels. Cover, and cook over a medium heat until the fish is done, shaking the pan gently from time to time so that the sauce does not stick. Remove the pan from the heat and leave to rest, covered, for a couple of minutes. Serve sprinkled with the rest of the parsley and bread toasted on the griddle.
Walnut Tree Inn, Llandewi Skirid, Monmouthshire, 01873 852797

Sharrow Bay

Francis Coulson founded Sharrow Bay in 1948. Founded may seem to be a rather weighty word for setting up a country house hotel, but over the course of the near-half century that he and his partner Brian Sack ran Sharrow Bay, it became an institution, a shining example, a unique landmark and an enduring sanctuary from the grim turmoil of everyday life. That was always Coulson's objective. Having served as an ambulance driver in the second world war, he was determined to create a place that was the antithesis of all he had seen and experienced. It was the first place of its kind. Devoid of snobbery or pretence, it set a standard of civilised comfort and high-quality cooking that few other hotels have managed to equal.

Coulson died in 1998, but the hotel sails serenely on, with Sack still at the helm. Sharrow Bay's sticky toffee pudding not only exemplifies the establishment's staunch advocacy of the use of butter and cream, but is probably the most imitated pudding in the country.

Sticky toffee sponge
A true landmark dish, if ever there was one. Serves six.

50g unsalted butter
175g caster sugar
2 eggs
175g dates, chopped
300ml water
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
175g self-raising flour
1 tsp vanilla essence

For the sauce

300ml double cream
50g demerara sugar
1 dssp black treacle

Preheat the oven to 175C/350F/gas mark 4. With a fork or whisk, cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy, then add the eggs and beat well. Boil the dates in the water until soft, and add the bicarbonate of soda. Mix the flour, date mix and vanilla essence with the butter cream, pour into a greased baking tin about 20cm by 13cm, and bake for about 30-40 minutes, until just firm to the touch.

To make the sauce, boil all the ingredients together. Pour over the top of the sponge until it is covered (there will be some left over), then place under a hot grill until it begins to bubble. Remove, cut into squares, and serve with the remaining sauce.
Sharrow Bay, Ullswater, Cumbria, 017684 86301

Kensington Place

If there has been one outstanding characteristic of the development of a restaurant culture over the past 15 years or so, it is the democratisation of eating out. Before Kensington Place, eating out, in reality, meant fine dining - hush and plush and gilt-framed mirrors, shimmering waiters, maître d's of fearsome mien, and food that took second place to the table cloth, cutlery and glasses.

Post KP, with its vast, plate-glass windows putting lunchers and diners on display and inviting passers-by to drop in, coupled with Julian Whickham's pared-down, bright and breezy interior, fixed-price menus, sassy waiters, total absence of table dressing and Rowley Leigh's unfussy, beautifully balanced, classically based food, suddenly restaurants weren't temples of gastronomy - they were accessible, they were fun, they were for us.

The great explosion of Banks, Quaglino's, L'Odéons, Oxo Towers, Avenues that brightened up our lives in the late 20th century was made possible by Kensington Place, whether Mr Leigh et al like it or not.

Griddled scallops with pea purée and mint
The epitome of the Kensington Place approach to cooking. Serves 10.

3-5 scallops per person, cut in half if large

For the pea purée

50g butter
1 onion, sliced
1 small lettuce, shredded
2 mint leaves
250g peas (fresh or frozen)
tsp sugar
125-150ml dry white wine
150ml double cream
1 tsp lemon juice
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

For the mint vinaigrette

3 sprigs fresh mint, leaves picked and finely chopped
1 tsp sugar
50ml boiling white-wine vinegar
50ml light, clean-tasting oil (ie, sunflower or groundnut)
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

To make the pea purée, heat half the butter in a casserole, add the sliced onion and cook until softened. Add the lettuce, mint, peas, sugar, salt, pepper and white wine. Cook gently for about 30 minutes, until the peas are tender. Boil off any excess liquid, add the cream and reduce again. Purée the mixture with the remaining butter and the lemon juice.

To make the vinaigrette, place the chopped mint in a bowl, add the sugar and a generous pinch of salt, then cover with the boiling vinegar. Infuse for a few minutes, then add salt and pepper to taste, and whisk in the oil.

To finish, sear the scallops in a hot pan, preferably a griddle, and place a serving around the outside of each plate. Add a good scoop of pea purée in the middle and drizzle a couple of teaspoonfuls of vinaigrette around the scallops.
Kensington Place, 201 Kensington Church Street, London W8, 020 7727 3184

River Cafe

At almost the same time as KP was making its mark, the redoubtable Ruth Rogers and Rose Gray were turning the staff canteen for the Richard Rogers Partnership architectural practice into the most famous Italian restaurant in Britain. The River Cafe is a landmark not simply because it proved that you can turn an undistinguished corner of London into a place of pilgrimage for smart folk of media, politics and other socially desirable callings, but because it is emblematic of our love affair with all things Italian. It made Italian food sexy, fashionable, desirable and, in a curious way, meritocratic.

In promoting itself, the River Cafe promoted extra-virgin olive oils, sexy vinegars, ultra-fresh mozzarella, dazzling salads and all the rest. It helped establish the principle of the primacy of the very best raw materials that money could buy. Ruth and Rose carefully and cleverly brought Italian dishes into line with British expectations, without losing the inspiration and quality of the original. And there they are, still at it.

Rotolo di spinaci
The River Cafe version of a classic dish. Serves four to six.

For the pasta (makes kg of dough)

350g plain flour
tsp salt
2 whole eggs
4-5 egg yolks
Semolina flour, for dusting

For the filling

20g butter
red onion, peeled and finely chopped
1 handful fresh marjoram
800g fresh spinach, washed, blanched and chopped
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 tbsp olive oil
65g dried porcini mushrooms, reconstituted in warm water
2 garlic cloves, peeled and chopped
225g field mushrooms, coarsely sliced
350g fresh ricotta
65g Parmesan, freshly grated
Freshly grated nutmeg

For the sage butter

225g unsalted butter
1 bunch fresh sage, leaves picked

Make the pasta dough. Put the flour and salt in a processor, add the eggs and egg yolks. Pulse until the dough begins to come together in a loose ball. Knead on a flat surface, dusted with semolina and a little extra flour, until smooth. (If the dough is a stiff and hard to knead, you may have to return it to the processor and add another whole egg.) Knead into a ball, wrap in clingfilm, and rest in the fridge for at least 20 minutes and up to two hours.

To make the filling, heat the butter in a pan and fry the onion until soft, then add the marjoram and spinach. Stir to combine the flavours, season, then set aside.

Drain the porcini, reserving the soaking liquid. Wash to remove the grit. Heat the oil in a pan, and fry the garlic gently for a few minutes. Add the field mushrooms, stirring all the time, and cook fast for five minutes. Add the porcini and continue to fry gently for 20 minutes, adding a little of their soaking liquid from time to time, to keep the mushrooms moist, but not wet. Season and leave to cool. When cold, chop roughly.

Put the ricotta in a large bowl, mix lightly with a fork to break it up, then add the spinach mixture, Parmesan and a generous amount of nutmeg. Add salt and pepper if necessary. Set aside.

Roll out the pasta by hand into a large sheet, as thin as possible (or put it through a pasta machine according to manufacturer's instructions) - it does not matter if there are a few holes or tears - and dust with semolina flour as you do so. Cut the edges to straighten. You should have a piece of about 30cm square. If you have a pasta machine, roll out two strips and join to make a square by brushing the edges with water to seal.

Spoon the mushroom mixture along the edge of the pasta nearest to you, in a line about 3cm wide. Cover the rest of the pasta with the spinach and ricotta mix to a thickness of about 1cm. Now, starting with the mushroom edge and working away from you, gently roll up the pasta into a large sausage.

Place the pasta roll on a large clean tea towel and wrap as tightly as you can. Secure with string to hold the roll in shape. Fill a fish kettle with water and bring to the boil. Add salt and the pasta roll, cover and simmer for 18-20 minutes, according to the thickness of the roll. We usually make rolls of 6-7cm in diameter.

In the meantime, make the sage butter: heat the butter gently until it separates, pour off the clarified butter, return this to the heat and, when very hot, add the sage for a second or two, then remove from the heat and finish the dish. Unwrap the pasta roll, place on a board, and cut into 1cm in slices. Serve four to six slices per person, with grated Parmesan and sage butter.
The River Cafe, Thames Wharf Studios, Rainville Road, London W6, 020 7386 4200

The Eagle

Here is a genuine original, the first of its kind, a template, and still one of the best. When it comes to eating out in its widest and most accessible sense, the gastropub, for want of a better expression, is the future. Quite why it isn't the past as well is something of a mystery, but pubs serving well-conceived, well-cooked fresh food are Britain's answer to the brasserie, ubiquitous and open to all. That isn't to say that there weren't any pubs serving good food before the Eagle. There were. But Michael Belben and David Eyre made it funky and rock and rolly.

Formality was the enemy. Mismatched, but comfortable, furni ture and rather fundamental decor set the scene for belling human voices, buzz, energy. It was the university bar gone metro-sophisticated, with European fast food long on flavour and short on fancy plate arrangements. And, as we know, it has spawned a thousand imitators. May it spawn a thousand more - if any of them are a tenth as good as the original, they will give a lot of people a lot of pleasure.

Bife Ana
Aka The Eagle Steak Sandwich, and the only dish to have been on the menu every day since it opened. Serves two.

500g rump steak, thinly sliced
2 large crusty rolls
2 tbsp olive oil
Cos lettuce leaves
Salt

For the marinade

1 onion, thinly sliced
1 clove garlic, chopped
1 small dried chilli, crushed
1 bayleaf, broken up
1 tbsp chopped parsley
1 tsp dried oregano
2 tbsp red wine
3 tbsp olive oil
Freshly ground black pepper

Mix together all the ingredients for the marinade, add the steak, and leave to marinate for a few hours (but not longer than eight hours). Remove the steaks from the marinade, then strain the marinade and set aside.

Warm the rolls in a medium oven. Heat a heavy-based frying pan until very, very hot, then add the olive oil and fry the steaks very quickly - if the pan is hot enough, they will need to be turned within a minute. Remove the steaks and keep warm, then add the dry ingredients from the marinade to the pan, along with some salt.

Cut the rolls in half and arrange the lettuce and then the meat on the lower halves. Add the strained marinade liquid to the pan, let this bubble and reduce a little, then pour on to the top halves of the rolls. Close the sandwiches and eat immediately, with both hands.
The Eagle, 159 Farringdon Road, London EC1, 020 7837 1353

Le Manoir Aux Quat' Saisons

To be strictly accurate, I would like to have included Raymond Blanc's original gastro-blasting Quat' Saisons, based in Summertown, Oxford, which helped him leap, fully formed, to the forefront of creative cooking in Britain. Those who ate there still go misty-eyed at the memory. But I had a look at some of the recipes of the dishes he served there, and they were so paralysingly complex I had to abandon the idea. What makes Le Manoir such a landmark, however, is not the opulence of the place, the magnificence of the gardens, the subtlety of the service or the majesty of the cooking. It is the fact that through its kitchens has passed a roll call of some of the finest chefs of the past 15 years - White, Burton-Race, Loubet, Heathcote, Caines, Patterson and Neat to name but a few - who themselves have gone on to establish classic restaurants of their own, and in the process raise the general standard of eating to the benefit of all. Blanc, as well as being a chef of protean inventiveness, helps bring out the creative qualities in others.

Sarcelle rôtie au fumet de vin rouge à l'embeurée d'endives
Or roast teal with a red wine sauce on a bed of chicory, a gem from the Blanc kitchen. Serves four.

4 teal, unhung
1 tsp unsalted butter
1 tsp sunflower, corn or groundnut oil

For the sauce

2 shallots, finely chopped
celery stalk, finely diced
1 small carrot, finely diced
100g field or button mushrooms, finely sliced
1 sprig fresh thyme
bayleaf
2 tsp unsalted butter
The carcasses from the teal
1 tbsp red wine vinegar
200ml strong red wine (Rîhne or Bergerac)
200ml veal stock
2 tbsp whipping cream
1 small tsp redcurrant jelly (if required; see recipe for details)
Salt and freshly ground pepper

For the garnish

1 head chicory
1 tsp unsalted butter
1 tsp whipping cream
1 pinch caster sugar
Lemon juice

First, prepare the teal (this should take around 10 minutes). Singe the birds over an open flame to remove stubble. Cut off the feet just below the knee joints and, with a boning knife, cut out the wishbones. Truss the birds and set aside. Preheat the oven to 200C/400F/gas mark 6.

Next, make the mirepoix (aka vegetable dice, for the sauce; also about 10 minutes, including the chopping). Mix all the diced vegetables with the thyme and bayleaf, then set aside.

Now, prepare the garnish (about five minutes). Cut off the base of the chicory, and discard. Wash, drain and halve the head lengthways. Slice finely, and place in a small saucepan, along with two tablespoons of cold water, the butter, cream, caster sugar and a small squeeze of lemon juice. Season with a tiny pinch of salt and two grinds of pepper, and set aside.

You're now ready to start the cooking. First, prepare the sauce (about 20 minutes). Sear the teal necks and wings in two teaspoonfuls of butter for around five minutes, add the mirepoix mix and colour lightly. Deglaze with the vinegar, letting it evaporate completely. Add the wine, and reduce by half to remove the alcohol and excess acidity, then pour in 100ml cold water and the veal stock. Bring to the boil, skim, then stir in the cream. Simmer for 10 minutes. Strain through a fine sieve into a small saucepan and reduce to a richly-coloured sauce of good texture. Taste - if it is too acidic, add the redcurrant jelly. Season with a pinch of salt, and a few turns of pepper, then loosen the sauce with two tablespoons of cold water. Keep the sauce warm.

Now it is time to cook the birds, and finish the sauce (10 minutes, plus 10 minutes' resting time). In a large frying pan, heat the butter and oil until hot, put in the birds on their thighs and sear for two minutes on each side. Transfer to the oven (still on their thighs) for a further four minutes, then turn and cook for four minutes more. Pour off the fat, and leave the birds to rest for five minutes, covered loosely with foil. Carve. Season the insides of the breasts with a pinch of salt and a turn of pepper, and set aside in a warm place (ideally, around 60C/140F), covered with foil. Chop up the carcasses, add them to the sauce, simmer for five minutes, then strain into another pan, pressing down on the carcasses to extract as much flavour as possible.

Finally, cook the garnish and serve (about seven minutes in total). Place the chicory pan over a high heat, cover and boil for 30 seconds. Remove from the heat, taste and adjust the seasoning. Warm four dinner plates. Warm the breasts and thighs of teal in the oven for three to four minutes. Slice the breasts into fine escalopes and arrange in an attractive mound in the middle of each plate. Rest the thighs and legs on top, and surround with finely sliced chicory. Spoon the sauce around and serve immediately.
Le Manoir Aux Quat' Saisons, Church Road, Great Milton, Oxon, 01844 278881