'Italian Christmas cooking is all about making things as easy as possible on the day, so everybody can get out of the kitchen to promenade about in their new outfits. The emphasis is on simple, seasonal food that will appeal to older and younger family members.'
Rose Gray

Roasted pumpkin

Serves 4

500g pumpkin or squash, peeled and cut into 2cm-thick wedges
1 bunch fresh thyme leaves
100ml extra-virgin olive oil
2 garlic cloves, peeled and chopped
sea salt and black pepper

Preheat the oven to 220°C/gas 7. Put the pumpkin in a bowl with the other ingredients. Mix thoroughly. Place in a baking dish and bake for 20 minutes, turning the pieces over from time to time until they are brown and
soft inside.

Roast pheasant with pancetta and spumanti

Serves 4

2 pheasant
1 small savoy cabbage
2 tbs extra-virgin olive oil
50g unsalted butter
10 slices pancetta
4 garlic cloves, peeled and cut in half lengthways
3 tbs sage leaves
350ml spumanti
sea salt
black pepper

Preheat the oven to 200°C/gas 6. Wipe the pheasants inside and out, trim off the fat and season. Remove the tough outer leaves from the cabbage, cut in half, and cut out the core. Slice into 2 cm-wide strips.

In a heavy saucepan, big enough to hold both pheasants, heat a tablespoon of olive oil. Brown the birds well. Remove them from the pan and tip out the oil. Melt the butter and add the pancetta, the garlic and the sage. Cook to soften, then add the spumanti and bring to the boil. Return the birds to the pan. Roast in the preheated oven for 30 minutes, depending on the size. Baste with the spumanti from time to time.

Cook the cabbage in boiling salted water until tender, about 8 minutes, then drain well. Remove the pheasant from the casserole. Stir the cabbage into the juices and serve with the pheasant.

Lenticchie

Serves 4

100g puy or castellucio lentils
3tbs extra-virgin olive oil
2-3 tbsp chopped herbs - mint or parsley
sea salt and black pepper

Wash the lentils and place in a heavy-bottomed saucepan. Cover with plenty of cold water and bring to the boil. Simmer very gently for about 20 minutes or until the lentils are al dente. Drain, add the olive oil and herbs, season. Return to the heat to warm and soften the herbs.

Serve warm.

Tagliatelle with dried porcini and sage

Serves 4

35g dried porcini
1 lemon
100g unsalted butter
2 garlic cloves, peeled and finely sliced
10 sage leaves
1 dried chilli, crumbled
4 tbs double cream
sea salt
black pepper
320g egg tagliatelle

Soak the porcini in 200ml of hot water for 20 minutes. Cut the peel of half the lemon into strips.

Drain the porcini, reserving the water. Rinse the porcini and roughly chop. Strain the liquid through muslin.

Melt the butter in a thick-bottomed pan and add the garlic, sage and chilli. Colour, then add the porcini. Fry until soft, then add 4 tablespoons of the liquid, and simmer until most of the juice has been absorbed. Add the cream and lemon peel, and reduce until the sauce is creamy and thick. Season.

Cook the tagliatelle in boiling salted water until al dente, then drain. Add to the sauce, and turn over to coat each ribbon.

Smoked eel, celery, capers

Serves 4

500g smoked eel on the bone
2 celery heads and leaves
50g salted capers, rinsed
1 tbs red wine vinegar
2 dried chillies, crumbled
extra-virgin olive oil

Pull off the tough green stalks of the celery. Cut the heart in half lengthways, wash, and then finely shave, keeping a few of the tender pale leaves.

Put the capers in a small bowl and pour over the red wine vinegar.

Skin and slice the eel, and divide between four plates. Scatter over the chilli, then place the celery on the plate and scatter with the capers. Drizzle olive oil over the eel and celery to serve.

Pears with cinnamon

Serves 4

4 williams pears
200ml dry white wine
200g caster sugar
1 cinnamon stick

Peel the pears, leaving a bit of the peel on the pear. Cut each pear in half lengthways, remove the core and cut each half into six. Put the pears, wine and sugar in a bowl, pressing them into the marinade. Cover with clingfilm touching the surface of the wine, and leave for 10 hours in the fridge.

Put the wine, cinnamon and sugar into a thick- bottomed pan, bring to the boil, and reduce by half to a thick syrup. Add the pears, reduce heat and cook for 10 minutes. Let cool.

• The River Café, Thames Wharf, Rainville Road, London W6, 020 7386 4200; rivercafe.co.uk