Since 1993 I have changed my career, my home, the people I know and the person I live with. In various moves I have lost old photos, the music of my youth and a library full of books. The one constant is my most valued cookbooks, with Leaves from the Walnut Tree among them.

I remember buying it when it was first published in 1993 and I have that weathered edition in front of me as I write. The dust cover is slightly torn so the green cloth cover pokes through from under the now faded wood engravings of walnut leaves. There are no photographs and it is all in black and white. Photography dates a book for good or ill.

The pages fall open at a bresaola recipe which has been used by so many chefs that it is probably Franco Taruschio’s greatest contribution to food. I was at Moor Hall recently and they served the cured beef at the start of the meal. The chef, Mark Birchall, worked for Franco in the latter years of his tenure at the Walnut Tree. Even Birchall’s cutting-edge Lancashire restaurant, with its two Michelin stars, still has a link to a place three miles outside Abergavenny that opened in 1963 serving food that was a mystery to nearly everyone.

There are recipes for classic Italian dishes that went from curiosities to part of the British culinary mainstream. A special mention must go to the famous vincisgrassi, a lasagne made with porcini, truffle and parma ham.

I make no bones about the debt I owe the Walnut Tree, even though I went just once. I turned up on a Tuesday lunchtime thinking I would easily get in, only to bag the last table. It felt like a cult where everyone seemed to know each other and looked happier than regular people. It was a special place and this is a special book.
Stephen Harris is chef-owner of the Sportsman, Seasalter

Focaccia with olive, onion & rosemary – focaccia con olive, cipolle e rosmarino

Serves 6
flour 900g
salt a pinch
fresh yeast 60g
warm water 350ml
sugar a pinch
extra virgin olive oil 150ml, plus 6 tbsp
dry white wine 150ml
stoned black olives 400g, halved
coarse sea salt
rosemary
onion 1, sliced in slivers

Put the flour and salt in a bowl and make a well. Dissolve the yeast in ½ a glass of the warm water, adding a pinch of sugar. Leave to froth.

Stir the yeast into the flour. Stir in the 150ml of oil and the wine, then add the rest of the water. Knead for 10-15 minutes, adding a little flour if it is too sticky. Then add two-thirds of the stoned olives. Leave the dough to rise in a warm draught-free place for 1-2 hours, covered with a cloth.

Punch the dough down and knead for 1-2 minutes. Roll out the dough into 3 oblongs: 25cm x 38cm x 1cm. Sprinkle generously with sea salt and the rest of the olives. Press in little sprigs of rosemary and thin slivers of onion. Make depressions with your thumb all over the dough. Bake in a very hot oven (250C/gas mark 9) for 25 minutes. Eat hot, sprinkled with the 6 tbsp of extra virgin olive oil.

Vincisgrassi – an 18th-century pasta dish

Vincisgrassi is a speciality of the Marche region of Italy, in particular of Macerata. The story goes that it was named after an Austrian general, Windisch Graetz, who was with his troops in Ancona in 1799 during the Napoleonic war. Actually Antonio Nebbia, who wrote a gastronomic manual in 1784, mentioned in his book a similar dish called Princisgras.

Serves 6
For the pasta
farina O or strong plain flour 500g
whole eggs 2, plus 4 egg yolks
salt 1 tsp

For the sauce
butter 150g
flour 60g
milk 1.2 litres
porcini 400g, sliced
extra virgin olive oil 60ml
parma ham 200g, cut in julienne
single cream 200g
parsley 3 tbsp, finely chopped
salt and freshly ground black pepper

parmesan 150g, freshly grated
truffle oil or, if possible, a little shaved white truffle

Make a dough from the pasta ingredients, knead well and roll through a pasta machine as you would for lasagne. Cut the pasta lengths into squares approximately 12.5cm square. Cook the squares in plenty of boiling salted water a few at a time. Place on linen cloths to drain.

For the sauce, melt 50g of the butter, add the flour and blend in well. Add the milk, which has been previously heated, a little at a time beating well with a balloon whisk. Cook the porcini in the olive oil and add to the béchamel. Stir in the parma ham. Add the cream and parsley, season, and bring to the boil. Turn off the heat.

To assemble the vincisgrassi, butter a gratin dish and cover the bottom with a layer of pasta, then spread over a layer of béchamel, dot with butter and sprinkle with some parmesan. Continue the process making layer after layer, finishing with a béchamel layer and a sprinkling of parmesan. Cook in an oven preheated to 220C/gas mark 7 for 20 minutes. Serve with a little truffle oil splashed on top or, better still, with shavings of white truffle, and a little parmesan.

Grilled scampi – scampi alla griglia

Serves 4
scampi 20 large, raw, shells left on (langoustines)
fresh white breadcrumbs 30g
extra virgin olive oil 8 tbsp
garlic 1 clove, finely chopped
parsley 6 tbsp, finely chopped
dried chilli flakes a pinch
salt and freshly ground black pepper
parmesan 4 tbsp, freshly grated
lemon wedges for serving

Wash the scampi thoroughly and split them not quite through lengthways. Flatten and remove the grey sac. Mix the breadcrumbs, 4 tbsp of the olive oil, garlic, parsley, chilli flakes, salt and freshly ground black pepper together. Cover the body part of the scampi with this mixture. Sprinkle the head part with parmesan. Sprinkle the rest of the oil over the scampi, place on the wire rack of the grill and grill for 10-12 minutes depending on size. When the flesh of the scampi looks milky it is cooked. Serve with lemon wedges.

Breast of chicken with radicchio, mozzarella & parma ham – petto di pollo con radicchio, mozzarella e prosciutto di parma

Serves 4
For the chicken
boneless chicken breasts 4, skin and wing tips removed
parma ham 4 slices
radicchio 4 leaves
mozzarella 1 ball, cut into quarters
egg 1, beaten and seasoned with salt and freshly ground black pepper
flour
dried breadcrumbs
olive oil for deep-frying
tomato coulis (see below)

For the tomato coulis (makes 900ml)
tomatoes 1kg, very ripe
onion 2 tbsp, finely chopped
garlic 2 tbsp, finely chopped
extra virgin olive oil 2 tbsp
salt and freshly ground black pepper

To make the tomato coulis, roughly chop the tomatoes. Gently fry the onion and garlic in the olive oil until soft and golden, add the tomatoes and cook until soft. Season the sauce with salt and pepper. Pass the tomato mixture through a vegetable mill.

Split the breasts, remove the fillet and flatten out the breast and fillet between 2 sheets of greaseproof paper. Cover each breast with a slice of parma ham, a radicchio leaf and a quarter of mozzarella, and cover with the fillet. Roll the breast up and seal with a little egg wash. Dust the breast with flour, then dip in the egg wash and finally roll in the breadcrumbs.

Deep-fry in olive oil for 10-12 minutes. The oil must not be too hot or the breadcrumbs will cook before the meat. This is the time when only personal judgment can be used, according to the equipment one is using. The breadcrumbs should be golden brown.

Serve with 2 tbsp of tomato coulis on each plate with the chicken breast cut in half diagonally on top. The mozzarella should ooze out showing the colours of the ham and radicchio.

Sicilian cheesecake – cassata siciliana

Serves 6
pan di spagna (plain sponge cake) 1, sliced into 4 slabs (see below)
ricotta 450g
sugar 30g
double cream 2 tbsp
mixed candied fruit peel 4 heaped tbsp, chopped
plain chocolate 60g, coarsely chopped
Strega or maraschino liqueur

For the coating
plain or bitter chocolate 225g
espresso coffee 6 tbsp
butter 175g

For the pan di spagna
eggs 2 large
caster sugar 45g
plain flour 45g, sifted
baking powder ¼ tsp

To make the pan di spagna, preheat the oven to 180C/gas mark 4. Grease a swiss roll tin and line it with greased greaseproof paper.

Separate the eggs, add the sugar to the yolks and whisk until the mixture is fluffy. With a clean dry whisk, whisk the whites until stiff. Fold the egg whites with a metal spoon into the egg and sugar mixture, alternating with the combined sifted flour and baking powder. Spoon the mixture into the prepared tin and bake for 10 minutes. Leave the cake in the tin for 5 minutes before turning out onto a wire rack. When cool, slice into 4 equal pieces.

To make the cheesecake, pass the ricotta through a food mill, add the sugar and cream, and beat until smooth. Fold in the candied peel and chopped chocolate.

Sprinkle the bottom slab of sponge with liqueur, cover generously with the ricotta mixture, and place another slab of sponge cake on top. Repeat this process with the liqueur and ricotta until all the slabs are used up. End with a plain slice of sponge cake. Gently press the loaf together to make it compact and refrigerate for at least 2 hours.

To make the coating, melt the dark chocolate with the espresso coffee in a bain-marie over a low heat. Beat in the butter, a knob at a time. Beat until thickened to a spreading consistency. Spread the chocolate all over the sponge cake. Refrigerate for at least a day before using.

Leaves from the Walnut Tree: Recipes of a Lifetime by Ann and Franco Taruschio is available secondhand