Chef Rose Gray And Chef Ruth Rogers – Bringing the Flavors of Fresh and Home-Cooked Italian Cooking to London

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The River Café was opened on 1987 in London, and this very popular restaurant is being frequented by some of the most famous people in Europe. River Café is the brainchild of friends and co-owners Chef Ruth Rogers and the late Chef Rose Gray, who passed away just this year from cancer. Together, they have created what is now considered as one of the most influential restaurants in this side of the world, a restaurant that enjoys visits from the richest men of the world.

Chef Rose Gray was born in Bedford on the 28th of January 1939 and grew up in England. She took up Fine Arts at the Guildford College of Art where she received her degree. This was also where she met and befriended Richard Rogers. After she graduated from college, she moved to London where she became a teacher of Fine Arts at a school for girls as well as a company owner that manufactures furniture as well as lamp shades that you can assemble yourself. She also worked at the stove manufacturing industry. In the mid 1980s, she and her family moved to New York where she found work at an Italian restaurant, Nell’s. Restaurant life interested here that she thought of opening one when they return to London.

Chef Ruth Rogers was born in Woodstock, New York. At the age of 19 years old, she went to London and enrolled herself at The London College of Printing where she took up Typography and Graphic Design. It was here that she met her husband, Richard, who came from an Italian family. Although she has always been interested in cooking, having learned how to cook for herself when she was just a student, her interest greatly grew during the years that she spent with Richard. Dada, his mother, became a very big influence in Chef Rogers’ culinary career.

It was in the 1970s that the two women met. They would attend the same dinner parties, and they would also find themselves attending the same anti-war marches. It was through these constant meetings that they fast became good friends that, in 1987, they decided to finally open their own restaurant, The River Café, with the aim of bringing the flavors of fresh and home-cooked Italian cooking to London.

The two friends had no formal culinary training, so what they knew of cooking, they learned through experience, through trial and error, and through Dada who have become a very big influence in their cooking style. However, they created a cuisine that soon became very popular in the neighborhood. But what greatly helped in the popularity of their restaurant was Chef Rogers’ husband, who was very well connected. He is an architect and has so many connections that, pretty soon, his friends and acquaintances would drop by the restaurant for their meals.

But, of course, this alone was not what pushed them to the top. The two friends have truly defined what authentic home-cooking really is all about and introduced it to the world. The cuisine they have created at The River Café have made a big name for itself in the culinary world, and they have also created a very illustrious name for themselves that many young chefs would come to their restaurant, train under them, and work at their kitchens. In fact, their restaurant has created brilliant chefs out of young cooks, some of which include Jamie Oliver, a very brilliant young chef who now hosts his own TV cook shows, and Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall, who is also a very successful chef in the culinary world.

Aside from being a great chef who was mostly self-taught, Chef Rogers has also co-written cookbooks with her partner, Chef Gray, and their published cookbooks have been well-received by many.

The River Café has earned its own Michelin star in 1998 and, this year, they have been named as the 82nd best restaurant in the world by the San Pellegrino. 2010 was a very bittersweet year for The River Café though. On one hand, they earned a spot on the San Pellegrino list, and on the other hand, they lost Chef Gray. She passed away this February 2010 from cancer.

Chefs Rose Gray and Ruth Rogers’ Roasted Rhubarbs

Ingredients:

14 ounces rhubarb
1 blood or navel orange (or 1 lemon)
2 vanilla beans or 1 teaspoon of pure vanilla extract (or more to taste)
3 tablespoons Demerara sugar (more if you’re using the lemon)
2/3 cup creme fraiche (optional)

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 300 degrees. Cut the rhubarb into 2-to-2 1/2-inch pieces and place in a medium bowl. Finely grate the zest of half the orange over the rhubarb and then squeeze the juice of the whole orange into the bowl. Split the vanilla beans and scrape out the seeds and place both in the bowl. Add the sugar and stir to combine.

2. Pour the rhubarb into a baking dish and arrange the pieces so that they lie flat. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes. Remove the vanilla pods. Serve with creme fraiche.

Servings: Serves 4.

Image Credit: telegraph.co.uk

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