The food we cook in The Italian Kitchen, like the food we cook in the River Cafe, is inspired by the seasons – late spring and early summer in series one and autumn and early winter in series two.

We want you to be as excited as we are by the variety of vegetables and other produce which are particular to these seasons and learn as we did to use basil in the summer when the flavour is pungent, make polenta in the autumn when the maize has just been milled, and cook fennel in the winter before the bulbs start to shoot and into tough stalks.

All the recipes we cook in the programmes can be cooked at home. We demonstrate the techniques we use in the restaurant, and work with alternative equipment – griddle pans instead of the char-grill and domestic ovens at high heat instead of the wood oven. In every programme there are simple recipes with few ingredients that can be prepared quickly such as Spaghetti al Limone as well as demanding ones such as Bollito Misto – but all the recipes represent what is, to us, the essence of Italian food.

The photographs in this book are of the people who make the Parmesan, find the truffles, produce the wine and press the olives. Their care and precision, their passion and knowledge inspire us. We want, through this book, and the television series, to inspire you to cook these recipes, to get pleasure from using such special ingredients and to feel more confident and knowledgeable about cooking Italian food, the food we love most.