Imagine a velvety soft summer evening on a deck overlooking one of New York’s Finger Lakes, or, an expanse of lush lawn somewhere in Colorado’s Rocky Mountains. Or, it could be anywhere that care has been taken to set a fine table.
After finishing their Cocktail Puccini, named for composer Giacomo Puccini, containing tangerine, mandarine Napoleon liqueur and extra dry prosecco, opera lovers revel in the beautiful evening while they finish munching on a Melba toast hors d’oeuvres topped with a cream cheese, sour cream, cucumber, and chives spread.
Australian soprano Nellie Melba was the inspiration for this versatile, delicate toast, which can also be used as a soup accompaniment. She also inspired Peaches Melba, a delicious, popular dessert. But, we have to wait for dessert, because these imagined diners are about to sit down to a special al fresco dinner consisting entirely of dishes named after opera singers and composers.
Al fresco dining can't be beat, especially with musical morsels on the menu. Courtesy of Greece Sotheby’s International Realty
Food and Music, Together
Famous opera stars and composers have inspired recipes for over 100 years. Our imagined, semi-formal dinner is compiled of some of the best of these recipes. We'll begin the gastric fantasy with a fish course, “Crab and Shrimp Pavarotti,” named for tenor Luciano Pavarotti. I found three variations on this recipe. All were casseroles that included bread crumbs, evaporated milk, onion, parsley, hard boiled eggs, mayonnaise, garlic powder, salt, mushrooms, lemon juice, Worcestershire sauce, paprika, and a pound each of crab and shrimp.Tournedos alla Rossini is the meat offering. Giacomo Rossini was a famous gourmand for whom numerous recipes were created. But this is “the most famous dish in the Rossinian gastronomic canon,” according to Michael Zwiebach in a 2012 San Francisco Classical Voice article. Zwiebach described it as, “a dish that is the last word in decadent haute cuisine.”
A story about its creation goes that Rossini kept interrupting the Paris Café Anglais chef preparing the meal at Rossini’s table with “instructions and requests.” When the frustrated chef finally complained to the changes Rossini was making, the composer said, “Well if you don’t like it, turn your back” (“tournez le dos”). Zwiebach described the dish:
“Sautéed filet mignon on buttered toast, topped with the mandatory slice of fois gras and truffles, and finished with a small pond of sauce made from veal stock, the pan juices of the filet deglazed with [what else?] Madeira, chopped truffles, and butter.”
A portrait of the composer Gioachino Antonio Rossini (1792-1868), circa 1830. Found in the Collection of Museo Teatrale alla Scala. (Fine Art Images/Heritage Images/Getty Images)
A vegetable garnish should accompany the meat serving, and with this I would recommend one steamed asparagus spear followed by a two-mile hike.
We return to Rossini for the much lighter salad. Salade Rossini is simply Provence oil, French vinegar, lemon juice, salt and pepper and, cut into tiny pieces, the truffles Rossini loved. This was created by Damon Lee Fowler and appeared a 2014 Savannah Morning News article. All are whisked together and poured over fresh greens. Now for the cheese of one’s choice, or, skip that and move on to the grand finale--dessert! Better yet, a dessert buffet!
A Sweets Course
Opera and desserts just seem to go together. Both inspire a beautiful, lavish, or dramatic presentations—or all three—as the creator chooses. That’s probably why so many chefs were inspired to create confections for these artists. Our opera food fantasy dessert table includes many of them.Peaches Melba, according to the KDFC Classical California website, was created by French chef Auguste Escoffier, who combined fresh peaches with raspberry puree and vanilla ice cream for an elegant dish.
Surprisingly, Rossini’s dessert isn’t over the top. It’s a “layered dessert served in a glass. Start with ladyfingers topped with strawberry coulis and sliced strawberries. On top of that, pile a mound of mascarpone cream (mascarpone cheese, cream and sugar), and after that some blueberries, black berries, and raspberries. Atop that, place a scoop of strawberry sorbet. You can stop there, though the pros add chocolate “cigarettes”: puff-dough pencils, with a white chocolate ring and a mint on top,” according to Zwiebach’s article. San Francisco based McCall Catering created the fabulous confection.
Bizet Cake, named for “Carmen” composer Georges Bizet, is a light cake with delicately flavored buttercream filling. Beside it is a platter of Mozartkugeln. Composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart inspired Salzburg confectioner Paul Fürst to create the sublime Marzipan, pistachios, nougat, and dark chocolate candies in 1890.
Mozartkugeln are sweet, delicious treats. Erich73/CC BY-SA 4.0
Other sweets grace our table. Poires Mary Garden, for the singer, is pears poached in a vanilla syrup served with vanilla ice cream covered with raspberry puree. Strawberries La Stupenda is in honor of Australian dramatic soprano Dame Joan Sutherland. These delicate cookie cups are filled with mascarpone cream and covered with strawberries, their juices, then sprinkled with superfine sugar.
La Diva Renee was created for soprano Renee Fleming by Chef Daniel Boulud. The “multi-layered confection of chocolate, champagne cream, hazelnut wafers and almond biscuits decorated with gold leaf” includes an “engraved likeness of Fleming on the top chocolate wafer,” wrote Linda Brandt in the Sarasota Herold Tribune.
The blissful diners slowly saunter over to a small table for the perfect finish.
Ludwig Van Beethoven, composer of “Fidelio,” will bring the evening to a close with his recipe for freshly brewed coffee. A passionate coffee drinker, Beethoven insisted there be 60 coffee beans in every cup, especially when he had guests.
Somewhere, people have given such a dinner, I’m sure. One can only hope there will be more, and maybe some time, we will be invited.
Beethoven was allegedly very exacting in his preparation of coffee. Maridav/Shutterstock
Here is one of the recipes for a dish described above:
Tournedos alla Rossini
(From the Tourism Office of the Region of Le Marche with input from the Delicious Italy website)- 4 thick slices of beef fillet
- 4 round slices of bread high as the beef fillets
- 4 slices of patê de fois
- butter
- salt
- pepper
- half glass of Marsala wine
Put them in a big dish and spread on each the patê de fois.
Truss the beef slides to keep them round, then cook them in a pan with butter, salt, and pepper for a few minutes.
Place the beef tournedos on the each slice of bread and keep warm.
Put the Marsala wine in the pan where you cooked the meat, stir and pour this sauce over the tournedos.
This recipe omits Rossini’s beloved truffles, so cooks are encouraged to correct this oversight.
Buon mangiare!
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