Add some musical medlies to your recipe book with dishes inspired by Italian Opera PLUS personal recipes from our stars!
For
centuries, an evening of dinner and the opera formed a winning combo. Food
historian Francine Segan celebrates the dynamic duo with a book of musical
meals: The Opera Lover’s Cookbook.
She pairs recipes and menus with beloved arias and overtures and pays tribute
to some of the great composers through dinners and desserts. Here are a few of
the book’s recipes, inspired by Puccini, Leoncavallo, and their operas Suor Angelica and I Pagliacci.
Linguine ‘Il Trittico’ with Oranges, Apricots, and Almonds
Serves 6
Just
like Puccini’s Il Trittico this
marvelously unusual dish is made of three main parts. Cointreau-spiked caramelized
onions and sweet oranges are complemented by the slightly tart dried apricots
to create a multilayered flavor. You’ll love this dish, which is based on an
Italian Renaissance recipe.
Ingredients:
1
pound linguine
1
large purple onion, thinly sliced
1/2
cup, 1stick, unsalted butter
1/3
cup Cointreau
1
1/4 cups fresh squeezed orange juice
8
to 10 fresh or dried apricots, sliced
1
tablespoon light brown granulated sugar
2
tablespoons minced best quality candied orange peel, optional
Freshly
ground black pepper
1/2
teaspoon freshly ground nutmeg
1/2
cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
1
cup almond slivers
Zest
of 1 orange
Cook the linguine in plenty of salted water according to package directions.
Meanwhile,
saute the onion in the butter in a large skillet over medium heat until soft,
about 5 minutes. Carefully add the Cointreau and simmer until reduced by half,
about 2 minutes. Add 1/2 cup of the orange juice, the apricots and sugar and
stir until the sugar dissolves.
Slowly
add the remaining 3/4 cup orange juice and simmer until the sauce turns golden, about 3
minutes. Remove from the heat, stir in the candied orange peel, if using, and generously
season to taste with black pepper.
Toss
the sauce with the drained linguine and top with nutmeg, Parmesan, and almonds.
Garnish with the zest.
Nedda's Amaretti Roasted Peaches
Serves 4
You wouldn't think that anyone could improve on the taste of peaches, but the Italians did.
Filled with amaretti, those crisp little Italian almond cookies, and a splash of Amaretto, the peaches are them slow roasted. The melding of the almondy flavors releases all the fruit's sweet potential.
Quick to assemble, light tasting, but oh-so-satisfying. Service with a glass of Sicilian dessert wine like Moscato di Siracusa.
5 large peaches
12 amaretti, about 3 ounces
1/3 cup Amaretto or other almond liquer, or Marsala wine, plus more as needed
1 large egg yolk
1/4 cup granulated sugar
4 tablespoons sliced almonds
2 tablespoons sliced almonds
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, plus more for the pan
Confectioners' sugar, for serving
Preheat the over to 350 degrees. Generously butter a baking pan. Reserve.
Cut the peaches in half and discard the pits. Using a grapefruit spoon or melon baller, scoop out the centers of 8 of the peach halves. Reserve the pulp.
Combine the pulp with the 2 remaining peach halves in a food processor or blender and pulse until smooth. Add the amaretti, liqueur, egg yolk, and granulated sugar and pulse until well combined. If the mixture is dry, add more liqueur.
Fill each peach half with the amaretti mixture. Top with sliced almonds and a very thin pat of butter. Arrange the halves onto the baking pan and bake for 30 minutes, until golden.
Serve at room temperature, topped with a sprinkle of confectioners' sugar.
---
Here, the stars of our Pagliacci and Suor Angelica share some of their favorite recipes!
Red Wine Risotto (Risotto al Vino Rosso)
original recipe, by Giovanni Regiolli
Chop
1 medium-sized red onion, 1 stalk celery, and 1 medium-sized carrot. In pan
with olive oil, let them sweat until soft. Add 1 small can of tomato paste, and
reduce. When well mixed, add about 400
grams (around 1 lb.) of Arborio rice. Once rice is well coated with the ragù, add 2 cups red wine (Zinfandel)
and 1 cup Marsala. When absorbed, start covering with beef broth. Keep rice
wet, continually adding broth until desired consistency is reach. Then add 1½ cups
Parmesan cheese and mix well. Serve as a side dish for lamb or beef roast.
Serves 4 people.
Enchilada
Casserole
by Kathleen Clawson
This
is a favorite at my house. It is very easy to prepare and you can adjust the
spicy-ness with the heat level of the green chile.
1
lb hamburger meat
1
med. onion, chopped
1
clove garlic
1
15-oz can Ranch Style Beans
1
15-oz can chopped tomatoes
1
4.5-oz can chopped green chile (adjust “heat” to taste)
1
10.75-oz. can cream of chicken soup (condensed)
1
dozen corn tortillas
2-4
cups shredded cheddar cheese
Brown
hamburger meat with chopped onion and garlic; add Ranch Style Beans. In a
separate bowl, combine tomatoes, cream of chicken soup, and green chile. Spray
a casserole dish cooking spray. Tear 1/3 tortillas into medium pieces and
spread in the bottom of the casserole; layer with 1/3 tomato mixture, 1/3
hamburger mixture, top with 1/3 cheese, repeat, ending with cheese. Bake at 350
degrees for 45 minutes to one hour, until heated through and cheese is melted.
Tonio's Chili
by Christopher Clayton
So probably the thing
that I am most famous for is chili. When I was in High School I went
through a period of intense interest in chili. It may be that I am best known
for my, aptly named, "Chili Song." My love of chili did not
just stop with this song, which has been sung by many, perhaps even reaching
into the dozens, throughout the United States and on two continents, but I
spent years refining my chili making technique: finding the ultimate source of
meat, going through the different types of chili peppers to find the one that
appeals best to my palate, and combing the known chili literature to increase
my knowledge base so I could adapt the chili that would best speak to my soul.
Since all ingredients vary, I usually don't take a careful measure of the
ingredients I use, rather letting my senses guide me to the final destination
of chili perfection (or maybe I am just too lazy to do it). So, I will give you
the best rendition I can of my recipe, and I will call it, "Tonio's
Chili."
About 6 lbs of chuck,
cut into 3/4" cubes
1/3 cup freshly crushed
ancho chili
Crushed cayenne pepper,
if desired
1 stick of butter
2 onions, diced
4-5 cloves of garlic,
crushed
2 tsp cumin powder
Salt
1 10 oz can of tomato
puree
2+ cups water
1 tsp oregano
Masa harina
Good chili starts,
surprisingly, with good chiles. My favorite are ancho chiles (dried poblano
peppers, sometimes also called pasilla peppers), they have a bit of heat, a
more complex flavor with hints of smoke and raisin, a nice dark color, and are
just stinking good! Once you have found some dried peppers, remove the stems
and crush them with a mortar and pestle, or run them through a spice grinder or
coffee grinder until they look about like crushed red pepper flakes. You
could possibly also put them in a couple of bags and run over them with your
car, though that is harder to judge when they are just right. Then either
convince your butcher to cut you up some 3/4" cubes of beef chuck or get a
chuck roast and do it yourself, I hope you have a nice butcher. Once your
chiles and meat are ready, throw a stick of butter in a good sized pot and melt
it. Once it melts throw in the diced onion and cook it for a couple of
minutes until the onions get a little tender, then add the cubed meat and the
crushed chiles. (I have called for 1/3 cup of crushed chiles but you may
want a bit more or less depending on the strength of your chiles and how finely
crushed your chiles are) If you like your chili with more burn, add some
crushed cayenne pepper as well. Add the garlic and cumin and stir until
the meat is fairly well browned, then add salt, the tomato puree and a couple
of cups of water. Bring your pot of love to a simmer, turn down the heat
and cook for an hour or so, until the meat is tender, stirring occasionally and
adding water if needed. It should never get too thick, since now that the meat
is tender you are going to add the oregano and a couple of tablespoons of masa
harina (mixed with a bit of water) to thicken it up. Simmer for 10-15
minutes more and start salivating, then eat abundantly.
A note on beans:
The true form of chili, in my line of thinking, is without beans.
However I will, occasionally, substitute some of the meat for beans. There
are only four valid reasons I can think of to do this: 1) You are health
conscious, 2) Beans are cheaper than meat, 3) You are a vegetarian, or 4) You
are crazy. I know that I have used beans for reasons 1 and 2, and when cooking
chili for certain of my friends to whom 3 applies. Some people consider
me crazy…but not crazy enough to put beans in my chili for no good reason.
From Stephen Mark Brown
I hate to admit it, but my typical
recipe is:
1. Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees.
2. Take frozen pizza from freezer, remove from box and plastic wrapper, and
place on top shelf in the oven.
3. Wait 22 minutes, and remove pizza from oven to cool.
4. Cut into slices with the BIG knife.
5. Enjoy with a nice cold A&W root beer.
I actually do love grilling out, or making my own pasta and sauce, or pretty
much anything that can start with olive oil and garlic in a pan... but life on
the road frequently reduces me to nature's most perfect food: Pizza!
French Lentils
by Philippe Pierce
One of the challenges when you are on the road is to make yourself
feel comfortable, and integrate as many of the creature comforts of home life
when you are staying in a hotel. One of the things that works best for me is to
re-create easy recipes my mother used to make me as a child. My favorite one, because it is nutritious and
delicious, and a great single dish to have after a long day of rehearsal, is my
mother’s recipe for French lentils.
In a large pot, put 2 cups of French Green lentils (lentilles du
Puy), 6 cups of water, 2 roughly chopped carrots, 1 roughly chopped onion, 2
mashed garlic cloves, 2 bay leaves, and 2 cloves.
Bring to a boil, and then turn down to a simmer for 40 minutes (or
until the lentils are soft.)
In a large bowl, mix together 2 tbsps. mustard, 4 tbsp. olive oil,
and 1 ½ tbsps. vinegar (add salt and pepper to taste.)
Fish out the bay leaves and the cloves, drain any water, and add
the lentils to the vinaigrette in the bowl, and toss.
Serve warm!
Borsch
by Inna Los
Ingredients:
2 large or 3 medium
beets, thoroughly washed
2 large or 3 medium
potatoes, sliced into bite-sized pieces
4 Tbsp of cooking oil
1 medium onion, finely
chopped
2 carrots, grated
½ head of cabbage,
thinly chopped
1 can kidney beans with
their juice
2 bay leaves
10 cups water and 6 cups
broth to get 16 cups liquid total
5 Tbsp ketchup (or 2Tbsp
tomato paste)
4 Tbsp lemon juice
¼ tsp freshly ground
pepper
1 Tbsp chopped dill
Instructions:
1. Fill a large soup pot
with 10 cups of water. Add 2 - 3 beets. Cover and boil for about 1 hour. Once
you can smoothly pierce the beets with a butter knife, remove from the water
and set aside to cool. Keep the water.
2. Slice 3 potatoes, add
into the same water and boil 15-20 minutes.
3. Grate both carrots
and dice one onion. Add 4 Tbsp of cooking oil to the skillet and sauté
vegetables until they are soft (7-10 minutes). Stir in ketchup when they are
almost done cooking.
4. Thinly shred ½ a
cabbage and add it to the pot when potatoes are half way done.
5. Next, peel and slice
the beets into match sticks and add them back to the pot.
6. Add 6 cups chicken
broth, lemon juice, pepper, bay leaves and can of kidney beans (with their
juice) to the pot.
7. Add sautéed carrots
and onion to the pot along with chopped dill.
8. Cook another 5-10
minutes, until the cabbage is done.
9. Add sugar or honey
(approx. 2 Tbsp or to your taste)
Serve with a dollop of
sour cream or real mayo.
Date
Rolls
by
Jennifer Bryant
Here is my grandmother's recipe…
2 cups of graham crackers, crumbled
2 cups of seeded dates
Enough milk to moisten
2 cups of marshmallows, diced
1/2 cup of chopped nuts
Mix ingredients well, adding milk
for moisture. Shape into rolls and chill. Make small individual rolls and roll
into confectioner's sugar.
