Allez Cuisine!

It is lunch time and I'm hungry. This of course leads to thoughts of food. Since this is an opera blog my thoughts are drifting to Peche Melba, that classic dessert of peaches and raspberries combined with ice-cream that was named after Australian singer Dame Nellie Melba. It was even presented to her in a ice-sculpture of a swan, inspired by a performance of Lohengrin Escoffier had seen. Nellie sure got around, also having toast named after her.

I like to think you haven't truly made it in the world until you have a dish named after you. I also think it might be fun to have a dinner comprised entirely of opera inspired dishes.

So below you will find a list of dishes inspired by the world of opera with recipes on the links where I can find them.

Buon appetito!

Eggs in a Mold Bizet - the Carmen composer had this dish named after him which consisted of eggs cooked in molds lined with minced pickled tongue, served on artichoke hearts. He also had a consomme named after him which, if you ask me, sounds like a safer bet.

Eggs Berlioz -- not to be outdone, composer Hector Berlioz has this dish named after him which consists of soft-boiled eggs with croustades, duchesse potatoes, truffles and mushrooms in a Madeira sauce.

Poires Mary Garden - a dish similar to Peche Melba but made with pears, named after singer Mary Garden.

Jansson's frestelse (Jansson's temptation) - a dish of potato, onion, pickled sprats and cream named after singer Pelle Janzon.

Beef tenderloins minions a la Meyerbeer - named after composer Giacomo Meyerbeer. Meyerbeer also had an egg dish named after him as well joining the pantheon of composers who had high cholesterol.

Selle d'agneau à la Paganini - a lamb dish named after Italian composer and violinist Niccolo Paganini.

Poularde Adelina Patti - a chicken dish named after opera singer Adelina Patti.

Chicken Tetrazzini - the ubiquitous leftover dish named after soprano Luisa Tetrazzini.

Mozartkugel - a marzipan/nougat filled chocolate named after Mozart.

La Diva Renee -- named after Renee Fleming this dessert consists of a wafer-thin crust filled with champagne cream, layered, in a sauce of bitter chocolate, with fruit.

Some of it sound good but today I'll stick with my Sandwich a la Edward -- tofurky slices on stale rye with a packet of yellow mustard I stole from someone's desk.

- Edward