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Francesco Attardi and his wife Elisa De Luigi have experimented a new way to spread musical culture, telling the stories of operas through recipes. Starting in 1996 with The Magic Flute, a Gastronomic Opera, the delightful series proceeded with The Recipes of Lady Macbeth for the opening season at La Scala in 1997, in which Shakespeare's play and Verdi's opera of the same name are compared with diabolical and magical recipes; Celeste Aida, Divine Chef , in which the miserable slave becomes a skilled cook, was commissioned for the reopening of the Teatro Massimo of Palermo, while in Don Giovanni in the Kitchen the great seducer is punished for his gluttony rather than for indulging in sexual desire. Mozart was celebrated again with A Banquet for Figaro, with recipes drawn mainly from Spanish cuisine, and latest one was Rigoletto and the Mantuan Cuisine, with recipes all drawn from the great tradition of the city of Gonzaga. These books, some of which were published in German and Spanish, have been recognized for their originality and style, informative and ironic at the same time.
On the newspaper Mensa (Menu of Historical Author), the critic Rino Pensato wrote the following about the authors' first two works dedicated to Mozart:
In particular on two of the best known and loved Mozart's operas, Don Giovanni and The Magic Flute, the spouses Francesco Attardi and Elisa De Luigi did not leave us, as they say, even the remains. Greedy, armed with love for Mozart and the kitchen, documentation, attention and imagination, they made two small gastronomic monuments. Dozens and dozens of recipes, comments, brilliant and documented pages, all to enjoy.
This recipes comes from The Magic Flute, a Gastronomic Opera:
Tiramisù Papagena
The scene shifts and from the beginning we are once again involved in the comedy, or rather tragi-comedy. Papageno who reappears playing his flute desperately invokes his sweetheart: if he cannot find Papagena he will count to three and then hang himself from a tree (29th scene). One can only pity the poor fellow: to what end has a carefree optimist like him come to... help him out, Papagena!
Recipe
Ingredients for 8 servings: 500 gr of mascarpone cheese, 2 packages of ladyfingers, 50 grams of toasted almonds, 4 eggs, 4 tablespoons of sugar, coffee, ½ cup of brandy.
Whip the egg whites and, separately, the yolks with the sugar. Gradually stir the yolks with the whites and mascarpone. Soak with coffee slightly diluted with water and with a half a glass of brandy the ladyfingers, and in a bowl, stratify the ladyfingers and mascarpone cream. Sprinkle with toasted almonds and chop finely, put them in the fridge and serve the TIRAMISÙ PAPAGENA not too cold.
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