The Opera Lover's Cookbook: Menus for Elegant Entertaining

Great music and great food make an exhilarating duet. Taking her cues from the worlds most beloved operas, food diva Francine Segan has composed a cycle of menus that are sure to have your family and friends shouting, Brava! Bravissima!

Each chapter of Opera Lovers Cookbook presents a culinary performancean elegant five-course dinner, a brunch, a dessert party scored to a particular operatic motif or keyed to the work of a renowned composer. Operas set in SpainCarmen, Il Barbiere di Siviglia, Don Giovanniare the exotic backdrop for a tapas fiesta. The far-flung locales of Puccinis La Bohme, Madama Butterfly, Tosca, and Turandot inspire an eclectic international buffet. A rustic Italian dinner is orchestrated to the strains of Verdis Traviata. And Gilbert and Sullivan, of course, provide the overture for an English-style pub supper.

Sumptuously illustrated with photographs of featured dishes and lavish productions mounted by New Yorks Metropolitan Opera Company, Opera Lovers Cookbook also dispenses advice on home entertaining and on setting the scene with stunning table decor. Its more than 125 recipes include appetizers and hors doeuvres; soup, salad, fish, and pasta courses; main dishes; sweets; and thematic aperitif, cocktail, and after-dinner drinks.