hello all! and here is my first need from all you foodies

HI all. I am a prior chef. I stay at home now with my baby. I do have a formal gourmet club that meets once a season. Its called the moveable feast. Well I host the winters MF this coming winter. I have a theme all picked out. Music and food. I have thoughts like making out the menu to say symphony and the folowing five movements instead of courses and stuff and besides the course and wine to match for each couple I am also going to have them bring a cd to match thier course as well. I want from all of you is food/music connotations. any ideas? give me some suggestions if you all have one. I do have ideas of presentations that have food/music connotations like fluted glasses or trumpeted mushrooms but I am looking for actual foods that would work

[Plum]

I recently came across 'carta da musica', i.e. music sheets, which are wafer-thin sheets of Sicilian bread - but I only know of one shop that sells them here!

If you widen the brief a little you could serve bass (I had it once with a truffle sauce and mushrooms and it was delicious) ;-)

Welcome to Cheftalk anyway, and have fun with your preparations.

Plum

[Kimmie]

OH WOW, great topic!

I can provide you with a recipe for «Carta di Musica».

Welcome to Cheftalk, Mommy

oh great ideas and the bass idea might not be too much of a streatch lol. it might be a kick actually didnt think of that. but keep those ideas coming. we have a couple of months to get this together so just throw em at me!!! and yes please send me the recipe for the bread! now that I really like!

[Kimmie]

This one is from Joanne Weir

Carta di Musica

If desired, you can sprinkle 2 teaspoons fresh rosemary into the bread or make a rosemary infused olive oil for brushing.
MAKES 15 LARGE BREADS AND SERVES 8

3 cups bread flour
1½ cups fine semolina flour
1½ teaspoons salt
1½ to 1¾ cups lukewarm water (110 degrees F)

In a bowl mix together the flour, semolina and salt. Add the water slowly to form a ball making sure that the dough isn't too sticky or elastic. If the dough is sticky, dust it with flour. Divide the dough into 15 equal pieces. Form them into small balls without working them too much and place on a floured baking sheet. Cover with plastic wrap and place in a warm place for 30 minutes.

Preheat an oven to 400 degrees F. Place a pizza stone on the bottom shelf of the oven and heat for at least 30 minutes.

Place one piece of dough on a floured surface. Flatten with the palm of your hand. Dust the top with flour. With a rolling pin, roll the dough to a very thin circle, less than 1/16" thick. Place on a pizza peel and transfer to the baking stone. Bake until it begins to blister, 2 to 3 minutes. Turn the bread over and continue to bake until it is golden and crisp, 2 minutes. Watch the bread closely as it burns quickly. Cool on a rack and continue to bake the remaining breads.

Serve warm in a large basket.

-----------

I will post tonight another version from Jody Adams.

[Kimmie]

Hi Mom, I'm back. Here's Jody Adams' Carta Musica. I much prefer this one. The bread flour is too heavy for this and I find the ratio bread flour/semolina not quite right.

Ingredients for eight 8-inch wafers
½ cup unbleached all-purpose flour
¼ cup semolina (available in specialty and Italian food stores)
¼ teaspoon salt
1/3 cup warm water (around 150 degrees F) plus more if needed

Special equipment suggested
A pasta or pastry type of rolling pin with no handles works best
A pizza stone or unglazed oven tiles
A peel (for sliding the dough in and out, optional)

Manufacturing Note: Jody always prefers to make her dough by hand rather than machine, and for such a small amount, hand mixing and kneading are quick and easy, as is the cleanup.

Making the dough: Pour the flour, semolina, and salt onto your work surface and blend them together with your fingertips. Then, form a mound, make a 5-inch-wide well in the center, and pour in a third of the water. Again, using the tips of your fingers, gradually draw the flour from all sides of the well into the water, kneading as you go, and adding droplets of water as necessary, to form a smooth pliable dough. Wrap in plastic and let rest for at least an hour or overnight—if the dough is not sufficiently rested, the gluten in the flour is not relaxed and the dough will therefore be impossible to roll as thin as parchment.

Ahead-of-Time Note: May be stored in the refrigerator up to 3 days.

Forming and Baking the Dough: 30 minutes before baking, place the pizza stone or tiles on the upper third level of the oven, and preheat the oven to 450 degrees F.

Preliminary Forming: Divide the dough into 8 equal pieces, and cover with a towel. One at a time—or two at a time if you are adept—rapidly rotate the pieces under your palm, or palms, on a floured counter to form them into balls. The rotation creates surface tension that will keep the balls in shape. Cover with a towel and let rest for 10 minutes.

Forming the Disks and Baking: One at a time, using the rolling pin and liberal sprinkles of flour, roll out and stretch the dough into a very thin disk—so thin you could almost read as a sheet of music through it. Either using the floured peel or your hands, transfer the disk onto the hot baking surface and cook for about 1 minute on each side, or until golden and crisp. Remove to a rack and continue with the rest.

Ahead-of-Time Note: Baked carta musica disks may be stored for at least a week in an airtight container. If they get soggy, recrisp in a hot oven.

P.S.: I would also recommend the Carta Musica recipe by Marcella Hazan, in Marcella Cucina. Click here and enjoy!



[ September 25, 2001: Message edited by: Kimmie ]

[Papa]

Dear Mommy!

I just had to say hello and welcome you to the Chef Talk Cafe!

Your idea sounds wonderful! I will think of some ideas for you.

[Kimmie]

How about Salmon with Black Trumpet Mushrooms, Brussels Sprout Leaves, and Fingerling Potatoes (Alfred Portale)

Recipe here

"If music be the food of love, play on;
Give me excess of it, that, surfeiting,
The appetite may sicken, and so die.
That strain again! it had a dying fall:
O, it came o'er my ear like the sweet sound
That breathes upon a bank of violets,
Stealing and giving odour"!
William Shakespeare, Twelfth Night.

Oh what great ideas. the mushroom will be used. I usually make my own recipes for my moveable feasts since it one area I can get really challanged on.. trying to write em down for others to follow is so hard! for any chef. and ohh that bit from shakespear! will be written on my linens! ok guys more like the mushrooms! I need food items with music connotations! and by the way the bread will find its way on to the table as well! maybe in a appie before hand or as a bread on the table in a basket! you guys are great!

I will be delighted to help you Mommy.

This is my chance to prove that I am very poetic man and very educated!

I wish you succes to your plans!

Bond,James Bond

[Kimmie]

I'm truly delighted to have given you some inspiration, 'Mommy dearest'.

Lucky for you, for the task at hand, and despite my small hands, I have a great mind!

oh you guys are great! I am going to have a ball with you guys!

[Kimmie]

Hi Mommy,

How is your project coming along?

[Suzanne]

Well, Tournedos Rossini (with foie gras, truffles, and Madeira sauce) might be a bit much, but there's always Melba toast.

Sounds like a chance for a lot of fun, and good food, too!