RECIPES & PLAYLISTS

Rigatoni pasta 250gm, white wine soaked guanciale, whole hot red pepper, crushed roma tomatoes and aged pecorino.

Music: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Eine Kleine Nachtmusik

Wine: 2020 Chateau Chardonne Chasselas Obrist

Pappardelle pasta 250gm, sliced guanciale, 3 egg yolks, aged pecorino Romano, ground black pepper, pappardelle pasta.

Music: Piotr Tchaikovsky: Waltz of the Flowers, from the Nutcracker Ballet

Wine: 2019 Grande Sinfonia Appassimento Vino Passito Puglia IGP 

Paccherri Pasta 250gm, with gorgonzola piccante Blue Cheese, demi-créme, glazed Balsamico vinegar with steamed broccoli stems and crushed walnuts.  

Music: Johannes Brahms: Symphony 1 (1st movement and 4th movement)

Wine: Fasoli Amarone della Valpolicella DOCG Alteo BIO 2015 

Tagliatelle pasta 250gm with onion, garlic, celery, carrots, fresh chopped rosemary,  crushed tomatoes, tomato purée, red wine added, 500 gm minced beef.

Music: Ludwig van Beethoven: Symphony 5, 1st movement  (Allegro con brio) 

Wine: CastelGiocondo 2016 Brunello di Montalcino 

Spaghetti pasta 250gm, peeled Marzano tomatoes, olive oil, celery sticks, onion, Swiss Gala grated apple, grated aged Parmesan and Pecorino.

Music: Gioachino Rossini:  William Tell Overture  

Wine: Gianni Bernasconi 2020 Au Coin du Serpents Pinot Noir Chardonne 

Linguine pasta 250gm, 600 gm vongole verace, minced garlic, good amount of olive oil, whole peperoncino, chopped parsley and a glass of dry white wine (or for fun Franciacorta).  After the alcohol absorbs, and the clams open after being cooked in the closed pan,  add the linguine al dente, a ladle of pasta water and add more parsley and serve.  

Music: Guiseppe Verdi: Libiamo, libiamo ne' lieti calici from La Traviata. 

Wine: 2021 Franciacorta DOCG Ca' del Bosco Cuvée Prestige

Penne pasta 250gm, in a spicy pomodoro sauce with olive oil, chopped, onions, 3 minced garlic cloves, 3 anchovies, black and green olives, red chilli pepper flakes, capers, parsley (for a Sevilla impact add some pan seared Cinco Jotas Jamon Iberico)

Music: George Bizet: Habanera from Carmen

Wine: Donna Fugata Sherazade Nero d’Avola Sicilia DOC 2020

Farfalla pasta 250gm, fresh basil, 4 cloves garlic, olive oil, pine nuts, marble mortar and wooden pestle, aged Parmesan and Pecorino cheese.
Music:  Gioachino Rossini: Overture to the Barber of Seville

Wine: Tua Rita Rosso Del Notri 2019, Toscana

300gm Tagliolini, all’uovo butter, 15g white truffles d’Alba, 30gm butter, aged parmesan, 1 garlic glove, black pepper, olive oil

Music:  Johan Strauss II: On The Beautiful Blue Danube

Wine: Braida Bricco dell’Uccellone 2017 Barbera d’Asti DOCG

2 graffiti violet eggplants, onions, garlic, passata di pomodoro, fresh basil, bar of mozzarella, grated aged Parmesan cheese. 

Music: Ludwig van Beethoven: Symphony 9 “Ode To Joy” Finale

Wine: Fantini by Farnese Edizione 20 Cinque Autoctoni 2018

My teacher, Leonard Bernstein, said there is good and bad music.  Choose the good and life is sweet.  Here's my cooking conductor playlist.  

1.  Vivaldi: The Four Seasons.  Each season has its menu.

2. Mozart:  The Magic Flute Overture.  A magical menu awaits.

3: Beethoven.  Symphony 6 "Pastoral". Nature is our best ingredient.

4:  Mendelssohn. Symphony 4.  It is the "Italian" after all.  

5: Mahler. Symphony 4, Finale.  A musical feast in Heaven.

Beethoven said  "I am Bacchus who presses out this glorious wine.."  IamBacchus.com is my blog about wine and music. Eat, drink and be musical!

1:  Beethoven: Moonlight Sonata.  Contemplation over Cabernet.

2:  Mozart.  The Champagne Aria from Don Giovanni.  If we must go to hell, better with bubbly?

3:  J. Strauss II: Wine, Woman and Song.  What more be said?

4:  Verdi.  Brindisi from La Traviata. Let's drink a cup of paradise.  

5:  Bizet: "Votre Toast" Act 2 from Carmen.  For your drinking Féria. 

As a conductor, I am passionate about music. Passion is what wine, food and music conjures.   Let the sounds seduce you. 

1:  Ravel: Bolero.  It is the 10 of 10.

2:  Strauss:  Dance of the Seven Veils from Salome.  She takes off her clothes.  Why don't you?

3: Tchaikovsky: Romeo and Juliet. First love is always the best.

4:  Rachmaninov.  Variation 18 from the Paganini Variations.  Somewhere in Time.

5:  Wagner.  Prelude and Liebestod from Tristan & Isolde. Transcendent love is eternal.