Rossini's Thanksgiving Recipe

Tournedos a la Rossini

At the time it was said that the name of the dish was due to the fact that the composer's butler was obliged to "tourner le dos" (turn his back) on the diners so as to hide the secret of the final touches of this recipe created by the famous chef Marie-Antoine Careme, with Rossini's complicity and supervision.

Ingredients (for four people):

Four 150 g tournedos of filet steak each 3 cm thick

Four slices of bread

150 g of butter

A glass of Madeira

A spoonful of flour

A glass of stock

1 decilitre of demi-glace sauce

Four round shapes of foie gras, floured & sauteed in butter

Four slices of Norcia truffle cut quite thick, salt & pepper.

Tie the tournedos so that they keep their shape in cooking. Cut the slices of bread to the same size as the tournedos, and brown them lightly in a little butter in a pan. Place the tournedos on the butter and cook over a high flame on both sides for about three minutes.

Then add salt and pepper, remove from the pan and place on a warm serving dish, or keep them warm in a bain-marie. Blend the last piece of butter with the flour and put the mixture into the sauce; then dilute it with the boiling stock, pour in the Madeira and mix it with the cooking sauce. Add the demi-glace and cook over a low flame, stirring continuously until the sauce thickens.

Place the tournedos on the bread and decorate with round slices of foie gras (which should be slightly smaller than the tournedos and which have been braised in the same pan on a very hot flame for 15 seconds on each side). Cut 12 discs of truffle and place 3 on each tournedos.

Pour over the sauce, add the rest of the chopped truffles and serve immediately.

This recipe and others may be found at Gioachino-Rossini.com