Cooking with Truffles
Always store truffles with eggs in a tightly sealed container or jar, to allow the eggs absorb the aroma of the truffles. After a couple of days they can be used to make scrambled eggs, omelettes, spaghetti carbonara, mayonnaise, even ice cream - all with truffle flavour, without using much (or any) truffle.
All truffles have a strong affinity with eggs, cream, butter and cheese.
Perigord black truffles
This is the classic truffle of French cuisine - of tournedos Rossini, poulet en demi-deuil and so on. It works well in simple dishes as well as complex, and it has enough flavour/aroma to work well when grated over dishes as a garnish.
Scrambled eggs or omelette: use truffle-infused eggs, and shave more truffle into the mixture. Leave it to infuse for at least an hour before cooking. Do not overcook: the eggs should be cooked but still moist.
Fried eggs: fry truffle-infused eggs, and serve with a few shavings of fresh truffle on top. Good days start with truffled eggs…
Truffled pommes dauphinoise: shave slices of truffle into the layers of potato as you build the gratin. Be generous with the butter and cream. This is one of our favourites. You won’t believe how luxurious a few shavings of truffle can make the humble potato.
Bianchetto white truffles
These are very similar to the famous Italian white truffle, but a great deal less expensive. They can be used in any Italian recipe calling for white truffle. These are often quite simple.
Spaghetti: heat some good butter in a pan, and just before the spaghetti is cooked shave some truffle into the warm butter (don’t fry the truffle!). Immediately drain the spaghetti and toss it in the pan with the truffle butter. Shave on some more truffle, add grated parmesan, toss once more and then serve with more truffle and cheese on top.
Risotto: make a simple risotto (Milanese), and when it’s ready - at the point where you stir in some butter and parmesan before serving - add shaved truffle and stir through. Serve with more truffle and parmesan on top.
Carbonara: follow any good recipe, but make the egg/cream/parmesan mixture with truffle-infused eggs, shave in more shaved/sliced truffle, and leave it to infuse for at least an hour before cooking. Serve with more truffle and cheese on top.
