There is no other food closer to my heart than you. Your
strong distinctive aroma is what I love most. Its what I think heaven must
smell like. A past love introduced me to the white truffle, almost 10 years
ago, when he poured white truffle oil over his bowl of rice. While it was a short-lived
romance (with the boy not the truffle!), my encounter with the white truffle
would prove fateful.
A little drizzle of truffle oil can transform a simple dish
into something wonderfully exquisite and luxurious. I use it on everything from
risotto, garlic spaghetti to mac and cheese. Simple dishes with singular tastes
work best because of how overpowering the truffle aroma is. For most of the
year, I rely on truffle infused olive oils and salts to satisfy my truffle
cravings. But when truffle season (October-November) arrives, all I can think
about is fresh truffle shavings.
White truffles are an expensive delicacy and their price
reflects their rarity. You don’t grow truffles, you find them. How? It’s like
treasure hunting, with the help of your dog or… your pig. Dogs are preferred
because pigs love truffle and eat what they find (oink oink). The truffles are
found growing near trees such as oak, poplar and beech. The best come from Alba,
Italy. 2 years ago, Selfridges did a 50% off sale on Alba white truffle and I
still paid 5 pounds per 100 gram. It was the first time I had bought fresh
truffles and so had no idea how much to buy. What I ended up buying was too
small to give off any significant aroma to my porcini risotto; I had to jazz it
up with truffle oil. Lesson learned-- Fresh shavings are a bit more delicate
and subtle compared to oils and salts, so you need a lot of fresh truffle
shavings to create the same level of intensity you get with truffle oil.
We visited Locanda Locatelli last Saturday for its white
truffle menu. I took one look at the white truffle menu and one whiff of the
potent aroma that drifted past and decided I would go all out and have white
truffle for both courses. I picked the scrambled eggs with white truffle for
starter and egg tagliatelle with white truffle for my main. We were told that
the truffle season has been good this year and that we would be served truffles
from Umbria, Italy.
The eggs came naked. Then a waiter brought over the white truffle and a small set of scales. Weighing the truffle first, he then set it on
a grater above my plate and told me to tell him when to stop. Fragrant flakes
of truffle snowed down on the yellow blanket of eggs. The dish was creamy and
full-bodied. Served with crispy toasted bread, it proved to be the perfect
accompaniment to the truffle shavings.
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| The Tagliatelle paled in comparison. The homemade tagliatelle had the perfect texture, but dressed too humbly, it tasted a bit bland after the richness of the scrambled eggs. |
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| Drink of the night: truffled green apple martini |
Perhaps ordering two truffle courses back to back was not such
a good idea. In hindsight, I should have gone for their famous chestnut tagliatelle
with wild mushroom (divine!) and ordered the truffle desert. There goes my
once-a-year encounter with fresh white truffles. It was short but sweet, see
you next year.
Love always,
L
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