truffles

Miro Tartufi spreads a luscious Istrian truffle feast

Miro Tartufi spreads a luscious Istrian truffle feast

Posted on by Pat and David
Miro Kortiga might do the truffle foraging, but his wife Mirjana Kortiga takes charge of the tables at Miro Tartufi (miro-tarufi.com). She began by plying us with drinks before dinner. One choice was a very sweet honey liqueur. The other was a glass of white wine made from Istria's native grape, Malvazija Istriana, known since the ancient Greeks ruled the region. Mirjana and her staff had already prepared truffle hors d'oeuvres boards at each table. They had spread thin slices of bread with a mushroom spread that included some truffles and a soft creamy cheese with flecks of grated white truffle. They did the trick: All of us on the truffle experience found our mouths watering. The two cheeses with flecks of black truffle in...Read More
Truffle season brings gastronomic joy to Istria

Truffle season brings gastronomic joy to Istria

Posted on by Pat and David
From a foodie perspective, Istria is a marvelously complicated place. Every conquering nation that's passed through has left culinary traces behind. Long part of the Austro-Hungarian empire, then a corner of Yugoslavia, these days the region largely belongs to Croatia. It's the thumb-like peninsula that juts down into the Adriatic just south of the currently Italian city of Trieste and a tiny strip of Slovenia. Parts of Istria bleed into Slovenia and over the border into the Italian region of Friuli Venezia Giulia. Out of tradition and perhaps necessity, people speak a whole basket of languages. But American food lovers need to know just one thing about Istria. Lidia Bastianich hails from Istria, which speaks volumes about the food. Just before the pandemic, we spent...Read More

Chefs can win 10 weeks of free black truffles

Posted on by David
Australian black truffle season has begun. Chefs who want to get a little inventive also have the chance to win an entire season's supply next summer—a pound of premium black truffles per week during the roughly 10-week season. I was dubious about the Aussie product until I went there, saw how they were grown, and spent a few weeks experimenting with them. We tend to think of truffles as a fall and winter product. They are. It's just that fall and winter in Australia are flipped from fall and winter in the northern hemisphere. Thanks to speedy air shipment, it's feasible to serve freshly shaved black truffles with sweet corn, tomatoes, and all those other great summer crops. Available June through August, they're not just...Read More

Grits with black truffle and poached eggs

Posted on by David
As Pat and I developed ways to use black truffles, we generally opted for the simplest and most straightforward combinations. Keeping in mind that truffles pair well with corn—and that northern Italians sometimes eat truffles on polenta—we decided to try truffles with some of the best grits we've been able to lay hands on. We'll be writing shortly about our food and drink visit to central Kentucky, where we had the good fortune to drive from Lexington out to Midway to visit Weisenberger Mill. This is a truly old-fashioned mill that has been stone-grinding grain for six generations, starting in 1865. Living in Yankeeville, we have a hard time finding good white grits, but now know we can order them online from Weisenberger at www.weisenberger.com....Read More

Even more decadent grilled cheese and truffle sandwich

Posted on by David
Some foodies love to play the “last supper” game: What would you want to eat for your last meal on earth? Pat and I are in accord on this one. It would probably be this elegantly simple grilled cheese sandwich with Comté, prosciutto, ripe tomato and truffle. Cooked just enough to brown the bread in butter (an omelet pan is perfect for the task), the Comté brings out all the high, resinous notes in the black truffle. You could die happy just biting into the sandwich, which gives you a strong whiff of truffle just before you actually taste it. In the interest of research, we tried this sandwich in the purist form—just Comté and truffle—before adding the prosciutto and tomato. The basic sandwich shown...Read More

Truffles, cheese, and honey for dessert

Posted on by David
One of our favorite breakfast dishes in Spain is a plate of sliced Manchego cheese drizzled with honey and served with a bit of membrillo (quince jelly). For dessert, the ewe's milk tang and saltiness of Manchego pairs exceptionally well with black truffle. MANCHEGO CHEESE, HONEY & BLACK TRUFFLES Serves 2 6 oz. wedge of Manchego semi-curado (aged at least 6 months) 2 tablespoons of chestnut or acacia honey 10 grams black truffle crackers for serving Remove rind from Manchego. Lay wedge on its side and slice into 7-8 triangles of cheese. Arrange on a plate and drizzle with honey. (The easy way is to dip a butter knife in the honey and “paint” it on the cheese.) Shave black truffle over the top. Add...Read More

Decadent hamburger with black truffles

Posted on by David
Several high-end restaurants (we're talking about you, Daniel Boulud) serve a magnificent wintertime hamburger with foie gras and shaved French black truffle on top. We can't top that. When we decided to take our Australian truffle bounty and see if we could build a summer burger, we were inspired by the great bacon burger we ate last year at Cured in San Antonio. (Here's the recipe.) We knew the truffle would respond well to a bit of fat and to acid, so we plumped up the ground beef with some fattier ground pork and added a thick slice of heirloom tomato on top. Not caring to heat up the house making brioche buns (and we're not that good at baking bread), we purchased some great...Read More

Lemon risotto and Caprese salad with truffles

Posted on by David
What a luxury to shave truffles over some of our favorite summer dishes! I was surprised when several chefs suggested black truffles on a Caprese salad, but if the tomatoes have enough acidic zing, it's a match made in heaven. Our own tomatoes aren't quite ripe yet, so I have to resort to hoop house or hot house varieties. One trick to restore the “fresh tomato” flavor to these typically bland fruits is to give them a tiny sprinkle of salt, sugar, and citric acid. Citric acid is sometimes sold as “sour salt,” and is readily available in Indian grocery stores. (I mix up the seasoning in a ratio of 20 parts salt to 5 parts sugar and 1 part citric acid and store it...Read More

Stretching black truffles with alioli

Posted on by David
The good and bad side of fresh truffles is that you have to eat them up right away because they only keep for a week or two in the refrigerator, even if you let them breathe every day when you change the absorbent paper in the container. In the process of eating them up, it's easy to have a lot of truffle “crumbs” or extra shavings. The solution to that problem is truffle alioli, the Catalan answer to mayonnaise. We made a pretty big batch (nearly 2 cups) and used it to make potato salad (with sliced boiled potatoes, minced onion, chopped boiled egg, and minced celery) and to make a delicious chicken salad. The secret to great alioli is to store the eggs in...Read More

Corn ravioli with Australian black truffles

Posted on by David
I received a shipment of truffles from the Truffle and Wine Company (truffleandwineusa.com) early this month. The truffles are spectacular, but it's not like I can tuck them away to use weeks from now. They have to be eaten quickly, which means developing a bunch of ways to use them with summer produce. For the last 10 days, Pat and I have been cooking with black truffles, repeating some favorite dishes and trying to create some new ones. We'll be posting new recipes in quick succession in case you want to order some truffles yourself before the season ends next month. When I was working on the Robb Report story, I spoke to a number of American chefs who exulted in using the Australian black...Read More