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Preparing truffles at home is not difficult. Most often it is used fresh as a seasoning for dishes. Sometimes baked, added to pastas and sauces. Any dish with a truffle aroma is considered a delicacy among sophisticated connoisseurs of mushroom cuisine.
What is a truffle in cooking?
The aristocrats of Ancient Rome and Egypt learned to cook truffles. Rare mushrooms have always been very expensive; the Romans brought them to their homeland from Western Asia and North Africa, not suspecting that they were growing under their feet. In the European forests of Italy and France, these mushrooms were found only in the late Middle Ages. A variety of recipes for preparing truffles are carefully preserved by culinary specialists from these countries to this day.
White truffles are the most expensive mushrooms in the world. In Italy they are searched for in the forest with dogs. Silent hunting is carried out by people who have a special license that allows them to engage in a profitable business. Trained dogs help find valuable mushrooms growing underground. Truffles have a very strong smell that is difficult to describe.Some gourmets say it smells like a damp cellar mixed with fine spices. The dogs, having found the mushroom, begin to dig the ground, the man also continues this delicate work so that the animals do not damage the valuable find.
The larger the white truffle found, the higher its price per gram. The mushroom harvest is brought to the annual fair in the Italian city of Alba. There, when you look at the price tags, you are speechless; the mushroom delicacy is sold for 400 euros per 100 g.
Where is truffle added?
Truffles are added to all kinds of dishes. Most often it is prepared with Italian pasta and additional ingredients in the form of cheese, meat or seafood. White truffle is added fresh to meat dishes and vegetables. Black is prepared with omelettes, pizza and rice, and also baked with cheese, meat products or vegetables.
How to eat truffle
This is not a mushroom in the usual sense, which is cooked over a fire, fried or boiled. It is used fresh as a spice to give dishes a special aroma and taste. The truffle smell is very strong, but not everyone likes it. Western gourmets know exactly how to eat the truffle mushroom and recipes for dishes containing it. In Russia, after the revolution, the tradition of eating this delicacy was lost, although the mushrooms themselves can be found in the forests near Moscow, Crimea and other parts of the country.
And gourmets from all surrounding regions of France, Switzerland and other Italian cities flock to the annual truffle fair in the Italian city of Alba. They strive to buy truffles so that they can decorate their food with it. In addition to the white one, there is also a black variety on sale at the fair, which is a little cheaper. It tolerates cooking while retaining its specific aroma. That’s why all jars of mushrooms in oil are prepared from it.
What is truffle eaten with?
The most expensive truffles in the world are eaten with various dishes - Italian pasta, grilled meat, boiled rice, stewed vegetables, cheese, etc.
The truffle aroma is reminiscent of a damp cellar, old cheese crust and roasted nuts. It hits your nose, which if you're not used to it, may not seem very pleasant. But gourmets find pleasure in it and special benefits for the body; the valuable mushroom is considered a good aphrodisiac.
How to cook truffle mushroom at home
Truffles, affordable for ordinary citizens, are prepared by adding various sauces to omelettes. Bake, stew, fry in butter, cut into thin slices. You can prepare fresh truffle mushrooms yourself for the winter by pouring calcined vegetable oil. The duration of heat treatment is short - a few seconds or minutes. Truffle paste and oil are commercially available and are also used as a flavoring agent for various side dishes.
The most popular truffle dishes
The easiest way to use black truffle paste, like the one in the photo, and its oil in recipes. These dressings add an exceptional truffle flavor to finished dishes and are not very expensive.
Pasta with truffle dressing
Products for two servings:
- hot pepper – 1 pc.;
- garlic – 1 clove;
- small bunch of parsley – 1 pc.;
- cherry tomatoes – 5-6 pcs.;
- Parmesan cheese – 100 g;
- olive oil – 2 tbsp. l.;
- spaghetti – 100 g;
- black truffle puree – 50 g.
Description of preparation:
- Hot peppers are cleared of seeds and finely chopped.
- Place a pan of water on the fire.
- Chop a clove of garlic and parsley.
- The cheese is grated.
- Pour olive oil into a frying pan, add garlic, parsley and hot pepper.
- Place spaghetti in boiling water, cook until half cooked, and drain in a colander.
- Cherry tomatoes are cut in half and added to the pan with garlic and parsley. They should be well fried.
- Add truffle puree to the vegetables and spices in the frying pan, mix and pour boiling water.
- Spaghetti is placed in a frying pan and cooked in aromatic truffle sauce for 5-10 minutes. Then leave for 2-3 minutes so that they absorb water.
- Turn off the heat and add cheese to the pan. Mix everything a little. No other spices are needed to preserve the truffle scent.
Place the finished pasta on plates.
Omelet with truffle shavings
Products:
- eggs – 5 pcs.;
- black truffles – 20 g;
- butter – 50 g;
- salt and ground white pepper - as needed.
Preparation:
- Beat the eggs with a whisk without separating the yolks from the whites.
- Cut the mushroom into thin slices in the form of shavings and add to the egg mixture.
- Heat the frying pan and melt the butter without allowing it to warm up.
- After putting in the spices, pour the egg mixture into the frying pan.
- When the omelette is baked around the edges, carefully turn it over to the other side using a spatula. You should not overcook the dish; its surface should remain tender and light brown. Total cooking time is about one minute.
Rice with porcini mushrooms, chicken fillet and truffles
Products:
- chicken breast – 300 g;
- small black truffles – 2 pcs.;
- carrot – 1 pc.;
- small porcini mushrooms – 500 g;
- lemon juice – 2 ml;
- flour – 2 tbsp. l.;
- egg yolk – 2 pcs.;
- salt - as needed;
- leek – 1 pc.;
- bay leaf – 1 pc.;
- rice (long grain) – 500 g;
- butter – 125 g;
- olive oil – 40 ml;
- milk – 450 ml.
Preparation:
- Cut the washed leeks lengthwise, peel and chop the carrots.
- The truffles are cut into thin slices, and the porcini mushrooms are washed and the caps are peeled. Rice is washed well.
- Pour cold water over the fillet with carrots and bay leaves and cook until tender for about 20 minutes. Then the meat is cooled and cut into small pieces.
- Place the rice in boiling unsalted water and cook for 15 minutes until it becomes soft. Transfer the finished cereal to a colander and rinse well under cold water.
- Porcini mushrooms are cut into slices and placed in a saucepan with 1 tbsp. l. butter, lemon juice and a pinch of salt. Cook over low heat for five minutes.
- Make béchamel sauce. Mix 25 g of butter with olive oil and fry the flour on it for two minutes. Pour in milk and 1 tbsp. chicken broth in which the fillet was cooked. After salting, cook on fire for 10 minutes. with constant stirring.
- Porcini mushrooms are added to the bechamel sauce along with the oil and juice that they have released, as well as thinly sliced truffles and fillet pieces.
- Beat the yolks with a small amount of sauce and add to the pan with the chicken and forest fruits. Remove from heat.
- Melt the remaining butter in a bowl, place the cooked rice in it and, stirring with a wooden spatula, warm it up and add salt to taste.
- Transfer the rice into a round pan, turn it over onto a serving plate, and place warm bechamel sauce with chicken and forest fruits on top.
Pizza with white and black truffles
Products:
- flour – 400 g;
- mineral water – 200 ml;
- fresh yeast – 6 g;
- vegetable oil – 30 ml;
- sugar – 8 g;
- heavy cream – 20 g;
- truffle oil – 6 ml;
- white truffles – 20 g;
- black truffle paste – 150 g;
- garlic – 2 cloves;
- mozzarella – 300 g.
Description of the cooking process:
- Yeast, sugar and 2 tbsp are diluted in mineral water. l flour. Let stand for 10-15 minutes.
- Add the risen yeast to the flour, and prepare the dough, kneading until smooth, flavoring with vegetable oil.
- Cover the dough ball with a towel and let it stand for half an hour. Then divide into 150 g portions and leave for another hour.
- Roll out a circle with a diameter of 30-35 cm from one piece of dough, put a sauce of cream, garlic and truffle paste on it, and evenly distribute pieces of mozzarella over the surface.
- The pizza is cooked in an oven at 350°C. The baked goods are seasoned with truffle oil and white truffle shavings.
Beef tenderloin with truffles and foie gras
Products:
- butter – 20 g;
- foie gras – 80 g;
- beef tenderloin – 600 g;
- demi-glace sauce (or strong meat broth) – 40 g;
- small tomatoes – 40 g;
- heavy cream – 40 ml;
- dry white wine – 20 ml;
- black truffle paste – 80 g;
- black truffle – 10 g;
- arugula – 30 g;
- truffle oil – 10 ml.
Process description:
- Prepare beef steaks by cutting them into slices 2 cm thick. For frying, use a grill pan. The meat is pre-greased with butter and wrapped in parchment.
- Thin slices of truffle are lightly browned in butter in a frying pan. Add cooked meat, wine and a little water to it, simmer for several minutes.
- Then add sauce, truffle paste, cream and a little water to the beef, pepper and salt to taste.
- Goose liver is cut into two layers 20-30 ml thick, breaded in flour, and fried in a grill pan through parchment for two minutes.
Assemble the finished dish on a plate: place a beef steak in the center, pour sauce over it, and place foie gras and truffle slices on top. Decorate everything with arugula leaves and flowers from cherry tomato slices, sprinkle with truffle oil.
Conclusion
Cooking truffles at home is an interesting and exciting activity. You can experiment with the tastes and smells of spices in combination with truffle aroma. Real experts on these expensive mushrooms claim that they have great benefits for the body, and therefore have a high price.
