How to incorporate truffle into your Christmas menus

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Much of the festive season centres around food and eating. Most of our favourite Christmas memories are made in the kitchen, at the dining table or on the sofa with a large plate of mince pies. During this time of luxury and plenty, nothing could be more fitting than the decadent flavour of truffles.

If you are getting your menus together early, we have rifled through our go-to recipes and curated a guide of crowd-pleasing truffle dishes and suggestions for each occasion:

 

Christmas Eve

Picture this: your Christmas shopping is complete, presents are wrapped and vegetables prepped.. it is time to start truly relaxing into the celebration. You need a dinner worthy of the special occasion without exhausting yourself with another overly-elaborate spread. We suggest a simple fresh truffle pasta, paired beautifully with glass of your favourite champagne.

It could not be more simple – cook your store-bought fresh tagliatelle to instruction whilst melting several knobs of salted butter with garlic over a low heat. Transfer your cooked pasta to the buttery pan and toss whilst sprinkling over Italian cheese and starchy pasta water. Once creamy, add a few drops of Truffoil1% white truffle condiment and serve with a generous grating of fresh white winter truffle. Bellisima!

Can’t get hold of fresh truffles? Try using our truffle pepper in an extravagant take on the classic Cacio e Pepe instead.

 

 

Christmas Day

There is nothing like an impressive side dish to really make you feel you’ve put on a successful Christmas lunch. It would be too much, even for us, to add truffle to every accompaniment, however we do think at least one recipe from the following deserves a spot:

Honey truffle carrots – quick and easy, just toss roasted chantenay carrots with lashings of Honey & Truffle seconds before serving.

Truffled cauliflower cheese –grate one of our Italian truffle cheeses into your bechamel before adding to the cauliflower and drizzle of Truffoil before serving.

Truffle salted potatoes –  however you prepare your roast potatoes, sprinkle with a generous pinch of truffle salt straight from the oven for added aroma.

Truffle vegetable medley – serve your steamed broccoli, leeks and cabbage with a knob of black truffle butter.

 

Food for thought: offer an impressive and thoughtful vegetarian option by using our Salsa Truffina™ as the duxelle in a truffled butternut squash wellington or add into a nut roast mixture.

 

 

Boxing Day

To make this year’s boxing day grazing a more exciting affair, we have the perfect sandwich recipe for feeding the masses:

 

  • Indulgent boxing day sandwiches

Ingredients:

3 egg yolks, 250ml light olive oil + 50ml Truffoil™ black truffle concentrate, jar minced black summer truffle, 1 teaspoon wholegrain mustard, dash lemon juice, salt and pepper, sourdough (or sandwich bread of choice), salted butter, sliced leftover turkey, leftover braised red cabbage, leftover stuffing

Method:

Homemade truffle mayonnaise

Blend egg yolks and mustard with a pinch of salt and pepper until combined.

Slowly incorporate the oils whilst blending until thick and creamy.

Stir through a teaspoon of minced black summer truffle and a dash of lemon juice to taste.

Sandwich assembly

Cut two slices of sourdough and butter each side.

Spoon over a generous dollop of truffle mayonnaise and smear to cover.

Layer your turkey, followed by sweet red cabbage and stuffing onto the bread.

Toast your sandwich in a hot pan until each side is browned and crispy.

Of course, to save time you can skip the first step and simply add Truffoil™ to ready-made mayonnaise. In addition, you can include any leftover veggies you like – this would work wonderfully with chopped up brussel sprouts, a layering of parsnips or perhaps cauliflower cheese!

 

 

New Years Eve

Ringing in the New Year is cause for a party (dinner or otherwise) kitted out with impressive cocktails and decorations. Throwing a get-together can be stressful, however as long as your guests are adequately fed and watered no one will notice any small hiccups.

If you are having friends over for dinner, wow them with an exceptional starter worthy of the occasion. Why not try beef fillet carpaccio dotted with Jerusalem artichoke puree and delicately arranged black summer truffle slices. For vegetarian guests, a truffled cheese souffle would be equally inspiring, made with Truffoil white truffle concentrate and salty Gruyere.

Throwing a livelier event? Canapes and nibbles should still look to impress, offering your guests pleasant breaks from the dancefloor. Mix up retro classics with truffled devilled eggs, folding minced black summer truffle through the whipped yolk mixture before piping, or honey truffle cocktail sausages using our Honey & Truffle as a syrupy glaze.

 

 

New Years Day

The New Years Day Walk is an essential activity in our opinion, whether to shake off a sore head or contemplate the upcoming year. For most of us, that also means cold hands and muddy shoes, with a comforting quick fix needed upon returning home. So, we suggest soup. Celeriac, parsnip, potato, or whatever you have in the cupboard, lovingly garnished with black summer truffle carpaccio. An easy way to round off the week of special dishes.

 

We hope to have provided some inspiration and hopefully encouraged some excitement for the coming month. Whether you plan to cook for formal feasting guests, for loved ones (and +1s) squeezed around your kitchen table or simply for yourself, alone on the sofa watching Polar Express for the hundredth time… we hope, like us, you find each mouthful a haven of Christmas joy.

 

Shop our truffle products

 

 

How to use: Honey & Truffle

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Fresh Truffles have a strict hunting calendar, which – following the biological life cycle of the fungi – states with precision when each variety can be foraged. This also means that, every year, a few impatient hunters are fined thousands of euros for being caught red-handed in the woods ahead of time.

Out-of-season truffles are often of poor quality, not having had the time to develop their aroma, and negatively affect future crops as the spores don’t have time to mature and spread to generate the next truffle generation.

So, what to do when it’s not truffle time? Fortunately, there are many methods to preserve truffles: in oil, butter or added to cheese, dried, frozen or in paste. One of the most delicious ways is Honey & Truffle: our own sweet-and-earthy blend of honey and summer truffles. How to use it, though? Here’s some inspiration.

Cheese

The easiest way to enjoy our honey is by making it part of a majestic cheeseboard. Aged and salty cheeses like Pecorino and Parmigiano and blue cheeses like Stilton and Gorgonzola are beautifully paired with truffle and honey. Make your cheeseboard extra-fancy with dried figs, apples and apricots, add toasted pecans and artisan crusty bread, and dive in guilty pleasure.

Oozing goodness 

Elevate your baked Camembert by drizzling it with Honey & Truffle just after taking it out of the oven, then serve with almonds, slices of pear and as much bread as you can handle.

Tip: does your Camembert curdle in the oven? Use a type from non-pasteurised milk – it melts perfectly.

Truffled-honey-mustard sauce

Mix together Honey & Truffle, Dijon mustard, salt and pepper to create a tangy sauce for potatoes, pork or chicken.

French twist

Use it in a truffle and honey beurre blanc sauce and pour it over halibut fillets (here is a version with chanterelles from Food52, just swap regular honey for  truffle flavoured).

Glazing poultry

Simply brush our Honey & Truffle over the skin of thyme and garlic chicken, or on the top of duck breast with apples and juniper. Stick in the oven and repeat the procedure as necessary.

Easy cheesy canapés 

Try drizzling the honey on crostini with blue cheese and grapes, goat cheese and beetroot (add a pinch of colour with some micro cress), or ricotta with lemon zest topped with pea shoots.

Love Honey & Truffle? Simply curious about it? Get it now, or treat somebody with a Truffle Marinade gift box.

Summer Truffles Hunting & How to make a good Black Truffle Risotto

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Warmer days, green leaves, first walks in the woods. Summer Truffle (Tuber Aestivum) season opens tomorrow – our dogs are ready for the hunt, swinging tails and quivering noses.

While we wait for them to spot the first truffles, here is a recipe to keep you salivating!

 


(note: this recipes calls for Black Truffles – you can use either Black Summer Truffle or Black Winter Truffles, depending on the season)

Risotto with black truffle and parmesan

 

I know, this sounds pretty basic – but let’s be honest – there’s nothing better than a simple and classic dish made with the best ingredients you can find. It’s not about the complexity of the recipe, but the harmonic meeting of a few great quality ingredients that combine together to put a little taste of heaven in every mouthful.

Also, it’s important to know the basics – making a risotto it is not that simple as we’ve been told. Nothing scary, just a few tips to follow so you end up with the perfect al dente rice, creamy without drowning it in cream.

First of all, get a small blonde onion, or – even better – a shallot. Slice it as thinly as you can and slowly fry it with a dollop of good quality butter until translucent. Add the rice (Carnaroli or Vialone Nano are our recommendations for risotto, make sure you’ll get the best rice you can find – it really makes the difference) and – THIS IS A REALLY IMPORTANT PART – toast it. Yes, add the rice to the onion and butter and stir with a wooden spoon over medium-heath for 2-3 minutes, until all grains are shiny. Toasting the rice you are basically caramelising it with butter, closing the pores and allowing the grains to maintain their shape and texture.

After this crucial part, start adding a spoonful of vegetable stock at time, adding the next one only once the liquid has been almost completely absorbed. Keep stirring. 3 minutes before the cooking time, add the grated Fresh Black Truffle.

Once the risotto is done, close the fire, add a good dollop of butter, a generous sprinkle of Parmesan, stir briefly and cover. This helps the risotto assuming the creamy texture we all love. After a couple of minutes stir for the last time and serve – if you like – with some shavings of Parmesan and Black Truffle!

 

Ingredients – 2 people

170g rice
1l vegetable stock
30g Black Truffle
30g of shallot or blonde onion (no need to be very precise)
Butter
Parmesan

White Truffle: the Festive menu

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It’s the end of the year and, sadly, nearly the end of the season for White Winter Truffles. We are still able to offer you these delicacies for another few weeks, so why not making the most of it introducing a special dish to your festive menus?

We love our guests’ wide open eyes when we bring the precious gem to the table and slice it right in front of them. It’s a celebration of senses, of the here and now – it’s bringing conviviality to another level, a way to make your guests feeling special.

White Truffle: the Festive menu

We picked our favourite recipes from the best restaurants around and put together THE white truffle menu – we thought this could give you good inspiration on how to amuse your invitees. Of course with so much choice around the possibilities were endless, but somebody had to do the hard job of browsing each and every great restaurant’s menu!

Here’re our choices – get inspired.

The Festive Menu

Starter by the Orrery, London

Poached Lobster, Champagne velouté, white truffle

Main Course by Culina Restaurant, Beverly Hills

Agnolotti with braised rabbit, white truffle and leeks

Dessert by Four Seasons Hotel Ritz Lisbon

Araguani chocolate moelleux. White truffle, caramelized pears, Tonka bean ice cream

agnolottiPoached Lobster, Champagne velouté, white truffle

A very special Happy Christmas and a wonderful New Year from us all!