Seasonal Greens and Summer Truffles – Top summer recipes

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Seasonal-greens-and-summer-truffles

 

 

Seasonal, greens and good for you are three of the leading culinary trends. Fabulously flavoursome it’s not even a trend – it’s just the reason why we love eating. We have joined them together in this little compendium of springy earthiness.

 

 

 

With the last crop of British asparagus being harvested in these days it would be a sin not to take advantage of the last sprouts of the season.

An easy take on a classical is steamed asparagus with poached eggs and truffle shavings – keep it simple or follow Mark Jordan’s fancy Asparagus spears with truffle, poached free-range duck egg, hollandaise sauce and Parmesan crisps recipe.

You can go vegan with this Grilled asparagus with sorrel and shaved black truffles, from Karen Martini.

If you got caught in a summer storm and need something more comforting, try a simple asparagus velouté, laced with single cream (just a little drop, you don’t want to cover the asparagus flavour) and topped with grated black truffle. Here a good (and utterly beautiful) version from Zen Can Cook.

 

 

Summer truffles are a great match for peas, broad beans, fava beans etc. Sure, one could use the frozen version, but if you ever tasted the buttery, earthy sweetness of peas-out-of-the-pod, you know the difference.

Arne & Claudia, from Food with a View, mix fresh fava beans with a fresh truffle pesto, which will come in handy in many more recipes.

They also make the best early summer picnic treat with this Frittata with wrinkled peas and summer truffle’s butter de luxe, which is the most civilised take on the Neapolitan classic beach food “Frittata di maccheroni” that we have ever seen.

Just remember that you can always prepare a risotto with fresh peas (half whole, half pureed) and summer truffle – and add your favourite choice between lobster meat, scallops or seared cubes of foie gras marinated in Cognac.

Oh, well, are you salivating enough? You can get your fresh Summer Truffles here!

 

 

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