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.

 

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The Ultimate Four-Course Summer Truffle Menu

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The Ultimate Summer Truffle Menu


 

 

We can’t stress it enough – the bountiful Summer Truffle is the perfect training ground for truffle newbies, and the all-is-permitted zone for who already knows his way around Tubers.

 

Its abundance implicates gentler prices than its winter cousins, while the earthy-yet-not-overpowering aroma means it can be paired fairly easily – so you can let the imagination run free when you have summer truffles in your kitchen.

 

To give you an idea of their versatility, we searched through hundreds of recipes to create the perfect summer truffle menu.

 


 

(note: you can use either Black Summer Truffle or Black Winter Truffles in these recipes, depending on the season)

 

Start off with this beautiful Jerusalem Artichoke Soup with Black Summer Truffle, by Chaîne des Rôtisseurs.

 

You can then go the Italian way and have a first starchy and comforting main course made of Pan-Seared Potato Gnocchi with Buerre Noisette, Black Summer Truffle and Provolone (by Joseph Hafner at James Beard Foundation), or keep it international and use the gnocchi to accompany the second meaty main course, this gorgeously juicy Roast Magret Duck Breasts with Shaved Black Truffles (Epicurious, photo: Pornchai Mittongtare).

TIPS.
If you are short of time, use good quality ready-made gnocchi for your recipe.
Provolone not in sight? Parmesan always do, but also a tender Caciotta cheese will work miracles here – just use a coarse grater.

 

Sweet tooth? We’ve got that covered, too. As weird as it may sounds, here’s a Burnt Cream with Black Truffles you won’t regret giving a try (Saveur, photo: Christopher Hirsheimer).

TIP. If you don’t have a blowtorch available don’t skip the burning part as it really adds another layer of flavour. Just sprinkle with sugar and place the custards under the oven grill for a couple of minutes, leaving the door slightly open and checking frequently. When melted and browned, remember allow the time for the sugar to set.

 


 

We hope you’ll like our menu – if you want to recreate it, you can find Summer Truffles, Black Winter Truffles, truffled Caciotta cheese and Truffoil in our online store!

 

 

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!

 

 

Top 3 Truffle Recipes for Valentine’s Day

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Love is all over the place. Red hearts, long stem roses, dedicated menus – wait – dedicated menus? Why squeezing yourselves in a room with fifty strangers cuddling up, when you can prepare the perfect intimate dinner exactly how you want it? Your music, your menu, your décor, your space.

Truffles elevate the simplest dish, so no need to complicate life – here’s our selection of recipes featuring the king of the season: Black Winter Truffle.

BlackTruffleValentineDayCaption

1

The perfect sharing, no-fuss, indulging, sensual dish? This amazing cheese fondue with Black Truffle.

Tips

  • Add some Taleggio for an extra layer of flavour.
  • Fontina cheese not readily available? Try a tested blend of Gruyere, Emmental and Mild Cheddar instead.
  • Elizabeth Minchilli brings truffle fondue to another level – simply pouring it over freshly made gnocchi.

2

Do you need a hyper-easy but effective dish, which pairs two of the most luscious food in a heavenly bite? These Black Truffle scallops from Omnivore’s Cookbook are as simple as they are pretty!

3

For the poshest crostino, top a slice of crusty bread with some foie gras and liberally add slivers of Black Truffles, as Eric Ripert suggests.

Thinking of going full-on meaty? Swap bread for beef fillet to make a classic and highly satisfying Tournedos Rossini topped with Black Truffles, from Foodista.


Buy Fresh Black Winter Truffles, this week’s price from £21.50 for 50g

Buy Black Truffle Butter, from £5.00 for 125g


Still unsure about your Valentine’s gift? Give (or ask for!) a Truffle Gift Box!

Red Gift Boxes

Top Truffle Wintry Recipe Ideas

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Here’s our top 10 list of delicious wintry truffle recipe ideas.  It’s an inspired collection including recipes from some of the UK’s most creative food bloggers and ideal for anyone looking for a luxurious twist on a timeless traditional winter feast.

Each recipe can be recreated using our Fresh Italian Truffles or our artisan truffle honey, oils, salts and spreads; alternatively for the foodie in your life consider buying one of our Christmas truffle gift boxes that start at £13.80

Cocktails

– Tartufo Cocktail – a gin based cocktail with truffle honey and fresh rosemary | Buy Truffle Honey

Appetisers

– Truffle Arancini – mini Sicilian arancini make the most perfect hors d’oeuvres especially when stuffed with Fresh Black Winter Truffle and Gorgonzola Dolcelatte | Buy Fresh Black Winter Truffles, this week’s price £19.50 for 50g

Soups

– Leek and Potato Soup with Truffle Cream |  Buy “La Truffata”, White Truffle and Porcini Mushroom Sauce

– Celeriac and Pink Lady Apple Soup with Truffle Oil and Crisp Sourdough Croutons | Buy Truffoil White Truffle Concentrate

Turkey Dishes

– Slow Roasted Turkey in Black Truffle Butter | Buy Truffle Butter

– Roast Turkey with Andalusian Truffle Stuffing – a gorgeous roast turkey stuffed with truffles, giblets and dried fruit and nuts with a dash of Spanish Sherry and Brandy

Buy Fresh Black Winter Truffles, this week’s price £19.50 for 50g or Fresh White Winter Truffles, this week’s starting price £28.25 for 50g

For a Vegetarian Guest

– Vegan Baked Mushroom Truffle Pasta in the style of Boscaiola without the sausage | Buy “Salsa Truffina”, Black Truffle and Champignon Mushroom Sauce

– Truffled Mushroom and Chestnut Wellington | Buy Black Truffle Truffoil

Vegetable/Side Truffle Dishes

– Truffle Salted Purple Potato Kale Cakes | Buy Truffle Salt

– Roasted Brussel Sprouts and Cauliflower with Roast Almonds & Truffle Oil | Buy Truffoil White Truffle Condiment

Use up Turkey

– Truffle Turkey and Radicchio Salad | Buy Fresh Black Winter Truffles, this week’s price £19.50 for 50 g or Fresh White Winter Truffles, this week’s starting price £28.25 for 50g

Hello TV, Post Christmas & Guests!

– Parmesan and Truffle Fries, hand-cut fries, salty because of the Parmesan, and beautifully infused with truffle | Buy Truffoil Black

– White Truffle & Mushroom Grilled Cheese Sandwich | Buy Truffoil White Truffle Concentrate