![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Addicted to Truffles
It's become clear that I'm addicted to truffles. Not the chocolate kind, though they're wonderful, too. No, this addiction is to black and white truffles - the underground mushrooms that are hunted and found by pigs or trained dogs in France (and parts of the US, namely Tennessee and North Carolina!).
This addiction is to black & white truffles and black and/or truffle oil. They are VERY tasty and yummy and delicious, but a very expensive thing for an addiction. Unless one has a connection for excellent quality oils at very low prices, as do I, thanks to the Fancy Food Show at the end of June. They are rightly called the diamond of the kitchen at costs ranging from $350 to $500 a pound for black truffles (the richer in flavor of the two types).
Here are examples of my most recent indulgences: Last week, I had a truffle/tomato snack Thursday evening. For dinner on Friday, Matt made us truffle gravy to go over our roasted chicken; we removed the skin and flattened the breast in order to pour the gravy into the meat - amazing. Saturday night at a birthday dinner in Manhattan, one of the restaurant's best dishes, and the one I ordered, was the parpadelle with beef and truffle oil in the sauce - VERY yummy.
And, last evening I had to have yet another truffle/tomato snack. I love summer tomatoes. It's a simple snack bursting with flavor and exploding with delight: I cut 1/4" thick slices of a large New Jersey beefsteak tomato onto a plate, lightly sprinkle Baleine's sea salt and freshly ground pepper onto each slice. You must use Baleine's (fine) sea salt. I turn each slice over and season each again. Then, I open a bottle of either black or white truffle oil and waft the aroma toward my nostrils with my hand as one would do with a fresh bouquet of flowers. The oil drips slowly over the thick, seasoned tomato slices and the slices glisten invitingly.
Cutting each slice into succulent quarters or thirds, I can sense the truffle as the slice passes onto my tongue. The tomato juices moisten my tongue. The salt brightens the taste throughout my mouth. The pepper bites my tongue just enough to round out the experience.
My eyes close. I chew slowly and dream. In a forest in southern France, the wind blows through oak trees where future truffles are growing, waiting to be found and end up on my taste buds.
To Matt's surprise and excitement, he's discovered that, for me at least, the taste of truffles is somewhat of an aphrodisiac. Let's just say, he's not kept the truffle oil away from me since we got it!
This addiction is to black & white truffles and black and/or truffle oil. They are VERY tasty and yummy and delicious, but a very expensive thing for an addiction. Unless one has a connection for excellent quality oils at very low prices, as do I, thanks to the Fancy Food Show at the end of June. They are rightly called the diamond of the kitchen at costs ranging from $350 to $500 a pound for black truffles (the richer in flavor of the two types).
Here are examples of my most recent indulgences: Last week, I had a truffle/tomato snack Thursday evening. For dinner on Friday, Matt made us truffle gravy to go over our roasted chicken; we removed the skin and flattened the breast in order to pour the gravy into the meat - amazing. Saturday night at a birthday dinner in Manhattan, one of the restaurant's best dishes, and the one I ordered, was the parpadelle with beef and truffle oil in the sauce - VERY yummy.
And, last evening I had to have yet another truffle/tomato snack. I love summer tomatoes. It's a simple snack bursting with flavor and exploding with delight: I cut 1/4" thick slices of a large New Jersey beefsteak tomato onto a plate, lightly sprinkle Baleine's sea salt and freshly ground pepper onto each slice. You must use Baleine's (fine) sea salt. I turn each slice over and season each again. Then, I open a bottle of either black or white truffle oil and waft the aroma toward my nostrils with my hand as one would do with a fresh bouquet of flowers. The oil drips slowly over the thick, seasoned tomato slices and the slices glisten invitingly.
Cutting each slice into succulent quarters or thirds, I can sense the truffle as the slice passes onto my tongue. The tomato juices moisten my tongue. The salt brightens the taste throughout my mouth. The pepper bites my tongue just enough to round out the experience.
My eyes close. I chew slowly and dream. In a forest in southern France, the wind blows through oak trees where future truffles are growing, waiting to be found and end up on my taste buds.
To Matt's surprise and excitement, he's discovered that, for me at least, the taste of truffles is somewhat of an aphrodisiac. Let's just say, he's not kept the truffle oil away from me since we got it!