Tag: black truffle

Leek with Truffle

23 February 2023

This winter truffles are even more expensive than usual, due to a warm and dry season in the Italian and French truffle regions. The number of truffles is limited and the ones that are harvested are small. Bad news for the truffle-lover.

The first to talk to us about truffles were Fred and Yolanda de Leeuw. Not only did they run a very special butcher in Amsterdam, they also imported truffles and truffle related products. 
Their shop was the only place in Amsterdam where you could buy Wagyu beef before it became popular, foie gras, quails, Spanish veal, bread from Paris, oysters with wasabi sabayon, capon, home-made pastrami and black pudding. Expensive, delicious and always of the highest quality.

Fred and Yolanda contributed to various cookbooks with recipes for truffle-based dishes. In 1999 chef Alain Caron and author Lars Hamer published a book about the shop, the meat, the patés, the sausages, the salads and the dishes they prepared. One of these recipes is for a leek salad with summer truffle and Jus de Truffe. The truffle juice is obtained after maceration of the truffles for six months to one year in the juice of the first cooking process for conserved truffles. Jus de Truffe has the deep earthy aromas and flavour of fresh truffle.

We prepared the leek salad as a tribute to two people who were genuinely passionate about what they did, what they sold and what they prepared.

Wine Pairing

The dish comes with a range of flavours: the leek is buttery with a hint of onion and the vinaigrette earthy and fresh with a touch of bitterness. Wine wise we suggest a Soave, a white wine made with garganega grapes, because it goes very well with the citrus and the aromatic leek flavour. 

What You Need

  • Young Thin Leek
  • Lemon
  • Olive Oil
  • Jus de Truffe
  • Mustard

What You Do

Clean and wash the leek. Slice in three, making sure all slices have the same length. Cook in hot water for 20-30 minutes until they have a soft, creamy texture. Cool quickly and set aside. Make a dressing by adding jus de truffe to a bowl. Add half a teaspoon of mustard, a few drops of lemon juice and half a teaspoon of excellent olive oil. Now it’s a matter of adjusting. It all depends on the intensity of the jus de truffe, the tartness of the lemon and flavour of the olive oil. Dry the leek carefully, whisk the dressing and serve. And if you can afford it, add some freshly grated truffle.

Leek with Truffle ©cadwu
Yolanda en Fred de Leeuw - Het Vleesboek

Potato and Truffle Purée

24 November 2022

The combination of potatoes and truffle is an interesting one. Because one is the opposite of the other in terms of price and availability? Because both grow underground?

Dutch chef John Halvemaan (also winner of the prestigious Johannes van Dam prize) created a no doubt delicious combination, using butter, veal stock, parsley and cooked bacon. Also very tasty: a recipe for a gratin with crème fraîche and eggs and a recipe by chef Claude Deligne (Le Taillevent in Paris) with foie gras. All far too complex for us, so we prepared a very rich and tasty potato purée with lots of truffle.

If you look for recipes with potatoes and truffle, you will find suggestions using truffle oil. It’s not the real thing, however, if you find quality truffle oil and use only a little bit, your purée will be yummy. The sad news is that some (most?) truffle oil comes with 2,4-dithiapentane, a synthetically produced, aromatic molecule. Producers add this because it gives the impression that the oil contains truffle. Unfortunately, the flavours of 2,4-dithiapentane are not even close to the aromas and taste of a real truffle.

In this case you have to spend some money on both the truffle and the potatoes.

We combined our purée with an excellent rib eye and served it with its own jus and the purée.

Wine Pairing

We enjoyed a glass of Camino de Caza Almansa Garnacha Tintorera-Monastrell 2020. An organic red wine produced by Bodegas Piqueras and made grapes from the Almansa region in Spain. It’s a full-bodied wine with soft tannins and a hint of vanilla and chocolate. In general, you’re looking for a smooth wine with notes of red fruit and oak, medium acidity and with a long, dry finish. One that goes very well with for instance red meat and game (hare, deer).

What You Need

  • Potatoes
  • Butter
  • Egg Yolk
  • Cream
  • Milk
  • Salt
  • Winter Truffle

What You Do

Make your favourite purée! Cook the potatoes until ready (meaning: until the blade of a knife inserted in the potato goes easily through it). Drain. Mash with a fork, add cold butter, combine, add warm milk and/or cream and use a spatula to get the right consistency. You could add a beaten egg yolk (also because eggs and truffle work together wonderfully). Add salt to taste. Perhaps some white pepper. Grate the truffle and add half of it to the purée. The taste of a winter truffle benefits from the warmth of the purée. Just before serving add the remaining truffle.

Potato and Truffle Purée ©cadwu
Potato and Truffle Purée ©cadwu

Omelet with Black (Winter) Truffle

7 February 2018

Omelet with Black (Winter) Truffle with a glass of Kuentz-Bas Alsa­ce Pi­not Blanc

It’s mid March so still some time left to enjoy tasty winter food. Treat yourself to Choucroute with pork, sausage and Confit of Duck. Or pumpkin soup with ginger and jus de truffes.
Talking about truffles, black truffles are harvested from November to March, so be extravagant and buy one before the season closes. The one we bought was 17.6 grams, so you could imagine how happy we were to find it. When buying truffle, please ask if it’s okay to smell them, because the aroma will tell you everything you need to know about the quality.
Black truffle combines really well with warm purée of potatoes, risotto and egg.
Hint: if you need to store a black truffle for a day or so, please store it in a small box with some rice and an egg. The rice will prevent the truffle of becoming too wet and the egg will embrace the aromas of the truffle and become a treat in its own right.
We used our truffle to make one of the simplest and tastiest truffle dishes ever: an omelet with truffle and Parmesan cheese.

A white wine goes very well with this omelet, best would be a classic Pinot Blanc or Riesling from the Alsace region (for instance Kuentz-Bas AOC Alsa­ce Pi­not Blanc Tra­di­ti­on). Think fruity aromas, floral characteristics, minerality and a touch of sweetness. If you want to drink a red wine, then go for a blend like Feteasca Neagra with Syrah as produced by Radacini from Moldavia. Sounds a bit exotic, so if you can’t find it go for a fruity (ripe cherry, plum), spicy red wine with a velvety structure; serve it slightly cooled.

Here is what you need

  • 2 Eggs
  • Butter
  • Parmesan Cheese
  • 10 grams or (budget permitting) more Black Truffle
  • White Pepper

Clean the truffle if necessary. Take a fairly small iron skillet and make sure the pan is warm through and through but not hot. Using a fork (a spoon is even better) whisk the two eggs together. Add butter to the pan and wait until it is melted. It should not change colour or sizzle. An omelet should not be fried; the bottom must remain yellow. Add the whisked egg to the pan and wait until the egg is beginning to set. Check the consistency with your fingers. There is no alternative to baveuse! Take your time.
Serve the omelet on warm dishes with some freshly grated Parmesan cheese, white pepper and grated black truffle.

Black Truffle, Egg and Parmesan Cheese © cadwu
Omelet with Black Truffle and Parmesan Cheese © cadwu