A White Truffle Dinner

I don't typically get anxious about having company over for dinner. In fact, I rather enjoy it - why else do it? This past Sunday, however, was an exception. Not because of the guests, but because of the dinner to be cooked. Not because of the recipes, but because of the ingredient-of-honour. The tuber magnatum pico is not to be trifled with - mishandle it, and you might as well be watching those Euros dissipate into thin air.

How did we manage to procure them straight from Alba? Not through any ingenuity on my part, that's for sure. Lucky for us, we have friends who have friends - the former, namely, being the incredibly well-connected and resourceful Chubby Hubby & S.

While the goods only arrived a few days before Sunday, this was a meal W & I have been discussing ever since we ordered the truffles - which is to say, quite a few weeks. After much consulting of cookbooks and wringing of hands (me; W already had definite ideas about which dishes he wanted me to put on the menu), the following ensued. While a multi-course affair, we decided we would blow the truffles on a couple of dishes as opposed to stretching them across all. I think there are few things meaner, more pointless, and ironically enough, wasteful, than a few token shavings - it's imperative to use enough if you are after the full effect.

Porcini Tagliatelle with Poached Egg, Truffle Hollandaise and White Truffle Shavings
This was inspired by one of our favourite dishes from Buon Ricordo in Sydney - fettuccine al tartufovo, or fettuccine with cream and parmesan, topped with a truffle-infused egg. Instead of making plain egg pasta, I flavoured the pasta dough with dried porcini - soaked, cooked, and finely minced - which imparts a distinctive savour. The porcini pasta dough recipe comes from Giuliano Bugialli's Bugialli on Pasta.

I had stored both the eggs (for poaching as well as for making the hollandaise) and the butter (for the hollandaise) with the truffles overnight in tightly sealed jars - the aroma of truffles best clings to foods rich in fat, such as eggs and butter. This allows you to really layer and build a dish utterly permeated with the heady perfume, a foundation of flavour to support the final anointment of truffle shavings.

Pig's Trotters stuffed with Truffled Confit of Pork Neck, with Sage & Onion Polenta and Madeira Jus
No white truffles here; instead, the dish features the earthy flavours of dried porcini, truffle juice, and preserved summer truffles. I've loosely based it on a recipe from Bécasse: Inspirations and Flavours by Justin North, a beautiful book showcasing the much-lauded food from one of Sydney's most critically acclaimed restaurants. It's a dish Chef North says is inspired by the legendary Pierre Koffman.

I have a bit of a weakness for trotters. It may take a bit of effort to coax a thing of deliciousness from this oft-ignored part of the pig. But take the time to lavish it with love, treat it with the same respect you would accord a far more expensive cut, and you'll be rewarded with something so undeniably good, so unctuously satisfying, that even the unadventurous (or unsuspecting - the presentation is fairly elegant) will be asking for seconds.

Carnaroli Risotto with Shaved White Truffles from Alba
An absolute Piedmontese classic, and I think one of the best ways of showing off the white truffle's incomparable flavour. I like Thomas Keller's recipe from The French Laundry Cookbook.

It does, however, depart from traditional technique in two significant respects that would probably make a risotto purist shudder - a two-part cooking method that allows you to make the risotto "base" the day before and shortens the final cooking time to less than 10 minutes, and the last-minute beating in, the mantecatura, of - aside from the usual butter and parmesan - some heavy cream whipped to soft peak stage. This technique of folding whipped cream into risotto is one that Chef Keller attributes to Alain Ducasse - while the cream will "melt" out of its whipped form, it coats each individual grain of rice with greater ease than had it been unwhipped.

Vanilla, Brown Butter & Hazelnut Cake with Warm White Chocolate & Truffle Honey Filling; Truffle Honey Ice Cream; Apricots in Vanilla & Earl Grey Tea Caramel
When I saw the picture of Kate Zuckerman's lovely spin on financier in The Sweet Life: Desserts from Chanterelle, I knew I had to have the book. It struck me as the blonde, buttery, nutty cousin of this dark and sultry number, and is no less irresistible thanks to the ooze factor. It also struck me as a recipe ripe for playing around with - the very best kind of recipe, if you ask me - and play around I did, keeping in mind the truffle theme. Again, no white truffles here. Instead, that divine nectar known as truffle honey.

The original financier batter in the book uses ground almonds, and the filling is a vanilla custard. I used ground hazelnuts in the batter simply because the flavours of hazelnut and truffle honey are gorgeous together and I had flavoured the white chocolate ganache (which liquefies into the molten centres when the baby cakes are baked) with truffle honey. The recipe for the accompanying truffle honey ice cream (which I've written about previously) comes from Giorgio Locatelli's Made in Italy.