Truffles, Truffles, Truffles

Last Friday night I went to a very special birthday party - a gourmet shop that I pop into from time to time was having its 15th birthday celebrations.  All of the finger food served on the night incorporated the use of Italian truffles.  It was absolutely glorious. I was so entranced by the delicious food that I asked one of the staff members for the list of ingredients in each of the dishes so I could attempt to recreate them myself.  I hate to admit it but prior to that night I had never before tried truffles.  I am now convinced that I cannot live without them.  On Saturday morning I went back to the shop and purchased some truffle oil, truffle infused salt, truffle salsa and truffle parmesan so I could start to make some of these delicious treats.

Here are some of the ideas - I am sure that you can think of many more:

Blanched Green beans, snow peas, pine nuts, chilli and truffle parmesan rolled in prosciutto

Mini potato and rosemary pizzas with white truffle oil and truffle salt

Mini beef and rocket sandwiches with aioli and preserved truffle

Omelette roulade with whipped goats cheese and truffle salsa, topped with salmon roe and chives

Little mushrooms stuffed with polenta topped with almond green olive truffle paste

They were also serving delicious cheeses and condiments as well as having a wonderful selection of chocolate slabs laid out for tasting.

Yes, I was in food heaven and I intend to go back again and again and again..............mmmmmmmmm.

My thanks to my wonderful friend and truffle connoisseur JB as without her continual raving about the deliciousness of truffles I may never have ventured into this territory.

For those of you that adore truffles, here is another tip that they gave me to make the most of a fresh truffle:  Place truffle into a box of eggs and tightly wrap in cling wrap.  After several days you can make yourself truffle infused scrambled eggs/omelette.  Then place the truffle in a canister of arborio rice for a few days so you can enjoy truffle infused risotto.  Same truffle then can go into flour if you like to make your own pasta.  After infusing your eggs/rice/flour use shaved truffle over pasta, meat dishes etc.