Mundaring Truffle Festival 2012 – Truffle Masterclass

The truffle season has ended and every year I consume more truffles, and accumulate more knowledge on how to use truffles. Like a fine silk shirt, truffles need to be handled with care. I could imagine care instructions being attached to truffles with the following information – do not wash, keep refrigerated, do not store for long, consume immediately, gentle heat cycle, shave thinly, use sparingly.

I went to the Mundaring Truffle Festival this year (over the weekend of 28-29 July) with one thing in mind. I wanted to learn more about using truffles so I enrolled into the Truffle Masterclass on the Saturday where Alain Fabregues from the Loose Box, Guillaume Brahimi from Bennelong and Emmanual Mollois from Choux Café put together a three-course meal. 

There are few foods in the world that excite people more than truffles. Give them to some French chefs and they will sound like they have struck gold, yes, black gold. It was entertaining to watch the chefs together on stage, demonstrating how the dishes were prepared and giving away tips on cooking with truffles, plus general chatter and some jostling around. Well it was mainly Alain and Guillaume ganging up on Emmanuel as he was the pastry chef. It felt like the pastry chef was like the drummer in a band, the one that is always at the butt of all jokes and seen as the most dispensable. At one point they joked “what’s the difference between a chef and a pastry chef? ...well a chef can cook and owns a restaurant ("ba-dum-tsh"!) but the pastry chef rightly defends himself by saying that he has a lot of love. Desserts definitely have a lot more aphrodisiac qualities and eating sweets releases endorphins that make us feel good, it’s no wonder that even after a big meal, there is always room for dessert!

The Masterclass focused on using truffles to enhance the flavours of local produce such as Rottnest Island scallops and Dandaragan organic beef. One theme that was hounded on to us in the class was that it’s all about simplicity and cooking seasonally. Let the produce speak for itself. I have never thought of scallops being a seasonal food before but I learnt that the scallop season was from March to September. 

Fat is a good conductor of truffle flavour and being French, butter was of course added to everything in large quantities. Guillaume revealed that his Bennelong restaurant uses an average of 400kg of butter a week! When it comes to butter, “size does matter” they joked, well in terms of the amount of butter you put in, and another thing is that you can’t trust a skinny chef!

The first dish by Alain Fabregues was scallops and truffles on a bed of winter leeks. Scallops and truffles, you really can’t go wrong, both are rich in umami. The umami is intensified as you sear and caramelize the outside of the scallops, and you could smell it wafting through the air as it hits the pan. When executed well, scallops are in my opinion one of the most joyous things to eat and the ones that were served to us were cooked just right. The key is to undercook them, keep them medium rare. Overcook scallops become hard and rubbery, and rather than eating them you would want to throw them against a wall to see if they bounce back at you.

The main dish by Guillaume Brahimi was braised wagyu beef cheeks with celeriac puree and truffle. In winter so many braised beef dishes are served at restaurants with varying degrees of success but this one was amazing, the beef had been cooked until the meat fells apart at the stroke of your fork and the jus had an incredibly rich flavour. Definitely the best winter braised beef cheeks I have had this year. It was a simple dish but lifted with different textures, I liked the idea of adding croutons to the dish to provide some crunch. 

The dessert by Emmanuel Mollois was an apple tart faco tatin with a truffle heart. Truffles go well with sweet things like chocolate and toffee, but sugar is its enemy because when you add sugar to a dessert, you have to cook it for the chemical reactions to occur which results in browning and caramelisation, resulting in ‘that’ flavour which is much desired in desserts. The optimal heat for releasing the flavour of truffles is between 60C-80C. This presents a challenge for making desserts as a lot of the time you are using heat that is twice the optional level for truffles which would pretty much destroy its flavour.

Emmanuel has spent a lot of time mastering the art of making truffle desserts and year after year his truffle desserts are highly anticipated. This year it did not disappoint. It was interesting to learn about how Emmanuel got around making the truffle crème anglaise using as little heat on the truffles as possible. The truffles are added to the milk to infuse overnight and then removed from the milk. The milk is heated and the truffles are added back in to simmer at just under a boil at around 65 C degrees for 10 minutes. The truffles are then removed again and eggs are added to the milk and cooked at 85 C degrees. Grated truffles are added back into the milk and some gelatine is stirred in to set. Gelatine is used to thicken the crème anglaise and once it is cooled, the cream fills the inside of the apple tart. Creme anglaise is usually thickened by continually cooking the milk and egg mixture over the stove until it thickens, using gelatine provided a similar result but minimizes the heat to the truffles to retain the flavour. The end result was a crème anglaise that was harmoniously infused with a beautiful truffle flavour. 

I was impressed by the beef cheeks but the dessert had a real wow element to it and I felt that it had done the most justice in bringing out the flavour of truffles. 

I bought a little piece of truffle from the Mundaring Truffle Festival to take home and here is how I have been using the truffle over the past few weeks.

Celeriac Soup with Mushroom Garnish and Truffles

Pan-Fried Potato Gnocchi with Mushroom Puree and Mini Asparagus Spears 

Truffle Breakfast with Slow-Poached Egg (recipe link)

French Toast with Truffle Cheese (recipe link)

I am truffled out now. Although I love truffles, I'm glad that they are only a seasonal treat.

How have you enjoyed this year’s truffle season? What dishes have you cooked with truffles?

French Toast with Brillat-Savarin Truffle D’ete Cheese

Do you like having a savoury or sweet breakfast?

I generally like my breakfast savoury – either Western style with bacon, eggs, toast and the lot; or Asian style like congee or some noodle dish. But I will make an exception sometimes for French toast or waffles even though it feels like I’m having dessert for breakfast, and having sweets early in the day seems a bit wrong, kind of like having a glass of wine before noon. Breakfast is the most important meal of the day after all, so it’s important to choose the right food to start your day. Some argue for the importance of protein in the morning to give you the energy that you need to start the day, and it also helps to control your hunger so you are not starving by lunchtime. I have a friend who has dinner for breakfast and then smaller meals throughout the day, and he has reported that he works better this way, following the ancient proverb to eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince, dine like a pauper. This reverse diet is also used by people to loose weight, where by reversing your meal sizes and times, you can better distribute your calories throughout the day. Earlier this year a study revealed that having some dessert for breakfast can help to prevent weight gain and food cravings.

Savoury vs sweet, dinner for breakfast, dessert for breakfast, reverse diet…there are so many options. How do you do breakfast?

French toast is stale bread that has been softened by covering it in a mixture of milk, eggs, cinnamon and sugar, and then fried in butter. It’s called pain perdu in French, which literally means "lost bread" and was created as a way to use up leftover stale bread. French toast is usually dusted with icing sugar and served with maple syrup, cream and/or fruits.

Did you know that French toast was not actually invented in France?

The idea of French toast (ie: soaking and frying bread) has been around long before France even existed as a country and the process of cooking stale bread in eggs and milk dates back to medieval times, it was even once called pain à la romaine aka Roman bread. The exact origins of French toast are unknown but some believe that the name was derived in a similar fashion to French fries and was a result of it being popularised in America by French immigrants and thus, Americans started calling it “French toast” and so did the rest of the world...

You can use any kind of stale bread to make French toast but I like using brioche because of its rich and buttery flavour. I also like my slice of bread to be quite thick, fried until it has a crisp, caramelized outer layer and a soft, fluffy interior. It almost feels like you are eating cake.

I have seen recipes for French toast sandwiched with fillings such as chocolate or fruit like bananas. I bought some Brillat-Savarin Truffle D’ete (soft cheese stuffed with summer truffles) at the Mundaring Truffle Festival. 

For breakfast last weekend, I thought I would try stuffing French toast with Truffle D’efe and the result was oozing cheese in between layers of sweetly coated, butter fried bread. It’s kind of like a grilled cheese sandwich but better. The cheese added savouriness which balanced out the sweetness of the fried brioche. It’s a winning combination.

I definitely recommend you try making French toast one day stuffed with cheese. I think that any soft cheese like brie or camembert works well. 

French Toast with Brillat-Savarin Truffle D’ete (or any other soft cheese)

(adapted from the Cook’s Companion, serves 2)

Ingredients

•    4 thick slices of stale brioche (two day old)
•    2 eggs
•    ½ cup of milk
•    pinch salt and nutmeg
•    1-2 teaspoons caster sugar
•    ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
•    ¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
•    a few tablespoons of butter for frying
•    a few slices of soft cheese

Method

In a bowl, whisk the eggs, milk, salt, nutmeg, sugar, vanilla extract and cinnamon together (adjust seasonings to your taste). Pour the eggy mixture into a shallow bowl.
Soak 2 slices of brioche in the eggy mixture, carefully turn to coat each side for 30-60 seconds (the amount of time will depend on how stale your brioche is. Stale bread will soak up more mixture without falling apart). Shake off the excess.

Heat some butter (1-2 tablespoons) in a frying pan over medium heat until it foams, add the pieces of brioche and fry until golden brown on both sides and cooked through (2-3 minutes each side). Remove the fried brioche onto a plate lined with paper towels. Add slices of cheese on top of one piece of brioche, place the other piece of brioche on top to sandwich.

Then put the broche sandwich back into the frying pan and cook on a low-medium heat for a few minutes, flipping on both sides until the cheese melts or preheat oven to 180C and place the brioche sandwich on a baking tray lined with greaseproof paper and bake until warmed through (about 5-6 minutes).

Repeat with remaining slices of brioche.

Serve, dusted with icing sugar.

Here are some of my other truffle recipes:

• Truffle Fries
• Truffle Scrambled Eggs - Two Ways 
• Truffle Honey Panna Cotta
• Truffle Pasta with Alfredo Sauce and Sauteed Mushrooms
• Truffle Congee with Dried Scallops
• Seared Scallops on Celeriac Puree with Truffle
• Truffle Breakfast with slow-poached eggs

Related post:

• Mundaring Truffle Festival 2011

Truffle Breakfast with Slow-Poached Egg

Truffles are becoming more popular and commonly known among the general public as a highly prized and sought after edible mushroom. No longer are they just a mysterious fungi that people get confused with the ones of the chocolate variety.

Well this appears to be the case in Perth, with Perth diners tucking into more truffles than diners in Melbourne and Sydney combined and a record number of people attended the recent Mundaring Truffle Festival.

Not everyone is a fan though. I’ve noticed a love-hate relationship with truffles. Some people love it and have an euphoria for them, while others don’t see it as anything special, and don’t understand why people would spend several thousand dollars per kilo on it. Don’t people have better things to spend their money on? Are truffles overrated? How can something that basically looks like a turd and is described by some as smelling like dirt, old socks and sex, also be considered one of the most amazing foods in the world with chefs gushing over it like it’s a baby? You will often hear the expression “you can never have too much truffle” get thrown around. Listening to people who love eating truffles talk about them can be like listening to someone who is in a drug induced state sometimes. Truffles are strangely alluring and can also be addictive. Similar to the drug market, truffles are scarce and attract high prices. A CBS News 60 Minutes report earlier this year exposed a black market for truffles, where they are being trafficked like drugs, stolen by thugs, and threatened by inferior imports from China (watch here).

What do you think of truffles? Are you a fan of them?

Put me unashamelessly in the truffle lover camp. I’m one of those people that finds the aroma of truffles intoxicating and I love how the addition of truffles can enhance and intensify the flavour of a dish.

My first taste of truffles this year was at Cantina in June where I ordered their special truffle breakfast which had cheesey toast, mushroom puree, slow cooked egg, walnuts and parsley. The dish was around $20 without truffles and $30 with a generous shaving of truffles on top. The addition of truffles to the dish brought it to another level and I couldn’t imagine having it without the truffles. 

(Photo of the Cantina breakfast that I took on my phone)

I bought a truffle at the Mundaring Truffles Festival and one of things I wanted to do with it was recreate the breakfast that I had at Cantina.

So here is my truffle breakfast, it’s not the same as Cantina’s but it has similar elements - Slice of bread with truffle butter that I got from the July Urban Locavore box, sautéed mushrooms, rocket, a slow poached egg and truffles shaved over the top.

This was the first time that I have cooked a slow-poached egg. I used a method that I read about in the Momofuku cookbook where eggs are cooked using a Japanese technique – onsen style. Onsen in Japanese means hotsprings which the public bathe in. Using this method, the eggs are slowly cooked in their shells in hot water at 62-64C for about 45 minutes, so they are essentially just soaking in a hot bath. The result is an egg which has a just set texture, almost jelly like.

It’s probably the simplest way to poach an egg to guarantee an outcome that will be soft, creamy and ooze over whatever you put it on top of, however, it’s a little time consuming and you have to watch the temperature carefully. The good thing is that you can slow-poach a few eggs at a time and keep some in the fridge for up to 24 hours and reheat in a bowl of hot water for a few minutes before consuming. 

I have a thermometer but not one that you can clip onto the side of your pot. So I had to come up with a way to prop up the thermometer so that I wouldn’t be stuck holding it for 45-50 minutes while the eggs cooked. First I tried a fork but it wasn’t very stable, then I found a bottle opener in my draw which I balanced on the handle of the pot and it was quite secure. So I have discovered a new kitchen innovation while making this dish and I think that my bottle opener will come in handy for other things in the future besides opening bottles.

When my friend saw what I had done, he told me that I was just like my mother. I was a bit confused by this statement at first but then realized that he must be referring to this.

Sometimes when I walk into the kitchen of my parents house I find my mum doing some random things like using a chilli sauce bottle to keep chicken simmering in master stock submerged. It’s genius right?

Slow-Poached Eggs

(Recipe adapted from Momofuku – I used large eggs instead of medium eggs so cooked them at a slightly higher temperature and for a longer time than specified in the recipe from the book)

• Remove eggs from fridge 30-60 minutes before cooking so that they are at room temperature.
• Fill a large pot with water and put it on the lowest setting on your stove so that you can maintain the lowest possible heat.
• Use something (a cake rack or steamer rack) to keep the eggs from sitting on the bottom of the pot where it will be directly on the heat source and be exposed to the highest temperatures.
• Use a thermometer to monitor the temperature in the pot, heat the water to between 62C - 64C degrees, add the eggs into the pot. Let them slowly cook for 45-50 minutes, checking the temperature regularly on the thermometer. If it’s too hot you can add cold water, ice cubes or turn off the heat for a bit and then back on again until the heat is reduced to the right temperature range.
• To serve, gently crack open the egg and slowly slide out onto a small saucer or plate. Tip the dish to pour off and discard the loosest part of the white, then slide the egg onto whatever dish you want.

Notes:

• When you first put the eggs in, you may need to increase the heat a bit as the addition of the eggs may drop the water’s temperature.
• You can test the eggs by taking one out after 45 minutes of cooking and cracking it open to see how cooked it is, if it looks like it needs a bit more time, cook it for a few more minutes.
• If planning on storing slow-poached eggs in the refrigerator, chill them in an ice-water bath first.

Here are some of my other truffle recipes:

• Truffle Fries
• Truffle Scrambled Eggs - Two Ways 
• Truffle Honey Panna Cotta
• Truffle Pasta with Alfredo Sauce and Sauteed Mushrooms
• Truffle Congee with Dried Scallops
• Seared Scallops on Celeriac Puree with Truffle
• French Toast with Truffle Cheese

Related post:

• Mundaring Truffle Festival 2011

Truffle Fries

The fresh truffle season is now over but I have a bounty of truffle products from the Mundaring Truffle Festival leftover. Every time I open my cupboard and see the truffle oil, truffle honey and truffle sherry vinegar I ask myself “what am I supposed to do with you all?” These are truffle products, so they must be used with caution and sparingly too. I can’t just go and use the truffle oil to cook up a stir fry (however, this is an untested assertion so I may experiment a bit and get back to you).

That’s the problem with food festivals, the copious amount of free tastings and gadget demonstrations inevitably result in you leaving with a bag of goodies. A whole bunch of products - sauces, snacks, and condiments that you wouldn’t normally buy and another fruit and veggie peeler/chopper to add to your growing collection where at first your relationship with it is like a child with a new toy but now it’s left for dead at the bottom of your drawer as you buy another that is sharper, chops faster and requires less cleaning. 

But I will not leave these truffle products to rot in my cupboard. I am determined to find ways to use them in recipes. After all, this was one of the reasons why I started a food blog – as a way to motivate myself to cook new things and then post about my food endeavours.

While googling truffle oil I came across recipes for truffle fries. Truffle fries are basically fries coated with truffle oil. If you want to up the ante, you can add garlic, parsley and parmesan. Fried potato coated with crushed garlic, chopped parsley, gratings of parmesan and a drizzle of truffle oil…without having ever eaten truffle fries I knew that they would taste good.

Cook the fries in whatever manner you like. I didn’t deep fry my truffle fries. I generally don’t cook a lot of dishes that require deep frying because I don’t know what to do with all the oil afterwards, seems a waste to just throw away but I don’t cook fried foods at home often enough to warrant keeping it, and it's not always reusable especially if I have been frying foods with batter. So I cooked these truffle fries by parboiling the potatoes first and then roasting them in the oven. Of course I didn’t achieve the crunch of deep fried fries but the result was still pretty good.

I made a batch of truffle fries for my friends to try after we had a big night out. The verdict was that truffle fries are good for a hangover. 

Ingredients

•    3 large potatoes
•    olive oil
•    freshly cracked salt and pepper
•    2 - 3 cloves crushed garlic
•    ~ 1 tablespoon chopped parsely
•    ~ ¼ cup grated parmesan
•    1-2 tablespoons of truffle oil to taste

 

Method

Peel potatoes and cut into ½ inch thick slices, then soak the fries in cold water for an hour (this helps to get rid of the starch). Drain the potatoes.

Places the potatoes in a pot with cold salted water. Bring to a gentle boil and simmer for 7-8 minutes. Drain potatoes in a colander and place the potatoes on paper towels and pat dry.

Put all the potatoes in a bowl, add olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Toss well to coat and lay out in a later on a baking tray lined with greaseproof paper. 

Roast the fries for 30-40 minutes until crisp and golden. Halfway through the cooking time, take the tray out and turn the fries over so that they cook evenly.

When the fries have finished roasting heat up a little olive oil in a wok and slightly fry the crushed garlic. Turn off the heat and then add in the fries, parsley and parmesan. Toss everything together. Add the truffle oil at the end just before serving, drizzle truffle oil over the fries and toss to combine. Drizzle the truffle oil in a little at a time and taste until you get the desired amount of truffle flavour in your fries. I added in about 1 ½ tablespoons of truffle oil so the flavour was quite subtle.

Here are some of my other truffle recipes:

• Truffle Scrambled Eggs - Two Ways 
• Truffle Honey Panna Cotta
• Truffle Pasta with Alfredo Sauce and Sauteed Mushrooms
• Truffle Congee with Dried Scallops
• Seared Scallops on Celeriac Puree with Truffle

 Related post:

• Mundaring Truffle Festival

Truffle Honey Panna Cotta

Truffles are savoury but it doesn't mean that you can’t use them to make dessert.

My favourite dish at the Mundaring Truffle Festival was truffle ice cream. When I told my work colleagues about it, they scrunched up their faces and were like eww gross fungi and ice cream - how is that possible? With the rise of molecular gastronomy and the likes of Heston Blumenthal, it appears that nothing is impossible nowadays. The only limit is people’s willingness to try new/different things. I personally will eat anything and will try anything at least once.

When I was looking for truffle dessert recipes to cook, panna cotta appeared to be a popular choice. Panna cotta is an Italian expression and literally means ‘cooked cream’, it generally refers to a creamy, set dessert from the Northern Italian region of Piemonte. Cream? - well that ticks the box of things that go well with truffles.

I have made a sheep’s milk yoghurt and honey panna cotta before using a recipe from the Gourmet Traveller. I bought some truffle yoghurt from the Mundaring Truffle Festival and I thought I could substitute regular honey with truffle honey and make a truffle honey panna cotta.

The flavour and fragrance of the truffle honey is quite strong and it’s very interesting to compare fresh truffles with truffle products. Actually, there is no comparison, they are worlds apart. The flavour of fresh truffle is very delicate and complex. A lot of truffle products are not made from actual truffles, but are synthetically made and are often accused of being one-dimensional in flavour and a poor substitute. I had a friend tell me that he loves fresh truffles but tends to veer away from truffle products as he finds that it sort of tastes the way petroleum smells.  People often say that there is no such thing as “too much truffle” or “more is always better”. I think this expression only applies to fresh truffle, because the flavour of truffle products are quite intense and using too much can overwhelm the flavours of a dish. I learnt this while making my truffle honey panna cotta.

The original recipe called for 2 tablespoons of honey so I did a direct substitution and used 2 tablespoons of truffle honey. It was amazing to see how strongly the flavour of the truffle honey came through. I served this truffle honey panna cotta to friends for a dinner party and some of them felt that the taste of the truffle honey was too much for their liking. I felt that the taste was ok but I had also been consuming a lot of truffle over the past week so like a drug addict, I was requiring larger doses to achieve a high. Next time I make this, I will use 1 tablespoon of honey and 1 tablespoon of truffle honey for a more delicate balance of flavours.

To cut through the richness of the cream and complement the savoury tones of the truffle. I grated some dark chocolate over the panna cotta. This was something that I thought of because the truffle ice cream that I had at the Mundaring Truffle Festival also contained some chocolate. The addition of the chocolate made a big difference to the taste, it was much better with the chocolate as it helped to round out all the flavours.   

The texture of panna cotta is generally custard-like, feels barely set and is silky smooth, the use of yoghurt in this recipe results a thicker texture but it still melts in your mouth.

Sheep’s milk yoghurt and truffle honey panna cotta
(adapted from Gourmet Traveller)

Ingredients

•    300ml pouring (whipping) cream
•    260g sheep’s milk yoghurt
•    2 tablespoons honey (recommended - 1 tablespoon of regular honey and 1 tablespoon of truffle honey but it depends on the intensity of your truffle honey so you can use 2 tablespoons of truffle honey if desired)
•    3 gelatine leaves (gold strength), softened in cold water
•    ½ vanilla bean (I only used half but I think you could use the whole vanilla bean)
•    optional – I also added in some gratings of fresh truffle

 

 

 

  

Method

Heat the cream, scraped vanilla bean seeds and truffle gratings (if using) over a low heat to infuse. Turn off the heat and leave for 10-15 minutes for everything to continue infusing together.

The whisk cream and yoghurt in a large bowl until smooth, set aside. 

 

Bring honey to a simmer in a small saucepan. Squeeze excess water from gelatine, add gelatine to honey and stir to dissolve. Stir honey mixture through yoghurt mixture, then divide among dariole moulds (fits around six 125ml capacity dariole moulds).
Refrigerate until set (6 hours-overnight).

To remove the panna cotta from the moulds, dip each mould in a bowl of hot water for a few seconds, gently run a little knife around the inside edge, then turn out onto a plate and the panna cotta should slide out.

Sheep’s milk yoghurt and truffle honey panna cotta served with a drizzle of truffle honey.

Here are some of my other truffle recipes:

• Truffle Pasta with Alfredo Sauce and Sauteed Mushrooms
• Truffle Congee with Dried Scallops
• Seared Scallops on Celeriac Puree with Truffle
• Truffle Scrambled Eggs - Two Ways

Related post

• Mundaring Truffle Festival

Seared Scallops on Celeriac Puree with Truffle

Scallops are my favourite seafood and I have found that scallops go beautifully with truffles.

To create a truffle inspired scallop dish I came up with seared scallops on a bed of celeriac puree with a thin slice of fresh black truffle on top. To flavour the celeriac puree I added in some of Tetsuya's black truffle salsa.

I was recently introduced to Tetsuya’s black truffle salsa and first consumed it in a delicious polenta. Tetsuya’s black truffle salsa is made in Italy and contains a mixture of black truffles, mushrooms (champignon), olives, anchovy paste, olive oil, bread crumbs, garlic, white pepper, salt and as you can probably imagine, it smells and tastes divine. It’s great to add to pasta, scrambled eggs, risotto, butter for a truffle hit that is on another level.

 

There are three elements to this dish.

Truffles

Slice thinly using a good mandoline.

Pan Seared Scallops

Note: scallops must be very dry and the pan has to be very hot in order to get a good sear.
Rinse the scallops and place them in a single layer on paper towels and cover with another layer of paper towels, press lightly on the scallops to remove any moisture. Remove the scallops from the paper towels and season with some salt and pepper.

Heat a frying pan over med-high heat, add in some oil or butter and swirl around. Gently place the scallops in the pan and allow the scallops to cook undisturbed for at 1½ -2 minutes until seared/well browned on one side and then turn over and sear the other side. Remove the cooked scallops from the pan and place on paper towels.

Celeriac Puree

I found half a celeriac in my fridge and used it to make a puree. I roughly followed the method I had used previously to make a cauliflower puree, I only had half a celeriac to work with so I didn’t use any specific quantities of milk or butter but just added them in based on taste and texture.

Clean, peel and finely dice the celeriac with a knife or in food processor. Place the celeriac in a saucepan with enough milk to cover. Bring to boil and simmer on low heat for 6-8 minutes until the celeriac is soft. Season with a little salt and add in a little more milk if it dries up to much.

Blend the cooked celeriac in a blender until smooth. To help the blending process I added in a splash of milk. Place the pureed celeriac back into a saucepan and heat up, then add in a knob of butter and season with salt and pepper to taste. Add in a little bit of Tetsuya’s black truffle salsa to taste. It has quite a strong flavour and you only need to add in a little bit. Try adding in ½ a teaspoon first and then add a little more if desired.

Note: You can put the puree through a sieve for a more smoother texture.

Here are some of my other truffle recipes:

• Truffle Scrambled Eggs - Two Ways
• Truffle Congee with Dried Scallops
• Truffle Pasta with Alfredo Sauce and Sauteed Mushrooms 
• Truffle Honey Panna Cotta
• Seared Scallops on Celeriac Puree with Truffle

Related post

• Mundaring Truffle Festival