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I have been reading a number of articles over the last few months on the decline of the harvest of white and black truffles in France and Italy. Truffles are fussy about the amount of water they receive, and the persistent droughts in Europe have helped to significantly decrease the amount of truffles available. Those that do make it to the market are are now quite a bit smaller than the one in the photograph above. The cost has skyrocketed and what was once a luxury is now prohibitively expense for all but the wealthiest food lovers.
My husband sent me to Italy as a present for my 40th birthday. It was a food trip and it was based on the artisans who still produce food in their own centuries-old traditions. Almost by definition, they are small producers, often family run businesses. These are producers who definitely tread lightly upon the Earth. We saw Parmesan cheese, prosciutto, vin santo, grappa, olive oil, red wine, and a number of other things lovingly produced often under very difficult conditions. Every day our lunch and dinner reflected the food item we had been observing. One of the most fascinating days was our truffle hunt.
We rose from our beds at about 5:30 a.m. and walked from our hotel to the house of the truffle hunter. The wizened man who greeted us had his pant and coat pockets stuffed with small hunks of meat, a reward for his dogs. He had two dogs with him, mother and son. A good truffle dog is worth it's weight in truffles and in fact, dog-napping is a big problem in many areas. The mother was just such a dog. Her son was still learning and inclined to be excitable, but his owner thought he would prove to have the skill required as he matured.
The still, cool morning air makes it easier for the dogs to sniff out the prize, and the day we went out was quite cold and densely foggy. The younger dog was kept on leash because of his tendency to dig too strenuously once he'd found the prize, and the hunter wants the truffle intact. The older dog, on the other hand, would straighten her tail when she caught the scent, and then would simply go and quietly sit at the base of the tree where the truffle lay just under the soil. She was never wrong. Each correct find garnered a hunk of meat from the bulging pockets. Sometimes the younger dog, overcome by the smell of meat, would stick his snout directly into the pocket, trying to get his treat the easy way.
Later than afternoon, the group joined the chef of our family-run hotel and she taught us to make pasta. For dinner we had the pasta with melted butter and the truffles shaved on top. We had truffles over about half of the meals I ate during that week (and we ate a lot). We also had them shaved over risotto, soup, chicken, and many other pasta dishes. It's a great memory, because I'll probably never be able to afford to have them again.
I'm going to give you a recipe for a classic risotto. Now, I know you don't have any truffles in your cupboard, but you could drizzle a little truffle oil over top. Not the same thing, but a little hint of what could be. Risotto is very easy to make, but people find it daunting because you have to stay be the stove the whole time it is cooking. The key to making good risotto is to have the broth hot. If you use cold or warm broth, it cools the rice down with each addition and makes for a chalky texture of risotto and a longer cooking time.
The beauty of risotto is that you can add just about anything to it to make it into a main course. Normally you would cook that ingredient separately and add it towards the end of the recipe.
Classic Risotto
Makes 6 servings
2 tbsp unsalted butter
1 tbsp olive oil
1/2 cup finely chopped onion
2 cups Arborio rice
1/2 cup dry white wine
6 cups chicken or vegetable stock
1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
salt and pepper to taste
1. Combine 1 tbsp of the butter and the oil in a heavy 4 quart pot over medium-high heat. Add the onion and cook, stirring with a wooden spoon, until the onion begins to soften, 2 to 3 minutes. Be careful not to brown it. Stir in the rice to coat the grains with the fat and onion mixture and cook about 1 minute longer.
2. Add the wine and cook, stirring, until it is mostly absorbed by the rice. Begin to add the broth, 1/2 cup at a time, stirring well after each addition. Wait until each addition is almost completely absorbed before adding the next 1/2 cup. Reserve 1/4 cup of the broth to add at the end.
3. When the rice is tender but firm, in about 20 minutes, turn off the heat. Add the remaining 1/4 cup of broth and 1 tbsp of butter, the cheese, salt and pepper to taste and stir well to combine with the rice. Serve immediately.
Difficulty Level: Easy
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