Cookery Elisabeth Luard
APHRODISIAC TRUFFLES
Oldie fungi-foragers will already know it’s been a bumper year for fruiting bodies in the woods and forests of our sceptred isle.
Merlin Sheldrake’s Entangled Life was reviewed in the October issue. Do read the chapter on the elusive truffle and its ability to mess about with the mammalian brain, its essential spore-spreaders.
Truffle-wise, there’s a brief cross-over between the September-to-decemberfruiting Piedmont white, Tuber magnatum (rich man’s truffle), and December-through-march’s Perigord black, T melanosporum. Lesser-value truffles – among them, our own native T aestivum (summer truffle) and T borchii (bianchetto – spring-fruiting, native to Italy) – don’t have the umami whack that makes those of higher value so desirable.
There are a lot of lookalikes around, mostly Chinese, that smell right because they’ve been sprinkled with truffle oil.
Truffle oil is fragranced with a chemical copy, whatever it says on the tin. The only way to preserve fragrance in a truffle is by flash-freezing as soon as it’s liberated from the earth. Which is before we get to the real point of the unruly gang of subterranean, pheromone-laden seducers: all members of the family, to a greater or lesser extent, smell of sex.
Truffles are taste-enhancers. They can be shaved over (white) or added to (black) absolutely anything that sings to your soul. Hey ho, if love were all.
Croustade aux champignons truffe This Provençale quiche is a crisp, olive-oil pastry case baked with a filling of wild fungi and goat’s cheese. Cultivated mushrooms – pick a mix of oyster, straw and button – can substitute for wild.
Truffles are optional (there’s news of melano in semi-cultivation in the UK). If your truffle is one of the blacks, grate into the mushroom mix before cooking; if white (lucky you), sliver over the top when serving. If using truffle oil, add sparingly. Serves 4 as a starter
The pastry 250g plain flour 4 tbsp olive oil About 100ml hand-hot water ½ tsp salt
The filling 2 tbsp olive oil 350g mushrooms, wiped and sliced (optional) 1 small truffle or a few drops truffle oil 1 large onion, finely sliced 1 sprig thyme 2 tbsp black olives, pitted and chopped 4 medium eggs 100g fresh goat’s cheese Salt and pepper
Work the pastry ingredients together with the hook of your hand, adding just enough warm water to form a smooth ball. Cover with clingfilm and leave to rest for half an hour, while you prepare the filling.
Heat the oil gently in a frying pan, add the mushrooms, onion and thyme and cook gently till the mix begins to sizzle and brown a little. Stir in the olives, remove from the heat, pick out the thyme and leave to cool.
Preheat the oven to 400°F/200°C/
Gas 6. Roll out the pastry to fit a 25cm tart tin. Prick the base, and bake for 10-15 minutes, till the pastry is set.
Meanwhile, whisk the eggs with the cheese, freshly ground pepper and a little salt. Stir in the fungi mix and grate in the black truffle or add a few drops of truffle oil.
Spread the mix in the tart case and bake at 350°F/180°C/GAS 4 for 35-40 minutes until the filling is almost set but still a little trembly in the middle. Serve warm, with or without white truffle slivered over the top.