By Billa
In our twenties, my husband and I took a car trip in Italy to the hill towns of Umbria and Tuscany. In one of those towns, we happily stumbled on a local truffle festival. For the next couple of days, every restaurant we went to featured dishes made with truffles. For someone who had never experienced truffles before, it was a revelation. I loved the way every dish acquired a pungent, earthy taste and aroma.
Sadly, I did not have truffles again until two weeks ago. Our nephew Josh and his wife Mei and their two boys came to dinner and brought us a gift - a jar of truffle carpaccio. It is thinly shaved truffles preserved in olive oil.
At first, I wasn't sure how to use them. The label suggested putting them on top of eggs. So, I made a goat cheese omelet and found that truffles and eggs do go very well together.
Shortly after, Mei told me that she loved them with a creamy pasta. I tried that next and loved it too.
From a web article titled How to Use Truffle Carpaccio, I learned that the product should be used as you would a spice rather than a condiment, meaning sparingly. It also said that almost anything pairs really well with it.
So, I began to experiment with putting it on whatever we happened to be having for lunch or dinner.
What I found out is that truffles do enhance the taste of almost anything, as long as there are no other overwhelming strong flavors so the distinctive truffle taste can shine through.
It seems that for the past two weeks we were having our very own truffle festival. And it was wonderful.
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