Oregon Spring White Truffles
At the Portland Farmer's Market I was drawn to Springwater Farm's beautiful displays of just-picked morels and fiddlehead ferns, but ultimately it was the spring truffles that I couldn't leave behind.
These fresh truffles made me think of a passage in Kim Sunée's recent memoir, Trail of Crumbs, describing her friend Flora, who has just shown up for dinner:
She arrives carrying a basket of wild scarlet strawberries and black trompettes de la mort mushrooms....Then she holds out the palm of her hand and asks me to close my eyes. I smell something musty, irregular to the touch.
Une truffe. A summer truffle, she explains, marbled cream on the inside, not as pungent or prized as the black winter truffles. Olivier takes it from me, kisses Flora thanks, and places the gift in a jar of arborio rice.
At $10 an ounce, Oregon white truffles aren't as intimidating to me as pricier black truffles, so I bought five brown nuggets (just under an ounce) and grated the entire lot over buttered fettuccine for dinner. They brought me back to another time and another place, a trattoria in Rome I had visited almost a decade ago, for two nights running, because of their unforgettable pasta in truffle sauce.
Try them yourself shaved over hand-cut pasta or softly scrambled eggs for a simple yet decadent meal. With these truffles, you can make your own memories.
--Tracy Schneider
Ian Purkayastha on May 29, 2009 at 01:26 PM
Don't keep your truffles with rice, for the rice will suck all the moisture out of them.
Keep truffles in paper towels, refrigerated.
Tracy Schneider on May 31, 2009 at 12:09 PM
Thanks, Ian, for your good advice. Roger Konka of Springwater Farm suggests keeping these truffles in the fridge as well, for no more than a few days. He keeps his in an airtight, plastic container.