Black truffle season has begun, and if you'd like to buy black truffles to prepare a tasting dinner at home with friends or family, now is the perfect time. At Sentidos Truferos, we've prepared a menu with a starter, first course, main course, and dessert so you can savor all the flavors of this culinary gem. This way, you can get the most out of it and share it around the table.
When to buy black truffles?
If you already have a date set for that special dinner you want to prepare with friends or family—a birthday, an anniversary… any occasion will be perfect. But you should plan ahead and buy the truffles so you receive them fresh and can prepare some of your dishes in advance. This is especially important for recipes that call for truffle coating, as you'll need between 24 and 48 hours for preparation. And you should also reserve some of the fresh black truffle to grate or shave over the dishes at the very end of serving dinner.
At Sentidos Truferos, we guarantee the highest quality fresh black truffles. We are a specialized platform connecting producers, harvesters, and consumers of black truffles. Here, we guarantee the highest standards of quality and freshness for Tuber melanosporum.
How to preserve black truffles at home?
Black truffles are a fresh, and therefore perishable, product, so proper storage is crucial. We recommend purchasing your black truffles in advance so you receive them approximately four days before the tasting dinner. This will allow you to prepare sauces, dressings, and pastries beforehand, while also keeping the truffles fresh for use in the dishes at serving time.
To preserve it, we recommend wrapping it in absorbent kitchen paper, as fresh truffles contain moisture. Store it refrigerated in an airtight container. You should check it daily and change the paper if necessary, as excess moisture is not good.
Black truffle tasting menu for 6 people
Here's our black truffle tasting menu for 6 people, featuring 4 courses: a starter of toast with quail egg; a first course of pumpkin cream soup; a second course of mushroom risotto; and a dessert of truffled egg custard. Keep reading for all the ingredients and preparation steps.
Starters with black truffle: Truffled quail eggs
Eggs are one of the foods that best complements black truffle. And quail eggs always make a wonderful starter, little bites bursting with flavor.
Ingredients for truffled quail eggs:
- 50g of fresh black truffle
- 12 quail eggs
- 12 slices of baguette bread
Let's prepare the truffled quail eggs:
This starter is served hot, so we recommend preparing it right away.
- Between 24 and 48 hours beforehand, place the quail eggs in an airtight container with the black truffle and refrigerate. This infuses the eggs with the aroma of the fresh truffle.
- Slice the bread and toast it a little.
- Fry the quail eggs.
- Place the fried quail eggs on the toast.
- Before serving, grate fresh black truffle over the fried eggs.
First course: Pumpkin cream with black truffle
For the first course, we've chosen a pumpkin soup, as pumpkin is in season. And a warm first course is always welcome in autumn or winter.
Ingredients for pumpkin cream
- 30g of fresh black truffle
- 1.5 kg of pumpkin
- 3 Carrots
- 2 Leeks
- 3 tablespoons of olive oil
- Salt to taste
- 2 liters of water
Let's prepare the pumpkin cream
- Peel and chop the pumpkin, carrot, and leek.
- Sauté all the ingredients in the saucepan and add salt to taste.
- Cover with water.
- Cook over medium heat for 15 minutes or until the pumpkin pieces are almost soft.
- Remove almost all the water and blend with a blender.
- We taste for salt and adjust if necessary. If the cream is too thick, we add the reserved water.
- After plating, grate fresh black truffle over the pumpkin cream.
Second course: Mushroom and black truffle risotto
A rice dish is undoubtedly the best second course for dinner. And of course, we've chosen another seasonal ingredient: mushrooms.
Ingredients for mushroom risotto
- 30g of fresh black truffle
- 500g of risotto rice
- 1 liter of vegetable broth
- 1 onion
- 2 cloves of garlic
- 100g of unsalted butter
- 100g of Parmesan cheese
- 300g of fresh porcini mushrooms or other seasonal mushroom varieties
- Fresh parsley
- Olive oil
- Salt to taste
- White pepper to taste
Let's prepare the mushroom risotto
- Clean the mushrooms and slice them. Peel and chop the onion and the garlic clove.
- In a frying pan, place half the butter and let it melt over low heat. Add the chopped onion and garlic, and let them soften over low heat.
- Add the rice and toast over medium-high heat for 4 or 5 minutes, stirring constantly.
- Pour in the preheated broth little by little, stirring constantly. Make sure the texture is creamy, neither too dry nor too wet. The entire cooking process will take approximately 15 to 18 minutes.
- Sauté the mushrooms in a pan with a couple of tablespoons of olive oil over high heat. Once golden brown, sprinkle with freshly chopped parsley and season with salt and pepper to taste.
- When you add the last of the broth, add the sautéed mushrooms.
- When the risotto rice is cooked, remove it from the heat and add the remaining butter and grated cheese. Stir vigorously to combine all the ingredients.
- Cover and let it rest for a couple of minutes before serving.
- After serving on the plate skate with fresh black truffle.
Dessert with black truffle: truffled egg custard
Of course, black truffle can also accompany a sweet dessert , and the best way to do so is by truffle-infused eggs. In this case, the egg is the main ingredient of this dessert.
Ingredients for truffled egg custard:
- 50g of fresh black truffle
- 4 eggs
- 2 egg yolks
- 500 ml of milk
- 1 cinnamon stick
- 1 vanilla pod
- 150g of sugar
-
Ingredients for making the caramel:
- 100g of sugar
- 4 tablespoons of water
- 40 ml of hot water
- 1 teaspoon of lemon juice
You will also need 6 molds for the flans or flan dishes.
Let's prepare the truffled egg custard:
- Between 24 and 48 hours beforehand, place the eggs in an airtight container with the black truffle and refrigerate. This infuses the eggs with the aroma of the fresh truffle.
- To begin preparing the flans, pour the milk into a saucepan, add the cinnamon and vanilla, and heat it. As soon as it starts to boil, remove the saucepan from the heat, cover it, and let it rest for about 30 minutes to infuse and absorb the flavor of the cinnamon and vanilla.
- To prepare the caramel, place the sugar in a small pan or saucepan over medium heat, along with the 4 tablespoons of water and the lemon juice. Stir briefly with a metal spoon until the sugar begins to dissolve. Stop stirring and wait until the caramel starts to turn golden brown. Remove the pan from the heat. Heat the 40 ml of water in the microwave until it is almost boiling, then slowly pour it into the caramel, stirring with a spoon. Once it has a smooth, fluid consistency, pour the caramel into the molds. Gently tilt the molds to coat the sides with the caramel.
- In a bowl, crack the 4 whole eggs and from 2 other eggs collect only the yolks. These are the eggs that we previously infused with truffle for 24 to 48 hours in the refrigerator.
- Preheat the oven to 160°C with the heat on top and bottom.
- Add the sugar to the eggs and beat with a whisk until you get a homogeneous mixture, without too much foam.
- Strain the milk and pour it into the bowl with the eggs and sugar and mix everything together.
- Pour the mixture into the flan molds.
- The oven will be cooked in a water bath, so you should place the flans in a baking tray that has height or in a dish, fill it with water that covers half the height of the flan molds.
- Let it cook in a water bath in the oven for about 45 minutes.
- Take the flans out of the oven, and when they have cooled down, put them in the refrigerator and let them cool for about 3 or 4 hours.
- When you're ready to serve, unmold the flans and serve with whipped cream or vanilla or cream ice cream. Finally, grate fresh black truffle over the cream or ice cream.
Now you have the complete black truffle tasting menu, we hope you enjoy both cooking and tasting it with your family or friends.
