Black Truffles

An exciting farmer's market find! Truffles have a unique earthy flavor that give the simplest dishes power. These funghi are famous for being hunted by specialized pigs in France and Italy, but as it turns out there are plenty to be found in Washington and Oregon. Northwestern truffles are considerably less expensive as well. I've heard they can cost a fortune or your life in France, but I paid less than $10 for 6. Which is a lot, but for the novelty they provided, it seems pretty worth it.

They are kind of a pain to clean as they have quite a bit of dirt caked on them and you don't really want to water them down much if you can avoid it. Fortunately I had just picked up a free toothbrush at the dentists :). Truffles can be stored in cornmeal, in the fridge for up to a week. What's great about this is that when you are done storing them, you can still cook up the polenta.


The same holds true for eggs. Omlette is one of the classic truffle preparations, and keeping truffles in the same container helps the aroma permeate the egg.


In the end, I just went with these two preparations - truffled polenta and scrambled eggs with truffles. Both were delicious - you just shave the truffles into the polenta or scrambled eggs while they cook, add salt, pepper, and parm and you are golden!