Truffle is an ingredient which epitomises opulence and gastronomic decadence. To some however it’s like a more expensive version of Marmite, physically repulsed by the mere smell and sight of it. I am a lover of this rather expensive fungus, I am hypnotised by it’s smell alone but it has till recently been an ingredient that is inaccessible to the average home cook. In recent years companies such as Truffle Hunter has made it possible to get your hands on genuine, good quality and reasonably priced truffles and truffle products. Ever since eating the famed truffle taglierini from Flour and Grape I have been obsessed. Below is my own recipe, similar to a cacio e pepe, that I’ve used several times to make a similar dish for special occasions at home.
Truffle cacio e pepe-esque pasta (for 2 people)
Main ingredients needed:
250 grams dry pasta of your choice. My preferred is spaghetti, taglierini or tagliatelle
100 grams of a block of butter (I use black truffle butter for extra truffle flavour) otherwise if you don’t have any use 10 ml of strong truffle oil
50g minced preserved truffle
100 grams grated parmesan
100 grams grated pecorino romano
OPTIONAL fresh truffle shavings (any 10-15g)
Note that all my truffle related ingredients are bought from https://trufflehunter.co.uk/ their products are reasonably priced and to be fair its one of the first things that appears on Google when you search for truffles. I bought all my ingredients so it wasn’t free.
Method:
1. Cook pasta in boiling water and set for about 1-2 minutes before fully cooked
2. Whilst the pasta is cooking grate both the cheese in a bowl and set aside
3. Now melt the butter in a separate pan on a low-medium heat (add truffle oil if you are using normal butter), once melted add about 75 ml of cold water to the melted butter and whisk to create an emulsion.
4. Now add the minced preserved truffle until any clumps have disintegrated and the truffle is evenly through the emulsion. Turn off the heat once you have done this.
5. When the pasta is almost cooked (1-2 minutes from fully cooked- see instruction 1) add the pasta straight into the butter emulsion pan and turn the heat under the pan to a low-medium heat. Do not drain the pasta as you need to reserve the pasta water.
6. Add the pasta water a little at a time to the pan so that the sauce loosens up and the pasta is coating in the truffle buttery emulsion goodness and add the cheese a little at a time. Stir through and add a little more pasta water so that the cheese melts into the sauce. Turn the heat off and stir the pasta until there is an even coating of sauce throughout. Season with salt to taste and stir through a teaspoon of freshly ground pepper.
7. Serve onto plates and then shave fresh truffle if desired, this adds a lovely earthy flavour and a nutty texture. If you don’t have a truffle shaver use a mandolin very carefully on the finest setting which is what I did! Test with a potato first to get the setting right! The above photo is what it should roughly look like.
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