White Alba Truffles

Last day to vote for Project Food Blog Round 9! To check out my entry & vote, click here.

I had an unusual meal last weekend. It was one of those exhausted semi-celebratory meals that you have after finishing something big. Granted, it wasn’t like I had just taken the bar exam, or completed a thesis or anything like that. But it was still something that sucked up a lot of my time and energy. I had been slaving away the entire weekend writing my Project Food Blog Round 9 post, which I submitted just under the wire at 6PM EST.

Exhausted was I.

I’m so thankful for my dear friends, who came over (while I was busy typing away) and cooked for me (and Bryan). I did nothing for this meal except purchase the white alba truffle, which was actually available at our local Whole Foods for all of 10 hours before they were all snatched up.

poor little egg rolled off of “Mt. Liguini”

White Alba truffles are found in Northern Italy, and have a very strong flavor that is hard to describe if you have never had them before. Some say “musty,” “earthy,” or “mineral-y,” but I think those terms don’t even come close to describing the unique and luscious scent of a white Alba truffle.

I won’t even try. I will say that the smell is intoxicating, and for those who love the smell, you can’t get enough of it! Even after we had finished our truffle pasta meal, we kept sniffing the empty jar because it still wafted out glorious truffle aromas.

Speaking of jars, the produce manager at Whole Foods told me that the best way to store a white truffle is to keep it wrapped in paper towels inside of a jar. Change the paper towel every day. I stored mine at room temperature for about 3 days like that and it was fine.

We also had some pan seared duck breast and a simple avocado salad with honey mustard dressing (a delicious combination!).

As for the pasta? Just a simple butter sauce with some peas, Parmesan, and a poached egg. Really, when it comes to a white Alba truffle dish, less is more. The last thing you want to do is to overpower the scent of this fungus (on which you spent more than you’d care to admit).

White Alba truffles from Italy are not cheap. The ones at Whole Foods are $150/oz, which means our little fungus pictured above cost us $110. Split among four people it’s not so bad, considering restaurants will charge you between $40 to $175 (!!!) surcharge for adding white Alba truffles to your dish.

What better way to celebrate finishing yet another crazy post?