Sunday, October 9, 2011

Love truffles? Enter the Oregon Truffle Festival's One Big Truffle Recipe Contest

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Black and white Oregon truffles (Photo: Oregon Truffle Festival)

In January, one of my culinary dreams is coming true. And yes, it involves truffles.

Thanks to the wonderful folks at Travel Oregon, I will be heading up to Eugene for the 7th annual Oregon Truffle Festival, which this winter runs January 27-29, 2012. Chefs, foragers and truffle maniacs like me will spend the weekend learning about, digging for, cooking with and eating white and black Oregon truffles, those aromatic little nuggets that take every dish they touch to a whole new level.

I love all truffles, but I'm particularly fond of the zippy little white and black truffles from Oregon. The wild mushroom guy at the Santa Monica farmers' market has them in season, and I've been known to show up late to work on winter Wednesdays because I've stopped to pick up truffles before heading to the office. The last time I wrote about Oregon truffles I got caught up in automotive analogies, so if you find that sort of thing amusing, click over to read about why Oregon truffles remind me of Corvettes, along with a great recipe for wild mushroom risotto with Oregon white truffle oil.

I've got a few tasks ahead of me: make plane reservations, buy some rain (mud) boots for the foraging, and figure out which of my truffle recipes I want to enter in the One Big Truffle Recipe Contest. Original recipes featuring black or white Oregon truffles? I've got a dozen to choose from. The weekend is inspired by One Big Table: A Portrait of American Cooking, a huge collection of home cooks' recipes by former New York Times food writer and James Beard award winner Molly O'Neill. The judges will choose three finalists from the recipe contest submissions, and those dishes will be served as part of the gala dinner, with the winner chosen by the participants.

Trained dogs sniff out the truffles (Photo: Oregon Truffle Festival)

[On a side note, I was actually interviewed for One Big Table a few years back - someone on O'Neill's staff found my French lentil salad recipe and liked the romantic story attached. It didn't make the book's final cut, which disappoints me to this day.]

If you want to enter the contest (Dorothy at Shockingly Delicious, I'm looking at you), whip up your best truffle concoction and send it on in. (Read the rules before you submit - there are a few details there about ingredients and such.) All three finalists will get to attend the festival gala dinner to see their creations in action, and the winning recipe will be included in O'Neill's ongoing One Big Table project. A second chance to make it into One Big Table - my fingers are crossed....

So which truffle recipe do you think I should enter in the contest? My shortlist:
Please leave a comment and help me decide!

5 comments:

Rhonda said...

I'm simply green with envy but so happy for you, I've heard the Oregon truffles were fabulous but I haven't tried them yet. Good luck, hope you win the contest.

Julia's Child / Sarah P. said...

Team shu mai!

Lori @ Lemons and Lavender said...

Erika, There were many favorites at the Trufflepalooza party this summer and the shu mai were way up there. But the crepes filled with truffled duck confit were my hands-down favorite - so original and so incredibly delicious!

Dorothy at ShockinglyDelicious.com said...

I am just seeing this now.....

Wait...no desserts in the contest? Bummer, because you know what I want to submit.

Windshield Replacement MN said...

Good good good so good for you!

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