Truffled white bean puree

• 

Photo: Lynne Hemer, Cook and Be Merry

I'm often in need of a quick, elegant hors d'oeuvre to keep guests busy and on the other side of the counter while I'm finishing dinner preparations in the kitchen.

I like this truffled white bean puree because it's simple, I can make it ahead, and it's an unusual combination that raises the eyebrows a bit.

You could serve it with crackers or toasted pita bread triangles, but I love making tiny cups out of cucumbers. Buy small Persian cucumbers - the ones with the thin skin you don't have to peel - and hollow out a little divot with a melon baller. You can make these a few hours ahead and store them in the refrigerator in a zip-top bag, between layers of damp paper towels.

If you can't get your hands on a fresh truffle to grate on top (or the budget doesn't allow it), buy a tiny jar of truffle salt and use that instead. You'll get the same flavor, although not the same visual.

print recipe

Truffled White Bean Puree

by Erika Kerekes May-22-2015

This appetizer couldn't be easier: White beans pureed with lemon and truffle oil. Serve in tiny cucumber cups or with crackers.

Ingredients

• 1 15-ounce can white cannelini beans, rinsed and drained
• 1 lemon, juice and zest
• 1 tablespoon truffle oil
• Sea salt
• Freshly ground pepper
• 6 Persian cucumbers
• 1 black truffle, fresh or canned

Instructions

Make the bean puree: Put the beans, lemon juice, lemon zest, and truffle oil into the bowl of a food processor. Process until very smooth. Add salt and pepper to taste. Set aside to let the flavors blend. (Can be made 1 day ahead; store covered and refrigerated.)Make the cucumber cups: Wash and thoroughly dry the cucumbers. Cut off the ends, then slice the cucumbers into 1-inch rounds. Using a small melon baller or the tip of a very small spoon, hollow out one side of each cucumber slice, being careful not to cut all the way through. You'll end up with a fingertip-sized depression in each slice.Transfer the bean puree into a piping bag, or use a zip-top bag with the corner snipped off. Pipe a swirl of the truffled bean puree into each cucumber cup. Grate a little of the truffle on top of each piece. Serve immediately.

Details

Prep time: 20 mins Cook time: Total time: 20 mins Yield: 10 servings

The birth of Trufflepalooza: "Meanwhile, Back at Cafe du Monde..."

• 

Last month I did something I've never done before: I agreed to get up on stage and tell a story.

When Peggy Sweeney McDonald asked me to be part of her food memoir performance series Meanwhile, Back at Cafe du Monde... I said yes. And then, later, I thought: Wait a second. I just agreed to get up on stage? Among professional actors and comedians? And recite a monologue about the birth of my annual Trufflepalooza party?

I experienced a moment of panic. No, not a moment - several weeks.

Turns out once I was up there it wasn't too bad. In fact, look at the length of the video: I couldn't shut up.

I'd written a seven-minute essay that I planned to read. But after hearing a few of the other performances I decided reading to the crowd wasn't going to cut it. When it was my turn, I tossed aside my script and started talking.

Feel free to watch some or all of the video above. Apologies for the length. Next time someone needs to wave red flags at the back of the room (Patti Londre, I'm looking at you).

It's bittersweet for me, watching this, as I just announced yesterday that I'm not holding Trufflepalooza this year due to scheduling conflicts. But I'm already looking ahead to Trufflepalooza 2014.

Truffled avocado mousse on toast

• 

Avocado mousse with fresh truffles on toast (Photo: Lynne Hemer, Cook and Be Merry)

When you're planning the menu for a big party, always include one or two truly simple dishes.

That's how this truffled avocado mousse was born. Every summer I throw a themed foodgasm party called Trufflepalooza. Last year I made 20 different truffle-laced dishes for 200 people. Of the 20, a few were very complicated. A few were easy but labor-intensive. I needed a no-brainer.

Ripe avocados. Creme fraiche. A splash of truffle oil. A pinch of truffle salt. A squeeze of lemon. Pureed, piped onto toast rounds, garnished with Italian black summer truffles from my connection at Sabatino Tartufi.  A perfect combination.

Serve these with a fruity white wine or a sparkling Prosecco before your next dinner party. If you don't feel like breaking out the cookie cutters to make the rounds of bread, pipe the truffled avocado mousse onto crackers or slices of cucumber.

print recipe

Truffled avocado mousse

by Erika Kerekes February-20-2013

A simple puree of ripe avocados laced with black truffles. Pipe a swirl of this creamy mousse onto toast rounds, crackers or cucumber slices.

Ingredients

• 2 ripe avocados, any variety
• 1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
• 1/4 cup creme fraiche
• 1 Tablespoon black truffle oil (I prefer Sabatino Tartufi black truffle oil)
• 1 generous pinch truffle salt (I prefer Sabatino Truffle Sea Salt)
• 4 dozen 2-inch rounds white bread, toasted (cut with a cookie cutter from 1 loaf soft white bread)
• 1 fresh or canned black truffle

Instructions

Put the avocado flesh, lemon juice, creme fraiche, truffle oil, and truffle salt into the bowl of a food processor. Blitz until the ingredients are completely combined and the mousse is smooth as silk. Taste and add more salt if necessary.Transfer the truffled avocado mousse to a zip-top plastic bag fitted with a small star tip. Carefully pipe a swirl of the avocado mousse onto each round of toast. Garnish with grated or minced fresh truffle. Serve immediately.

Details

Prep time: 10 mins Cook time: 10 mins Total time: 20 mins Yield: approximately 4 dozen pieces

Postcard from Carmel: Fried garbanzos with truffle salt at Mundaka

• 

Day one of my "girlfriend getaway" to California's central coast with fellow food bloggers Patti Londre (Worth the Whisk) and Dorothy Reinhold (Shockingly Delicious) and we're happy and well fed.

At last night's dinner at Mundaka in Carmel, these fried garbanzos with truffle salt were the surprise hit of the evening. Crisp on the outside, soft and melting on the inside, warm with just a hint of white truffle. Forget truffled popcorn - we ate the whole bowl of these truffled fried garbanzos and made embarrassing moaning noises the whole time. Not sure what the table next to us was thinking....

Chef Brandon Miller soaks dried garbanzo beans over night, simmers them until soft with a clove-studded onion and strips of lemon zest, then deep-fries them in hot peanut oil (375 degrees) and dusts with truffle salt. His favorite truffle salt is Fusion White Truffle Salt, which he buys across the street from the restaurant at Sur La Table. Miller keeps the garbanzos soaking in water until just before frying, which helps crisp the exterior of the beans without letting the oil penetrate too deeply. He hasn't tried canned garbanzo beans but thinks they would work fine (rinse thoroughly before frying).

Are you wondering whether these fried garbanzos might make an appearance at this year's Trufflepalooza? I'm already on it.

Tiny truffled Hasselback potatoes

• 

When you decide to do something completely crazy like serve Hasselback potatoes at a party for 150 people, you find out who your true friends are.

Making Hasselback potatoes requires precise, tedious knife work. You make vertical cuts all along the length of the potatoes, but you can't cut all the way down - you want the potato to stay together on the bottom and kind of fan out on top as it bakes. It's hard, very hard, to keep the knife from cutting all the way through. And once you've cut too far, that potato goes in the reject pile.

When you're Hasselbacking big potatoes you can use a pair of chopsticks as a guide. Works great. But when you're Hasselbacking 200+ baby potatoes, as we needed to do for Trufflepalooza 2012, chopsticks don't help (they're too big compared with the height of the potato). You just have to concentrate and hope the gods are smiling down on you.

Photo: Lynne Hemer, Cook and Be Merry

Two days before Trufflepalooza, my mother and my friend Amanda sat at the dining room table and cut all those baby potatoes by hand. They didn't complain. They didn't chastise me for putting such a prep-intensive dish on the menu. And they did a great job. I am one lucky girl.

I bathed the potatoes in olive oil, roasted them crisp and golden in a hot oven, then slathered them with homemade truffle butter, showered them with freshly grated truffles, and sprinkled them with truffle salt. We passed them as finger food and watched a lot of eyes roll back in people's heads. Even if you can't get fresh truffles, try making these - the truffle butter and truffle salt will impart enough truffle-ness to wow your guests.

Note: Melissa's kindly gave me their Baby Dutch Yellow Potatoes for Trufflepalooza, and I loved the texture - the potatoes got crispy on the outside but stayed creamy and soft within. If you can't find the exact same potato in your area, any fingerling or baby potato will work, although the texture may not be identical.

print recipe

Tiny truffled Hasselback potatoes

by Erika Penzer Kerekes August-18-2012

Cutting potatoes Hasselback-style requires patience, but the results are well worth the effort. The ratio of crisp to creamy is just perfect when these are done. If you're not crazy enough to make your own truffle butter like me, look for prepared truffle butter in gourmet stores (I prefer Sabatino Tartufi brand).

Ingredients

• 1 pound Melissa's Baby Dutch Yellow Potatoes (or any small or fingerling potato)
• 3 Tbsp olive oil
• 3 Tbsp truffle butter
• 1/2 tsp truffle salt
• freshly grated black truffle (optional)

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.Lay one potato on a cutting board. With a sharp paring knife, starting at one end, make vertical cuts into the potato, top to bottom, stopping before you cut all the way through. Continue making vertical cuts about 1/4-inch apart down the length of the potato, keeping the bottom of the potato intact. Go slowly and concentrate; it's very easy to cut too far. Continue with the remaining potatoes.Put the cut potatoes into a mixing bowl and pour over the olive oil. Toss the potatoes, rubbing the oil as best you can into the cuts you've made without breaking the potatoes apart. Pour the potatoes with the oil onto a baking sheet. (Don't wash the bowl; you'll need it again later.)Bake the potatoes cut-side up in the oven for about 40 minutes. Carefully turn the potatoes over so they're cut-side down and bake another 10-15 minutes. You want the potatoes golden brown and crispy on the outside. Don't take them out too soon.When the potatoes are done, take them out of the oven and put them back in the mixing bowl. Add the truffle butter and toss gently until the butter melts and coats the potatoes. Put the potatoes on a serving tray cut-side up, sprinkle on the truffle salt, and grate the fresh truffle over the top. Serve immediately.

Details

Prep time: 30 mins Cook time: 50 mins Total time: 1 hour 20 mins Yield: 20-30 pieces

Brie with truffles and truffle honey

• 

When it comes to recipes with truffles, less is definitely more.

The backdrop needs to be simple. Uncluttered. Bland background flavors support the truffle aroma and flavor without overwhelming or interfering. That's why traditional French and Italian truffle recipes are often based on eggs, potatoes, pasta, rice, cream, fresh cheeses.

I am, by nature, a "less is more" kind of cook. Maybe I like truffles so much because what you do underneath them needs to be simple. It's a built-in excuse to be lazy.

One of the simplest and most popular of the 20 dishes served at Trufflepalooza 2012 was this truffle-infused Brie cheese. A few days before Trufflepalooza, I split the cheese horizontally, inserted a layer of grated fresh truffle (along with a few drops of truffle oil and a light sprinkle of truffle salt), and wrapped the cheese tightly in plastic wrap. By the day of the feast, the musky truffle aroma had permeated the cheese completely.

To serve, we sliced the cheese and laid it on toasted slivers of ciabatta with a thin piece of Flavor Queen pluot, then drizzled truffle honey on top. Crisp toast, creamy Brie, tangy fruit, dusky truffles, sweet honey - the combination was simple but perfectly balanced. These truffled Brie bites were a perfect transition between the savory dishes and the three truffle-laced desserts at Trufflepalooza and can play a starring role at any party.

Note: If you can't get fresh truffles, canned ones should work just as well here. My favorite truffle products are made by Sabatino Tartufi; look for them at specialty food stores or order them online from Sabatino's website.

print recipe

Brie infused with truffles and truffle honey

by Erika Penzer Kerekes August-6-2012

Crisp toast, creamy cheese, dusky truffles, tangy pluot, sweet honey - these truffled Brie toasts offer the perfect balance of flavors. Allow at least 1 day of refrigeration time for the truffle to penetrate the cheese. Feel free to substitute nectarine or peach for the pluot, but make sure the fruit isn't too soft.

Ingredients

• 1/2 pound Brie cheese, ripe but still somewhat firm (choose 1 intact triangle or small round)
• 1 small black summer truffle, fresh or canned
• 1/4 tsp truffle oil
• pinch of truffle salt
• 20 thin slices ciabatta or baguette
• 2 firm pluots, nectarines or peaches, sweet but not too soft
• approximately 2 tsp truffle honey

Instructions

Put the Brie on a cutting board. With a large sharp knife, split the cheese horizontally and lay the two pieces on the board cut-side up. Finely grate the truffle over one half of the cheese, covering the surface (you will have truffle left over for another dish, you lucky duck). Sprinkle on the truffle oil and a pinch of truffle salt. Now put the other half of the cheese back on top so the truffle stuff is sandwiched between the two layers of cheese. Wrap the whole thing tightly in several layers of plastic wrap and refrigerate at least 24 hours and up to 3 days to let the truffle aroma and flavor permeate the cheese.To serve, heat the oven to 350 degrees. Place the bread slices on a baking sheet and toast in the oven about 10 minutes, until the bread is dry, crisp and starting to brown around the edges. Let cool.Slice the pluots into very thin half-moons, mimicking the shape of the bread as closely as you can. Lay a slice of pluot (or a few slices if you prefer) on each piece of toast. Cut 20 slices of cheese about the same size as the toast and lay them on top of the pluot. Drizzle truffle honey lightly over the top of each Brie toast and serve.

Details

Prep time: 15 mins Cook time: 23 hour Total time: 23 hour 15 mins Yield: about 20 pieces

Disclosure: Sabatino kindly provided all the fresh truffles and truffle products for this year's Trufflepalooza, but I don't get any commissions or kickbacks on sales of their products through the links above - I'm just recommending what I like to use myself.

Trufflepalooza 2012: The menu

• 

A happy Erika in her kitchen during Trufflepalooza 2012 (photo: B&G Photography)

Trufflepalooza 2012 has come and gone. It was glorious, and crowded, and a heck of a lot of work. And one of my favorite days of the year. Don't I look joyful in this picture? I really had a good time pushing out 20 different truffle-laced dishes for 150 people.

(Wondering what that black thing is on my right ear? It's my Bluetooth headset - I was afraid I wouldn't hear the phone if people got lost and called for directions. Practical, not so photogenic.)

I kept the menu under wraps before the party, but I'm glad to share it with you now. I'll be posting some of these recipes in the weeks to come, so stay tuned.

Trufflepalooza 2012: The menu

On the table

• Truffled egg salad tea sandwiches
• Caciotta truffle cheese chips
• "Emery's salad" with truffle vinaigrette and pancetta

Round 1

• Creamy mushroom soup with truffles
• Radish and truffle butter tartines
• Truffled avocado mousse
• Roasted figs with goat cheese and truffle honey
• Truffled tacos 2 ways (Pacific rockfish/radish slaw & short ribs/pickled shallots)

Round 2

• Truffled shrimp and pork shu mai dumplings
• Melted leeks with ricotta and truffles
• Truffled white bean puree in cucumber cups
• Truffled yellowtail tartare

Round 3

• Tiny truffled Hasselback potatoes
• Truffled duck confit crepes
• Filet mignon sandwiches with homemade truffle butter
• Truffle-infused Brie with pluots and truffle honey

Last call

• Vanilla pudding with truffle honey and hazelnuts
• Truffled chocolate truffles
• Truffled brown butter Rice Krispies treats (conceived and hand-rolled by the amazing Dorothy Reinhold of Shockingly Delicious)

I had a lot of help in the kitchen during the party and in the days before. I wouldn't have been able to feed all those people without my friends and family: Amy, Tony, Andrew, Cathy, Jeff, Jennifer, Kim, Amanda, Patricia, Dorothy, Emery, Weston, my mom Sue, my husband Michael. If you belong on this list and I left you off, let me know and please forgive my early-onset senility.

Some amazing companies donated important ingredients for Trufflepalooza 2012. Thanks to Melissa's Produce (potatoes and shallots), California Avocados Direct (avocados, clearly), Jade Asian Greens (pea sprouts). And a very special thanks to Sabatino Tartufi, which provided the fresh truffles, truffle oil, truffle vinegar, truffle honey, and truffle salt. I've tried a lot of truffle products and I love theirs most of all.

Now the countdown begins: Only 361 days until Trufflepalooza 2013....

Trufflepalooza in the Los Angeles Times

• 

Preparations for Trufflepalooza 2012 are well under way. Every plate I own is on the table, wiped clean, neatly stacked. Thanks to Sabatino Tartufi, my entire refrigerator smells like truffles. And I've spent the last 24 hours in the kitchen. I'm happy as a clam.

And then, just now, a little happier, when I saw the Los Angeles Times feature on Trufflepalooza that will be out in tomorrow's food section. Rene Lynch really captured the spirit of Trufflepalooza: not some fussy gourmet fest, but an annual tradition that's about making and eating good food with friends. Also, Anne Cusack managed to get a cute photo of me - not the easiest feat, even for a pro.

If you're here because you read the article, welcome! Some of the recipes mentioned in the article are on this blog. Click below to get to them.

• Radish and truffle butter tartines
• Filet mignon sandwiches with truffle butter
• How to make truffle butter

You might also be interested in my entertaining tips for large parties - cooking for 100 people requires a lot of planning, and thankfully I've learned a few things over the years.

Want to get all the recipes I share from my kitchen - healthy family fare, mostly, with a few decadent desserts thrown in - delivered to your email? Click the Subscribe button at the top right.

How to cook for 100 people

• 

Cooking for a crowd requires advance planning and helping hands (photo: Robyn Davis)

Every summer I throw a party called Trufflepalooza. It's just what it sounds like - many different dishes, each one loaded with Italian black summer truffles (even the desserts). This year I'm planning 17 different dishes for more than 100 people. It's a zoo. It's a lot of work. And I love it.

People's eyes get big when I tell them that I make food for 100 people in my home kitchen. It's time-consuming, but it's doable. I've learned a few things over the years and I'm happy to share what's worked for me. These tips will help you whether you're throwing a big party like mine or a smaller party like the ones saner people have. The secrets: planning, accepting help, and only obsessing over the things that really require obsessing.

Fair warning - it's a long list.

Say yes to helping hands (photo: Robyn Davis)

How to cook for 100 people - Erika's tips

1. If you're making something new, test the recipe ahead of time. You need to know how long each step will take, which parts (if any) you can do ahead, where to get the ingredients, and whether there are any obvious shortcuts. I start testing recipes for Trufflepalooza at least six weeks in advance.
2. Keep the decorations simple. You can't do food for 100 and Martha Stewart decorations, or at least I can't. I get large amounts of one kind of flower, usually something white and fluffy, and make many small bouquets in identical containers, often canning jars. That's as Martha as I get.
3. Pad the menu with a few easy dishes. If you're doing a complicated main dish, make the sides no-brainers like oven-roasted vegetables, a beautiful salad, or a rice pilaf. If you're making fussy appetizers, roast some fish for your entree and make dessert ice cream sandwiches with store-bought ice cream and bakery cookies.
4. Use all your appliances. You won't be able to fit everything in the oven, and you only have so many burners on the stove. Make sure your recipes are divided between things that get baked or roasted (oven); things that get sauteed, boiled or steamed (stove); things that just need reheating (microwave); and cold or room temperature dishes (none of the above). And don't forget about your outside grill if you have one. My husband recently used ours as a warming oven when his book group came over and he discovered that our bottom oven was broken.
5. Choose recipes that can be made ahead, in full or in part. I end up making or prepping the food for Trufflepalooza over three or four days. Even if the final dish can't be assembled until the last minute, I make all the components ahead of time. For my radish and truffle butter tartines, for example, I slice the radishes up to two days ahead and store them in a container with ice water in the refrigerator. I make the truffle butter, which goes into several Trufflepalooza recipes each year, three days ahead. I buy the baguettes the morning of the party, slice them, and store the slices in zip-top bags until we're ready to assemble.
6. The buffet is your friend. I can't do a seated dinner for more than 20 people without a significant amount of paid help. Buffet is the way to go. Line up the serving dishes and hand out plates. Unless your party guests are invalids or very young children, they are capable of serving themselves.
7. Make a prep schedule. Break down each dish into its component tasks and spread them out over a few days. My party is on Saturday. My prep schedule starts Wednesday night and contains a detailed list of tasks for Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday. For instance, one of the dishes I'm serving again this year is truffled pork and shrimp shu mai dumplings. The dumplings need to be assembled and steamed the day of the party, but I'll make the filling on Thursday. The creamy mushroom soup with truffles can be made a day or two ahead, too. It's all on the schedule.
8. When friends ask if they can help, say yes. It's fun to cook with your friends, remember? Invite people over the day before the party to help with the prep. When they show up at the party and say "What can I do?" I find them a job. I have a big collection of aprons, which always comes in handy when guests volunteer to chop or stir.
9. Make detailed shopping lists at least a week in advance. Go over each dish; think not only about the main ingredients, but about pantry staples and serving needs. Put the list away, then go through each dish again a few hours later - I always miss something the first time around. Trufflepalooza requires shopping at seven different stores, so I really need to plan out when I'm going where. Did I mention I have a full-time day job? Fitting in the shopping is no trivial matter for me.
10. Stock up on staples. I'm talking about aluminum foil, plastic wrap, zip-top bags in several sizes, butter, olive oil, eggs, mayonnaise, vinegar, salt, peppercorns, chicken stock. I use all these things without thinking, and I definitely don't want to run out the day of the party. I also buy a bunch of inexpensive plastic containers so I can send people home with leftovers.
11. Make the important stuff, buy the less important stuff. I am biting the bullet and making 300 5-inch corn tortillas for the truffled tacos I'm serving this year. It's time-consuming and tedious, but homemade tortillas make a big difference in the finished dish. On the other hand, I'm buying good-quality ricotta cheese for the truffled leek canapes - I could make my own, but in that context store-bought will work fine. I admit to being a little crazy in this department. I realize that most people would buy the tortillas.
12. Play great music while you prep. Loud, happy music that makes you wiggle and dance, puts a smile on your face, and gets you singing at the top of your lungs. 
13. Avoid menu creep, aka "while we're at it" syndrome. My husband suggested adding this one right after I said "Hey, if Erin's figs are ripe, maybe I'll do those roasted figs with goat cheese and truffle honey again!" Be more disciplined than I am. Set your menu and only deviate if you can't get an important ingredient or if you find something amazing at the farmers' market.
14. Ready the house a day early. If you need to move furniture, bring up folding chairs from the garage, or wipe down extra tables, do it the day before. While you're at it, get down the good dishes and wine glasses and make sure they're clean. I always have to wash mine when they come out of the cabinet.
15. Keep the drinks simple. For Trufflepalooza we serve one red wine, one white wine, sparkling water and flat water. That's it. It's partly because I'm avoiding drinks that compete with the truffles. But it's also because I'd much rather buy a lot of bottles of one thing than a few bottles of a lot of things. I am not a big drinker, so your mileage may vary on this one.
16. Hire someone to wash dishes. It's the best money you'll ever spend. If you can't afford to pay someone, barter dishwashing services for childcare, dinner delivery or something else you're good at.
17. But don't hire servers. When guests ask me if there's anything they can do, I put a tray of hors d'oeuvres in their hands and tell them to go make friends. Everyone wants to talk to the person with the food. This is particularly useful for shy people who are uncomfortable striking up conversations with strangers. With a tray in their hands, they have a purpose. Older kids and teenagers also like serving.
18. During the party, remember to take care of yourself. Drink lots of water and wear very comfortable shoes. I don't drink wine until all the food has been sent out of the kitchen. I'm too afraid I'll burn myself or drop something. (Remind me to tell you the story of the Thanksgiving pumpkin-pie-turned-souffle sometime.)
19. Befriend neighbors with extra refrigerators. I'm lucky - all our neighbors are amazing people. But it's a huge bonus that my next-door neighbor saves me a few shelves in her extra refrigerator every time I throw this party. She also happens to have a great collection of trays and bowls with which she's very generous.
20. Choose an amazing husband, wife or partner. My husband does a huge amount of work for this party every year, including moving furniture, buying wine, reminding me whom I forgot to invite, cooking the steak, setting up folding tables and chairs, removing the laundry from the bathroom, and listening to me obsess about my prep schedule and shopping list. He also gives first-class shoulder and foot massages. I could never throw a party like this without him. I hope he knows how grateful I am...maybe I'll go remind him now.

How do you keep yourself organized when you throw a big party? Add your tips in the comments!

White asparagus with truffle butter

• 

Steamed white asparagus dressed in truffle butter

My local Costco continues to surprise me. Yesterday I went into the cold room to pick up my staples - lettuce, Persian cucumbers and blackberries - only to be confronted by a huge pile of white asparagus. Each bag held 1.75 pounds of beautiful Peruvian white asparagus. I believe I shrieked and did a little dance, much to the delight and/or annoyance of the many Costco shoppers around me.

White asparagus is grown in the dark, buried up to its neck in dirt, which keeps the plant from producing chlorophyll and blanches the stalks. It's milder and sweeter than green asparagus. I steamed it soft, then threw on a few knobs of homemade truffle butter I'd been keeping in the freezer for just such an occasion. A treat of a side dish, only possible for a few weeks of the year.

Note 1: If you're fussy about stringy things between your teeth, peel the spears before steaming them. I don't mind the fibers, but cooked white asparagus is a lot easier to bite into when it's been peeled.

Note 2: I make my own truffle butter every summer for Trufflepalooza, my multi-course truffle extravaganza, so I've always got some in the freezer. What? You don't? No worries - you can buy truffle butter at most gourmet stores. Or cheat and use regular butter and a splash of truffle oil. I won't tell and it will still be delicious.

print recipe

White asparagus with truffle butter

by Erika Kerekes April-16-2012

White asparagus, available for only a few weeks each year, are milder and sweeter than their green brethren. A knob of fragrant truffle butter lifts a simple side dish to new heights.

Ingredients

• 2 pounds white asparagus
• 2 Tbsp truffle butter
• sea salt

Instructions

Wash the asparagus spears and trim off the woody ends. You can peel the stalks if you insist on getting rid of all the fibrous strings, although I don't mind them myself and never peel.Place a steamer basket in a large pot with a few inches of water in the bottom. Lay the asparagus in the basket, cover the pot, and turn up the heat. Steam the asparagus about 6-8 minutes, until they are very tender but not falling apart.Place the asparagus on a platter, dot with the truffle butter, and sprinkle with salt to taste. Serve immediately. It is perfectly acceptable and even encouraged at my table to eat asparagus spears with your fingers.

Details

Prep time: 5 mins Cook time: 10 mins Total time: 15 mins Yield: 6-8 servings

Photos: 2012 Oregon Truffle Festival

• 

Here are some of the sights from my weekend at the 2012 Oregon Truffle Festival in Eugene. (Click here for a detailed report from the festival.)

Crystal, a trained truffle dog, led us into the woods to find Oregon white truffles

Grilled escarole with Oregon white truffles

Chef Rocky Maselli making polpettone (Italian meatloaf) studded with Oregon black truffles

Slicing polpettone

Chef Maselli's buckwheat crespelle with apples and truffle cream

Recipe contest winner Merry Graham with her truffled parsnip soup

Food writer Molly O'Neill with a Lagatto Romagnolo, the traditional Italian truffle-hunting breed

Chef Jason French's celery root and hazelnut salad with truffled remoulade

Jason French's truffled hen legs with melted and crispy leeks, one of the simplest dishes of the weekend (and, in my opinion, one of the most successful)

Chef Jason French of Portland's Ned Ludd restaurant shaving Oregon black truffles over hen legs

Truffled white bean puree with flatbread crackers

Chef Stephanie Pearl Kimmel's celery root and black truffle panna cotta with crab salad

Chef Chris Czarnecki's truffle-infused filet mignon with white truffle "snow"

Plating the first course for 300+ at the Grand Truffle Dinner

Chef John Newmann's Oregon black cod with black truffle aioli, shaved black truffles, braised greens and polenta

Truffle salt for sale at the Oregon Truffle Festival marketplace

An abundance of truffles and mushrooms at the marketplace

Foragers brought all kinds of truffle products to the market, including truffle-infused cheese (above), butter, salt and oil

Travel: Oregon Truffle Festival 2012

• 

Oregon black truffles

A few weeks ago I was lucky enough to spend the weekend at the Oregon Truffle Festival in Eugene. I met interesting people, learned new things, saw new places, and tasted amazing dishes. For a truffle-lover like me, the Oregon Truffle Festival is as close to nirvana as I'm likely to get in a three-day weekend.

(Click here to see more photos from the 2012 Oregon Truffle Festival)

It's taken me longer than usual to pull together my thoughts about this trip, and I've been trying to figure out why. Normally I'm prompt and efficient with my reports: I go, I come back, I sort through my photos, and I write something within a day or two. This time I needed a few weeks to process and digest.

Mincing Oregon white truffles during a cooking demo

Part of it is that I'm convinced I'm onto something really important here, and I want to tell the story correctly. Oregon truffles are a food trend, a culinary story, in the making. Everyone knows about Italian truffles, French truffles, and (thanks to 60 Minutes) crappy Chinese truffles. But Oregon truffles are something quite different. They're kissing cousins to the European truffles biologically, and they cast the same kind of pheromonal spell, but their flavors, textures and scents are uniquely American.

Foodies in Oregon know that native truffles grow among the roots of the Pacific northwest's Douglas fir plantations. Some food-lovers in Seattle and California know it, too. But outside of the west coast, few foodies, chefs or food writers know they exist. Oregon truffles travel neither well nor often: As in Europe, the best ones never make it far from the dirt from which they were dug.

But that is going to change, and it's going to change soon. Sunset magazine sent a reporter and photographer to cover the festival this year. And renowned food writer Molly O'Neill and her One Big Table project hosted the opening dinner and sponsored the truffle recipe contest (my truffled Pacific rockfish "brandade" was one of the finalists). Oregon truffles are ready for their close-up.

Crystal, a trained truffle-hunting dog, sniffs for white truffles near Eugene

The other reason I've hesitated to write about my weekend at the Oregon Truffle Festival is that while the food was remarkable, most of the dishes prepared by the chefs during the festival were very different from my own style of cooking with truffles.

I'm a purist, I guess. I like my backgrounds bland, my canvas clean, so the truffles sit on top of the other flavors and sing out loud and clear.

Don't get me wrong. I enjoyed tasting dishes like Robin Jackson's white truffle-scented red & white quinoa in a creamy risotto style with Riesling-poached hen's egg, shaved coppa, wild winter herbs, lemon thyme emulsion and shaved Oregon white truffles. And Jason Stoller Smith's apple brandy advocaat with Oregon black truffles, Hood River apples, Iberico de Bellota panceta ahumado, cider gelee, yogurt biscuit, pine nuts and Oregon white truffle "snow." And a dozen or more other complicated, multi-layered truffle-laced dishes from some of the Pacific northwest's best chefs.

But in a lot of these fancy dishes I felt like the truffles were sort of lost. Overpowered, maybe. My palate got confused, fatigued, a little numb.

Truffled quinoa "risotto" with poached egg and coppa - tasty and complicated

 Which is why I've been treating the Oregon truffles I get at the Santa Monica farmers market much more simply. I shave them over scrambled eggs. Mix them with butter and make sandwiches of truffle butter and radishes. Grate them into a grilled cheese sandwich.

I think Oregon truffles are remarkable, and I probably don't have the technical skills to execute most of the dishes I tasted at the festival anyway. But the truth is that even if I did, I prefer my truffles in more casual clothing.

All that said, it was a magical weekend. I spent time with writers I admire (Molly O'Neill, Kathy Gunst, Langdon Cook). I met new friends (Merry, Jennifer, Jen). I followed Crystal the truffle dog into the woods and dug in the dirt with a stick. I learned that growers are ripping out grapevines in Napa and planting truffle-inoculated hazelnut trees, waiting with fingers crossed to harvest their first lumps of black gold.

And the whole experience felt a bit like a luscious, smug secret. The Willamette valley has it all: lush green hills and fields, remarkable wines, passionate chefs turning out spectacular food using extraordinary ingredients, including Oregon truffles. Someday soon hordes of culinary tourists will descend upon Eugene to experience Oregon truffles in their native habitat, the way tour buses pull up at vineyards in Napa and Sonoma. And it will be well deserved.

Click here to see more photos from the 2012 Oregon Truffle Festival

Postcard from Oregon: Truffle cooking class with chef Rocky Maselli

• 

Chef Rocky Maselli's polpettone (Italian meatloaf) with black Oregon truffles. The chef mixed ground veal, ground pork, diced mortadella and diced black Oregon truffles, then wrapped the mixture around soft-boiled eggs. The whole thing was wrapped in parchment paper, baked, then sliced so each piece had egg in the center. Shaved white Oregon truffles finished off each serving.

The cooking class was part of the Oregon Truffle Festival in Eugene.

What do Oregon truffles smell like?

• 

Olive oil, a pinch of salt and grated Oregon black truffles: Your bread will never be happier

We interrupt Superfoods Month to bring you some exciting news: It's Oregon truffle season again.

As you can imagine, this truffle-obsessed blogger is quite happy when she rides her bike to the Santa Monica farmers market and spots the telltale picnic coolers on the wild mushroom guy's table. Inside each cooler is an ice pack on top of a tea towel; inside the towel are a few hundred fragrant, marble-sized black or white Oregon truffles.

At $20 per ounce, Oregon truffles are an affordable luxury. The white truffles (called white, actually brown) sell out first, so I go early. I like both white and black and pick up a few nuggets of each. Pasta, risotto, scrambled eggs, salad, or just bread and butter - truffles add a new dimension to the simplest foods.

We sampled the Oregon white truffles both on their own and mixed with olive oil

Biologically, Oregon truffles (Tuber oregonense and Tuber gibbosum) are kissing cousins to the European truffles. They're similar but not the same. I tried to describe the smell and taste of Oregon truffles for you, but I found myself at a loss for words.

Which is why I invited Arianna Armstrong, wine writer extraordinaire and owner of a true "super palate," to come over this weekend and experience Oregon truffles with me. I'm neither a super smeller nor a super taster. She's both. We sniffed and sniffed, then sampled both kinds of truffles on their own and grated into olive oil.

Wine writer and "super smeller" Arianna Armstrong with an Oregon white truffle

I got some excellent video of our smelling and tasting session. As soon as I figure out how to edit video, you'll see it here. Meantime, here are a few tasting notes:

• alcohol
• pine
• wet leaves
• river water
• manure
• pears

We also discussed the possibility that given their pheromonal effect, truffles smell like "the essence of a woman." Possibly a woman who doesn't bathe very often.

I just realized the tasting notes above don't do these truffles justice. You'll just have to trust me. They're magical.