Truffle Oil Recipes

It was pretty hard for me to find exciting recipes on the web using truffle oil. I am not sure why. Is it the fact that my google search skills are not that great? Or maybe the food websites and bloggers that I usually follow are not very interested in using truffle oil?
I tend to blame it more on my search skills
I did find these three recipes though, that sounded interesting. I am not sure I will give any of them a try in the week to come, as it is back to school for my kids, and I don’t know if any of my readers have kids, but this time of the year is pretty busy. Let me put it this way, cooking just doesn’t happen that naturally. But I bookmarked them, and I will try them at the first occasion. I will share my experience with you.

So, voilà:

1. Seared Scallops on Vitelotte Purée by  THE PASSIONATE COOK
2. Jerusalem Artichoke Soup by LA TARTINE GOURMANDE
3. Pumpkin Soup with Parmesan by DELICIOUS MAGAZINE
   

Enjoy!

Summer is by far my favorite time of the year!

I love the heat and when I say that I really mean it, it can never get to hot and if it does you will never hear me complaining.

Even though I am born and raised in Sweden, Stockholm to be more precise, and have lived in Montreal for the past 13 years, I am not a person that has enjoyed the cold weather. The winter activities are fun though but as we all know with work and our daily working and household schedules we don’t get to enjoy them as often as we all would wish we could.

Having that said; I do enjoy the cooking more in summer, we are able to use more of our local products and produce and I also love shopping at the Jean Talon market.

All the beautiful colors and fragrances from the different fruits and vegetables and now as we are in the beginning of the harvest and thanks giving being just around the corner it has become a must to visit the market every saturday and sometime sunday morning.

Since we are in the topic of of seasonal fruits and vegetables I have a very easy and nice recipe for you this week that can be prepared with this weeks product; the Truffle oil.

ARTICHOKE WITH TRUFFLED VINAIGRETTE

Another quick and easy summer recipe.

1. Trim the tips of the leaves of your artichokes and put in boiling salted water. I like to add a half lemon so the artichokes stay as green as possible.
2. While artichokes are boiling, whisk together evoo, lemon juice, salt ,pepper and some truffle oil . Add a half teaspoon of Dijon mustard to the mix so that the oil and lemon juice are able to bind together.
3. Drain your artichokes, peel the leaves and dip into the vinaigrette.

Total cook time is about 15 min depending on the size of the artichoke. You can tell when there ready because the leaves can be pulled off with only a little bit of resistance.

Hope you will enjoy this as much as I do!

TRUFFLE & EGG CROSTINI

We have a family country house on lake Massawippi, in the Eastern Townships and it is now the second generation of Macchi boys ( our children, Paolo’s and Mine) making noise in the area.

Growing up, Paolo spent every weekend and holiday in the country with his family, therefor it’s very important for him to do the same with our children since he has such great memories from there.

This past weekend, was the Annual Village Fair , we all went there just like we’ve done every year and Paolo has done at least for the past 25 years!

Every year is the same thing; you have the rides, the games, the petting zoo, the barns with cows and horses, competition of who has grown the largest vegetable and not to forget the horse race, my favorite part!

After we got home we gave the kids a bath, fed them and put them to bed.

And then it was our turn to eat =), we had some close friends of ours coming over, opened a bottle of wine and then Paolo was in charge!

Eggs and truffles have always been a match made in heaven!

Here is how Paolo spoiled us with this absolutely delicious snack.

EGG & TRUFFLE CROSTINI

• Simply slice some bread,
• Spread some truffle paste
• Add sliced hard boiled eggs
• Garnish with some truffle carpaccio
• Sprinkle some chives for color and taste.

Buon Appetitio!

While I was doing my research to spot for you three interesting recipes using Buffalo Mozzarella on websites and blogs I particularly love, I fell on these. The first one is mixing chocolate and buffalo mozzarella! I found it intriguing, and rushed to the grocery store to buy a nice dark chocolate, and tried it at home in order to give you real feedback. It is perfect! The crunch of the chocolate, with the soft texture of the buffalo mozzarella made an amazing marriage. Try it for yourselves!

So here are my three recipes from around the web using buffalo mozzarella:

1. Dark Chocolate, Nicoise Olive, Prosciutto & Buffalo Mozzarella Paninis
   By PEACE LOVE & CHOCOLATE
   
2. Marinated Buffalo Mozzarella with Preserved Lemon & Crispy Basil Leaves
   By DONNA HAY
   
3. Buffalo Mozzarella with Broad Bean and Young Leaf Salad Recipe
   By DELICIOUS MAGAZINE

Enjoy!

Since Mozzarella di Buffala / Buffalo Mozzarella is a perfect “summer cheese” we like to use it often in the summer.

We had some guests over on Sunday and Paolo prepared a Panzanella salad as a side dish to our BBQed chicken wings, it tasted just as good as it looks and even better.

I urge you try this simple recipe, all of the ingredients can be found in almost any store and it is so quick and easy to prepare!

PAOLO’s SERVING SUGGESTION

Panzanella Salad with Buffalo Mozzarella

This is my twist on the classic bread and tomato salad. It is at its best when you use ‘day old bread’. If you don’t have any old bread, cut some fresh bread and heat it a little in the oven to dry it out. If you skip this process, your croutons will get soft instead of chewy.

Since this is a salad, only assembly work is required.

1. Cubed bread
2. Fresh ripe tomatoes in quarters
3. Buffalo mozzarella
4. Fresh basil
5. Salt, pepper, evoo ( extra virgin olive oil ), white wine vinegar

If you wish, you can flavor your croutons by placing them on a baking sheet, add a little olive oil on top, salt, pepper and dried oregano, put them in the oven for a few minutes.

Preparation time: 5-7 minutes ( just make sure you start the preparations with turning the oven on, right away)

See you, tomorrow !