Black Truffle Oil, imported to Montreal by Macchi Inc. - Photos by Montreal Photographer Vadim Daniel

The product I picked to present to you this week has caused a lot of controversy over the years. Mainly because it has been portrayed as something different than it is, but it has always been very appreciated when consumed in all of its different ways of preparation.

I will, this week, make sure that there is no more confusion with regards to this very useful product and also let you know why I love to use it in my cooking and savor it in cooking prepared by professionals.

Introducing the Black Truffle Oil: ‘A bath of gold’!

I stumbled over many articles, as I did a search on the web for Truffle Oil, just to see how others had used it and also to see what their opinion was, as I do with every week’s product.

To my surprise, there was a lot of upset because people had been wrongfully informed.

The Truffle Oil that we sell here at Macchi Inc., is Olive oil infused with truffle essence, meaning that it is artificially flavored and in our case also flavored with real truffles and It is made on the highest quality of EVOO (Extra Virgin Olive oil).

Just as there is different kind of truffles, there is also different kind of truffle oils, we supply you with white winter truffle oil and the black summer truffle oil.

Can truffle oil be used to replace truffles? Never!

But it can most definately be considered as a truffle- or truffled product.

Considering it is based on olive oil, we all know what an aromatic and strong flavored oil olive oil is. Also I shouldn’t forget to mention when not fried in, how healthy it is for you! So no matter what flavors or essences that are infused in the oil, it will mix and make it’s own flavor and in my opinion a really good one!

Our truffle oil comes in 250 ml bottles and retails for around 30$ per bottle. The bottle is labeled as “il tartufo d’oro”.

This truffle oil adds a slightly sweet and earthy flavor to your dish and a heavenly aroma.

As always I am very interested to know what your thoughts are and if you’ve had the opportunity to taste or use truffle oil, don’t hesitate to share it with me.

Truffle oil, imported by Macchi Inc. - Photos by Montreal Photographer Vadim Daniel

I have to say that the reason why I like using truffle oil so much is because it complements my type of cooking very well.
I use it very often in my bechamel when I make lasagna. I also use it in my Alfredo & Bolognese sauce. I like using it when making risotto and I love using it as “topping” on vegetables or a nice piece of BBQed steak.

Depending on my mood I switch between the black truffle oil, that has more of an earthy taste, and the white truffle oil that has a stronger aroma and is sweeter in its flavor.

After opening the twist cap on the bottle it is recommended to keep it in the fridge make sure that cap is tight to keep the fragrance longer. I would suggest not to expect it to last longer than 6 months which for me has never been a problem =).

The truffle oil we sell at Macchi Inc. is labeled with ‘Il tartufo d’oro”, the bottle contains 250 ml and you need aprox. 5-10 ml/serving depending on what it is that you are preparing.

This is again a product that is not offered yet by retail stores, therefore, if you are interested to purchase Truffle Oil from us you can, just contact our office for further questions.

Truffles and truffled product have a distinct flavor and essence that is very different from anything else. It is very “potent” and if used in exaggerated amounts it can end up being difficult to digest, but it is something that does grow on you and when you’ve become custom to the flavor and essence the satisfaction is an unexperienced one and very fulfilling.

And now it’s your turn to treat yourself with giving your meals or vegetables a spa treatment in “a bath of gold”.

Macchi' Inc.'s Truffle Carpaccio - Photos by Montreal Photographer Vadim Daniel

So now you’ve picked up your own jar of Truffle Carpaccio from us at Macchi Inc., and you are on your way to the grocery store to find what will be successfully paired with the truffle carpaccio for this week-end’s dinner or cocktail party.

So much to choose from and so exciting! Don’t let it overwhelm you, my suggestion to you is start with thinking of what you would like to prepare and what your strengths are.

You can prepare one of your favorite pasta dishes and top it with a couple of slices or you can make your favorite sandwich and top it with a slice or two of the carpaccio. I would say that anything really pairs well with the truffle carpaccio, vegetables, fish, poultry, meat, potato, egg etc.

What can be good to keep in mind is that since the truffles has a very strong aroma it can be very hard to digest if the amounts are exagerated. Remember that truffles and truffled products are to be used more as a spice rather than a condiment, but it’s not a spice. I would say that one slice is plenty as a serving portion for one person but by all means don’t let that hold you back if you can handle or enjoy more!

When jar is opened it can be kept in the refrigerator for a couple of months without any problems. It will never be “bad” for you to eat it afterwards it’s just that it will slowly loose some of its aroma, flavor and maybe even it’s texture buy getting slightly firmer.

I’m really looking forward to tomorrow’s post just to show you how we love to have it!

• Keep in mind that this is thin slices of truffles, that have been preserved in oil for a while so they have become very soft, therefor when you will take the slices out of the jar use a pair of small plyers or even better, very gently, turn the jar upside down in a plate and then start distributing the carpaccio.

Let me know if you have any questions – I’m here to answer them!

Macchi Inc.'s Truffle Carpaccio - Photos by Montreal Photographer Vadim Daniel

I am, and have been on vacation, in the Quebec Eastern Townships ( Canton L’Est ) since wednesday.

Spending quality time with close friends and family, over many good meals, makes you realize that to accomplish a successfull dinner; everything matters!

We put together some recipes that we had made before and to our surprise they tasted different and we also enjoyed them in a much different way, and the fact that there was a very appreciative audience to feed our egos made the experience even better =).

Which brings us to this week’s product: Truffle Carppacio; my little sheets of silk.

It is made from summer truffles, covered with sunflower oil in a jar. A traditional Umbrian recipe; pasteurized in it’s natural juices, no preservatives or artificial colorings, chilled and then sliced paper thin.

I LOVE THIS PRODUCT!

It makes it so convenient to spoil yourself or your guests any time.

As I gently pluck them out, one by one from the jar, so that they wont rip or tear, the scent and aromas simply hypnotizes me but in difference from the fresh product, it is very subtle.

The texture due to being soaked in oil, is very silky and gentle on the palate and no matter what dish or product you end up topping with the truffled carpaccio, you do end up spoiling it very generously.

In case you didn’t know, carpaccio in Italian means when something is served raw and is thinly sliced or pounded.

We started carrying the truffle carpaccio about two years ago, as an addition to our truffled products that we offer at Macchi Inc. It is for us and our clients a fairly new product and we have not had the time to market this product properly yet.

Therefor, this is one of the few products we carry, that you can buy directly from us as a private person, since we do not have any retail stores purchasing it from us yet.

What is the difference between our brand and other brands?

Jarred truffle carpaccio, can be purchase in stores, but it’s not “ours”.

If it’s on the shelves and sold in the stores it can’t be bad!

But just like everything else; quality has it’s price!

Stay tuned for some Tips & Tricks tomorrow and pictures of how we spoiled our guests with truffle carpaccio on Wednesday.

Wishing you a great week!

Since this week started of with such warm and humid weather (which I just love by the way!), cooking in front of my gas stove is not something that I wanted to do. I resorted in planning meals that needed the least time possible in front of the stove.

One of our all time favorite dishes is “Vitello Tonnato” (cold veal with tuna sauce). For the ones that have never tasted it before, this dish might not sound too appealing. Trust me though, the tuna sauce is so mild in taste and silky in texture, that it feels like applying whipped cream on top of strawberries!

This dish “Vitello Tonnato” is traditionally garnished with caper berries, Paolo changed the recipe around a bit and used Truffled Dwarf Peaches as a garnish instead and it was right up my alley =)

VITELLO TONNATO:

Ingredients for the Veal Preparation:

• 1 kg of boneless veal ( I prefer eye of round of milk feed veal)
• 2 carrots
• 2 celery stalks
• 1 onion
• 3 bay leaves
• 3 cloves
• 10 whole peppercorn
• 3 sprigs of parsley
• 2 cloves of garlic
• 500 ml of chicken stock
• 500 ml of white wine

Preparation of the Veal:

1. Add all these ingredients in a stock pot ( make sure the liquid just barely covers the veal, if not, add the necessary water to do so
2. Bring to a boil then reduce the heat to a slow boil and let cook for 1 hour
3. Remove from heat and put the pot in the fridge to let the veal cool in its stock (this will enhance the flavor of the otherwise bland milk feed veal).
4. If there is no room in the fridge for the pot, transfer everything in an airtight container an pour the stock on top of it.
5. Leave cool for a few hours or even better, you can prepare the meat the day before, that way all the aroma of the stock will flavor the meat. (recommended)

Ingredients for the Tuna Sauce:

• 5 large cans of tuna in olive oil ( 5×180 gr.)
• 1 can of anchovies in oil
• 4 teaspoons of capers
• the juice of one lemon

Preparation of the Tuna Sauce:

1. Make sure to drain the tuna from most of its oil
2. Add all the ingredients in the blender until you have a smooth paste. If too thick, you can add a little of the veal stock.
3. Once the tuna base is ready, fold in about one cup of mayonnaise to create a thin sauce.

Presentation:

1. Slice the veal as thin as possible and arrange it on a plate in a single layer pattern (the veal should overlap about by half of its slice).
2. Spread your tuna sauce on top of veal .
3. For garnish, take about 12 truffled dwarf peaches and mince them and spread them over your vitello tonnato dish.

You can add a few sliced truffled dwarf peaches for garnish.

Buon Appetito

Paolo

This dish is really very simple to prepare, I would definitly suggest you give it a try, and if you do, don’t forget to let me know how it went!