Tastes like truffle

No longer the fancy, pricey ingredient it used to be, the versatile edible fungi can be used to add a distinct flavour to your cooking

Fig & Goat Cheese Salad with Truffle Honey
Serves: 1

Ingredients
30 gm fig
30 gm dried meat, sliced very thin
25 gm goat cheese
60 gm mixed leaf
20 gm parsley
5 gm chives
20 gm frisée

For the dressing:
10 ml red wine vinegar
10 ml truffle honey
30 ml grapeseed oil
30 ml olive oil
6 gm Dijon mustard
Pinch of salt

Method
Mix all ingredients for the dressing in a blender until emulsified. (The dressing will be more than you need, but will keep in the fridge for up to five days.)
Cut figs into quarters, and chop up your already sliced dried meats. Place in a large mixing bowl.
Crumble the goat cheese and add the remaining ingredients into the bowl. Toss together with the dressing and serve immediately.

Truffle Chicken
Serves: 3-4
 
Ingredients
1.2 kg corn-fed chicken, brined
125 gm unsalted butter
8 ml truffle oil
8 gm truffle paste
1 kg Desiree potatoes
10 gm garlic
3 gm rosemary
3 gm thyme
200 gm mixed wild mushrooms, cut into bite-sized pieces
400 ml veal jus or any reduced stock
 
Method
Mix room temperature unsalted butter with truffle oil and truffle paste. Set aside.
Pre-heat the oven to 180°C. Peel and dice the potatoes into 2cm cubes, place them in a pan of water with crushed garlic cloves, rosemary and thyme. Season the water lightly with salt. Cover with a lid, and bring to the boil. Remove the lid and let potatoes cook until slightly firm in the middle (about 10 minutes). Once ready, drain the potatoes, and remove the herbs. Cool and set aside.
To stuff the chicken, run your index finger under the top side of the breasts to separate the skin from the flesh. Add a couple of tablespoons of truffle butter into the space created. Small cuts into the legs and thighs can be made, and filled with butter too. Massage the remaining butter all over the chicken; season lightly.
On a preheated roasting tray, lined with aluminum foil, place potatoes lightly tossed in olive oil, salt and pepper. Roast until golden brown. Once cooked, set aside, and cover with foil until chicken is cooked.
Place the chicken onto a roasting tray, and bake in the oven for 1 hour. During this time, every 10-15 minutes, baste the chicken in its own juices and the truffle butter.
Heat up the veal jus. Sauté mushrooms in a hot pan with a little vegetable oil, until lightly golden, season with salt, then add to the jus.
To plate, place the roasted potatoes into a serving dish, and slice whole roasted chicken (or leave whole). Place on top of the potatoes, cover the chicken in the veal jus sauce. Serve.

Seabass Crudo
Serves: 3-4
 
Ingredients
2 x 150 gm fillets of seabass
80 gm spring onion
100 gm red seedless grapes
 
For the truffle dressing:
12 ml truffle oil
8 gm truffle paste
15 ml olive oil
50 gm ponzu dressing
8 ml apple vinegar
 
Method
For the dressing, combine all the ingredients together. Set aside.
Thinly slice spring onions into fine rings, and put into iced water for a few minutes to crisp up. Remove, drain and dry on a kitchen cloth. To remove the seabass skin, place the fillet on a board, skin-side down. Hold the end of the tail firmly down.
With a sharp fish knife, angle the blade at around 20 degrees, and cut through the flesh until you reach the skin. Then, slowly glide the knife against the skin, moving your knife in a cutting motion to separate the flesh from the skin.  Once the skin in removed, discard it as well as the blood line that runs down the centre of the fillet. Thinly slice the seabass using a sashimi knife, and split between 4 plates. Crush a pinch of sea salt evenly over the fish.
Give your dressing a good stir, then add a generous couple of tablespoons over each plate of fish. Dress with the spring onions and thinly sliced red grapes.