Fresh Truffles from Oregon

This week, we had a special treat - fresh black truffles! We decided that the dessicated ones really don't do the job, but the truffles from France were way beyond our budget. We decided to try Oregon truffles, which are much cheaper and usually taste pretty good. I say usually, because I think we actually got a bad batch.....truffles need to be consumed very quickly after they are unearthed, and the ones that we got tasted over-ripe and sickly sweet. We were in denial about it, so we still used it in the Black Truffle Beignets recipe. It turned out kind of gross, to be honest, but I felt that was also due to the enormous amounts of chickpeas in it. Chickpeas aren't exactly a subtle filler, so coupled with our questionable truffles, they produced the first less-than-delicious fried thing in my life.

The main course was John Dory, which I chose to accommodate the pescetarian needs of our guest Maxwell. At the very end, I realized I had used chicken broth - but in the interest of full disclosure, I told him about it. I haven't reached low enough to lie to someone with special food needs - yet. Luckily, after convincing Maxwell that the chicken used to make the broth lived a happy life and was killed humanely, Maxwell relented to eating it enthusiastically (but feeling a bit down morally perhaps?)

The John Dory was is rare enough that we had to special order it from Dirk's. It is a very fishy fish, but paired amazingly well with the citrus and daikon ingredients. There were 2 ingredients that we missed due to UPS mishap - truffle juice, and olio nuovo. I thought that we wouldn't miss the truffle juice since we had fresh truffles (probably wrong on that point), and it turned out the flavors were so strong in the John Dory that the delicate olio nuovo (extremely fresh, non-aged olive oil) had a good chance of being overwhelmed.

I made this on a Sunday, so Colin was home for moral support and ran a few loads in the dishwasher - it is amazing how much easier cooking felt with a helping hand! Lastly,  the day before was St. Patrick's day, so you can probably imagine how I felt for the first few hours in the kitchen....These two recipes were also relatively quick and simple - the only time consuming part was preparing the fruit pulp (took me at least 30 minutes).

Black Truffle Beignet

Make Black Truffle Yogurt by combining 2 cups Greek Yogurt, 1 T lemon juice, 2 t salt, 2 T minced black truffles, and 1 T minced chives.

Soak 3/4 cups chickpeas in cold water overnight.

Clean and roughly chop 1 cup black trumpet mushrooms

Sweat 1/4 cup of thinly sliced shallots in 1 T butter.

Add trumpet mushrooms, and cook until tender - about 4 minutes.

Combine 1.25 c chickpeas, shallot/mushroom mixture, *truffle juice in food processor.

This is what squid ink looks like - I also got it from Dirk's.

Slice 1/2 cup black truffles.

Add 1/2 t squid ink, sliced truffles, 1/2 t baking soda, 1.5 t salt, and 1.25 c panko breadcrumbs. Process until smooth.

Form paste into truffle shaped balls, and fry at 375 F for 3 minutes.

Place beignets in a bowl of uncooked rice. Serve with yogurt sauce.

John Dory Poached with Citrus, Daikon Radishes, and Olio Nuovo

Dried Citrus

Remove the rind and membranes on a grapefruit, navel orange, and blood orange.

Place sections on a baking sheet, and sprinkle with 2 tablespoons of confectioner's sugar.

Bake at 175 F overnight to dehydrate (I didn't have time for this, so I baked it at 200 F for about 6 hours. It worked!). Trim fruit into 1/2 X 1 inch rectangles.

Edamame

Boil 2 cups shelled edamame in salted water for 2 minutes.

Shock in ice water.

Remove the outer membrane.

Pickled Daikon

Make paper thin slices of daikon radish so that each person ends up with 6 pieces.

Heat 1 cup white balsamic vinegar, 1 cup sugar, and 1/4 c salt until sugar dissolves

Place daikon slices in a bowl, and pour vinegar solution over it. Cool at room temperature.

Drain slices before plating.

Daikon Vinaigrette

Heat .75 c chicken stock with 1/4 cup of pickling fluid from above and 1 t honey. Reduce in half.

Chill over ice.

Emulsify into it 1/2 cup canola oil and 1/8 t xanthan gum. Season with 1 t salt and a pinch of cayenne pepper.

Citrus Beurre Blanc

Heat 1.5 cup grapefruit juice, 1 cup orange juice, and 1/2 cup lemon juice. Reduce to 2 cups total over high heat.

Cube 2 lb cold butter.

Slowly whisk in butter, and season with 1.5 t salt.

Poached John Dory

Combine 5 thyme sprigs, 5 peeled garlic cloves, and 8 cups chicken stock. Bring to a boil, then season with 1.5 T salt.

Whisk 1/2 cup cornstarch with 1/2 cup water.

Drizzle cornstarch mixture into chicken stock. Boil for 3 minutes, then reduce to 140 F.

Poach fillets for 6-7 minutes, then drain on paper towels.

Spoon 2 T Citrus Beurre Blanc sauce onto each fillet, and cover uniformly. Place fish in the center of the plate, scatter 2 sliced scallions along the edges and 2 T edamame. Arrange 6 Pickled Daikon and 1 T Dried Citrus around it. If you can find petite Spanish tarragon sprigs, arrange 4 of those. Spoon 1 t Daikon Vinaigrette next to fish, and drizzle with 1/2 t olio nuovo.

 

 

 

 

Tasting Notes:
As I said earlier, the Black Truffle Beignets aren't worth your time unless you want to try with some great quality truffles. Even then, I feel like the high heat of frying destroys the volatile oils that give truffles their flavor, so that still might not work. I absolutely recommend the John Dory recipe - it is easy and quick (as long as you don't go insane preparing the fruit sections.) It was truly an explosion of perfect flavors in my mouth, and a great remedy for boring fish recipes.