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From October to December
Monsignor della Casa Country Resort proposes to people
who loves truffle a special package which includes
a White Truffle dinner and an absorbing truffle hunt with good trained
dogs in the old-century park of the Villa where Monsignor Giovanni
della Casa was born.
Tuscan Truffle History
Some truffle recipes....
The first description of
a truffle (tuberum) we have, was made by Pliny the Elder during
the first century A.D.. Jumping ahead to the Modern Age, into the
1475 Platina Treaty titled “De Honesta Voluptate” we find a first
reference to the truffle hunting; instead, during the XVI century,
as reported in Messiburgo and Scappi works, the underground fungus
became part of aristocrats and upper class meals. Some seventeenth-century
accounts, 0.66lbs was worth to 0.56oz of gold. During the first
half of the XIX century, the French writer Alexander Dumas praised
truffle highly and someone as judge Anthelme Brillat-Savarin credit
it with aphrodisiac properties; also in this century, the white
truffle renown increased and even the well-known Artusi, during
the fight between black and white truffle supporters, sided with
the second ones.
During 1900, in some Italian region like Piedmont, Marche, Umbria
and Tuscany, truffle hunting had a great distribution. Nowadays,
Tuscany offers many optimal situations for the development and fructification
of truffle, notably the prized white truffle (Tuber magnatum pico).
There are about 3500 pickers, 9 tartufai (typical Tuscan name given
to truffle hunter) clubs and 6 different geographic places of origin
and its business is valued at 12 millions euro per year. Looking
at these data, experts wish a guarantee of origin for Tuscan truffle.
 Although
in the literature on the subject there have been many accounts about
the use of the sow for the truffle hunting, nowadays this hunting
in the productive truffle beds, which is allow by law only from
September to December, is done exclusively with specially trained
dogs and with the aid of an instrument we generally call vanghetto
(tool with a wooden handle attached to a metal part in the shape
of a small). Truffle beds, that is to say areas where this underground
fungus grows, can be identified, specially as black truffles are
concerned, by the absence of grass. Moreover, truffle beds facing
south are used to ripen earlier, following by the ones facing east,
west and north. There are five main areas for the truffle’s diffusion
in Tuscany: Casentino area, the hills of San Miniato, Valtiberina,
the Crete Senesi area and Mugello. The tuber magnatum pico in Mugello,
with its strong and pleasant scent, has different sizes and shapes,
it can weight more than a 1Kg and its selling price hovers around
2200,00 euro per kg and it can come up to 5000,00 euro per kg.
To
celebrate this prized food, in Mugello many market fair are organized
in different seasons, as those at Villa Pecori in Borgo San Lorenzo,
in Barberno di Mugello, in Scarperia and even an International Tuscan
Truffle Auction in the Cafaggiolo Castle that was of the de’ Medici
family. There are many and different recipes using truffles, all
of them are tasty and dainty; before using truffle on canapés, home-made
pasta or meat, you have to carefully remove all the soil with a
toothbrush.
Here there are some recipes:
Canapés with white truffle
INGREDENTS FOR 4 PEOPLE: 12 slices of sandwich loaf, 50 gr. White
truffle, 50 gr. Butter, 2 spoon of grated Parmisan, an half lemon
juice, a clove of garlic.
PROCEDURE: Melt the butter with the chopping garlic on a low flame.
Carefully clean truffles with a knife and quickly rinse it in cool
water, grate it in the melted butter and let it heat but not brown.
Add the grated parmisan and a dash of broth if the mix seems to
be too thick. Before taking it out the flame, add the lemon juice
and even some grated lemon peel. Toast the sandwich loaf, spread
it with the truffle cream and serve hot. We recommend to be served
with a wine like Cortese or Erbaluce.
Ricotta cheese Ravioli with Truffle
INGREDIENTS FOR 4 PEOPLE: 400 gr. Home-made Ravioli, 45 gr Butter,
30 gr Grana Padano cheese, white truffle, meat broth and just enough
salt.
PROCEDURE: Cook ravioli in boiled salt water al dente (still firm);
drain and put it in a pan, adding butter and white truffle together
with the broth and dust with grated Grana Padano cheese. Serve hot.
Rabbit with Truffle
INGREDIENTS FOR 4 PEOPLE: 1 cleaned rabbit in pieces, white truffle,
rosemary, bay leaf, thyme, oregano, mint, 3 peppers, half a glass
of white wine, some vegetable consommé, just enough salt
and pepper.
PROCEDURE: Scald the rabbit for 5 minutes, drain and dry it. Line
an oven dish with some baking paper and put in it the rabbit with
the aromas; peel peppers from seeds, cut them into stripes and add
to the rabbit with white wine, salt and pepper. Bake for 30 minutes
at 200°, sprinkling with the consommé. Before serving,
dust it with some truffle.
Roast Veal larded with Truffle
INGREDIENTS FOR 6 PEOPLE: 700 gr. Best end of the hindquarters of
veal, lardons of ham, black truffle, extravergin olive oil, just
enough salt and pepper.
PROCEDURE: Using the tip of a knife make small cuts in the meat
and put in them lardons covered with salt, pepper and black truffle.
Tie the meat, put it in a baking pan and bake for 1 hour with oil.
Every now and then, turn the meat and if it seems to brown too much,
sprinkle it with a spoonful of water.
Tuscan Truffles and Mushrooms Salad
INGREDIENTS FOR 6 PEOPLE: 200 gr. Lettuce, 30 gr. Tuscan Truffle,
150 gr. Porcini mushrooms, 400 gr. Field mushrooms, 300 gr. Tuscan
Pecorino cheese, 1 Lemon, Parsley, Extravergin Olive Oil, just enough
salt and pepper.
PROCEDURE: Shell, washing and cut the mushrooms and lettuce into
stripes. Cut the Pecorino cheese into stripes too and add to the
salad together with chopped parsley.
Mix oil, lemon juice, salt and pepper and dress the salad. Sprinkle
with grated truffle.
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