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Truffles – a True Croatian Treat!
The foodie scene in Croatia is a lot of scrumptious fun, with superb wines and fresh local cuisine quite easy to access (if you know our insider secrets)
Probably, the most decadent delicious fun to be had is with the amazing unrivaled fresh truffles in Istria, the northwesternmost part of Croatia.
Travelers will find ample opportunity to order dishes that include truffles in many restaurants while visiting Croatia or Slovenia.
An exceptional experience to plan ahead for is to go with a locally licensed truffle hunter into the hazelnut oak woods, with the hunter’s dog, specially trained and skilled at sniffing out the highly treasured tubers. Our guests always rave about this adventure, learning so much about this rare delicacy, with someone who has been passed the knowledge generation to generation.
If a tromp in the woods isn’t what you have in mind for your vacation, you can still enjoy consuming the truffles while there. Throughout the country, you will also find many truffle products that you may purchase, easily pack, and bring home as gifts or for a reminiscent meal. These food products include the whole truffle in brine. sliced in olive oil, in salt, truffle pate, truffle honey, olive oil with truffle flavor, truffles and mushrooms or truffles and olives in jars, in cheese, and even in sausage. We love all of these specialized Croatian products!!
Be sure to let us know if you want to include truffle hunting with one of our local experts during our itinerary planning process. A little luxury and a memory for a lifetime!!
Are you ready to cook with delicious truffles? Here’s a classic truffle recipe from Croatia:
Istrian Fuži with Black Truffle Cream Sauce
Equipment
- Large pot for boiling water
- Pasta roller or rolling pin
- Sauce pan
Ingredients
For the Pasta
- 2 cups All-purpose flour
- 2 cups Semolina
- 1 pinch Sea salt
- 6 whole eggs
- 2 tbsp olive oil
For the Truffle Cream Sauce
- 1 cup Heavy cream
- 1/3 cup Butter
- 50 grams Black Truffle Paste
- 2 or 3 whole Black Truffles thinly sliced or grated
- Parmesan Cheese to your liking
Instructions
Pasta
- Sift together the flour, semolina, and salt.
- Make a well in the middle of the mixture
- Crack 6 eggs into a bowl (to avoid any bits of shell)
- Pour all the eggs into the well
- Add the olive oil
- Mix with a fork, slowly incorporating the flour into the eggs/oil.
- When you can no longer use the fork, use your hands to finish incorporating the liquid into the flour.
- Knead the mixture until smooth and supple, 8 – 10 minutes. (do not scrimp on the kneading time. Get your muscles ready!)
- When the dough is nice and smooth, wrap in cling film, and set aside and let rest at room temperature for 30 minutes.
- After it’s had enough time to rest, unwrap, and cut into manageable pieces (4 or more) and use a rolling pin to quickly flatten the dough for rolling through a pasta machine. Don’t over work the dough.
- Run each flattened piece through the pasta machine until you reach your desired thickness. This recipe can be made into any pasta shape you want!
- To make Fuži: Using a square cookie or biscuit cutter (or just a knife!) cut out 1.5 in (4cm) squares of the fresh pasta, and using semolina to dust, wrap the squares of dough somewhat loosely around the handle of a cooking spoon on a diagonal, until the corner overlap, and slightly pinch the spot where they overlap. Repeat. (see video for visual!)
- After you’ve created all the fuži pasta, let them rest at room temperature. (You can make them ahead and let them dry, but they will take a little longer to cook.)
- Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil.
- Wait to cook the pasta until your truffle cream sauce is ready. The fresh pasta takes about 8 – 10 minutes to cook, so plan accordingly. You want the pasta cooked to al dente and still hot at the same time the cream sauce is ready.
Truffle Cream Sauce
- In a separate sauce pan, melt the 1/3 cup butter, add the black truffle paste/pate, and stir over a medium heat until bubbling.
- Add the heavy cream.
- Add a sprinkle of parmesan cheese, to your liking.
- Stirring constantly, cook down the cream sauce and truffle mixture until thick and to a consistency you like.
- When pasta is cooked and the sauce is ready, place the cooked fuži on your serving dish, add a little bit of the truffle cream sauce, dust with parmesan, and top with a few grated pieces of black truffle. ENJOY!
Video
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