July 13, 2013

Foodie Seminar - The world of Truffles

       This months seminar was the 1st to sell out in our summer series.

       Truffles: we started with the expectations of getting fresh summer truffles from Oregon. As the date drew closer, we found that like our 2013 mushroom season, the truffle season suffered from the lack of rain. Our option was frozen truffles or using truffle products. We chose the 2nd option & found it to be a huge success. Initially we were all a little disappointed but in the end, the lower cost & experience was terrific.

     David Campbell, of mycoventures, was our guest speaker & expert on the topic. David is our Mushroom Foray guide every February. He is a  crowd pleaser with his knowledge & enthusiasm on the subject. He offers tours 'Italian truffle & Wine Forays' which was a topic of discussion with our world of truffles evening.

     We prepared 6 food items all enhanced with truffles. We used truffle oil, truffle butter, truffle salt & truffle paste. Our food items included Truffle Tremor cheese from Cypress Grove, Truffled deviled duck eggs, Potato truffle Torte, Sautéed fresh corn with truffle butter, Truffle & Mushroom Risotto. Grilled Beef Filet with truffle salt and the finale was a locally made chocolate truffle.

     The pairings as always, are so fun with several group opinions. The following are the results of favorite pairings...

Truffle Tremor - Tied between our Rose' of  Pinot, Pinot Noir & Valdiguie

Deviled eggs - #1 Chardonnay, 2nd place tie...Rose & Pinot

Potato Torte - Pinot Noir, Chardonnay 2nd,  Valdiguie 3rd

Fresh Corn in truffle butter - Chardonnay / Pinot Noir / Rose' - all tied

Risotto - Pinot Noir then Cab Franc

Filet of Beef - Cab Franc. & then Pinot Noir

     To be totally honest, 50% of the group said Pinot was the favorite for every item. But I like to look at the balance of what is discussed and some people love Pinot so much that nothing compares.
I personally enjoyed the Rose' so much with the 1st two items and was pleasantly surprised that Pinot was not my 1st pick for any pairing accept the risotto.
    
    Once again, the fun energy, educational element & most importantly the Food & Wine were a winning combo.

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