Truffles are on everyone's mind (including mine) ... Truffles in Foie Gras... "Truffled" Boudin Blanc sausage... "Truffled" Cheese ... and then of course, the old favorites ... Omlette aux truffes.
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| Our own truffle! The dish is three inches in diameter. |
What a delightful surprise when our neighbor in Sablet came to the door with a fresh truffle - one of the truffles they had just gathered at another friend's truffle oak forest in the Luberon. With just one truffle of about 1.25 inches in diameter we enjoyed two great meals - one delicious dinner main course of scrambled eggs topped with shaved truffle, and our last lunch at Maison des Pelerins before leaving to come back to California. A hot, toasted baguette, spread with demi-sel butter from Normandy and covered with mounds of shaved, Luberon black truffle!
It felt completely decadent to be eating truffles on toast - such a great idea, which came from our neighbor. The fragrance and nuttiness of freshly grated or shaved truffles only intensifies when it is combined with hot foods.
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| Creamy scrambled eggs with shaved truffles - yum! |
This delicious dish (below), is the Chosson des Truffes we were treated to at Les Abeilles on New Year's Eve - a steamy black truffle wrapped in ham and baked in buttery puff pastry!
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| Double yum - Chosson des Truffes |
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| As you cross the bridge into Richeranches, this "panneau" makes sure visitors know of the Saturday Truffle Markets |
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| Truffle Market goers crowd the narrow streets of the small village on cold Saturday mornings between November and March - some for serious negotiations - some to witness the whole spectacle |
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| The "Black Diamonds are carefully weighed as a fraction of an ounce either way can add or subtract lots of money! |
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| Truffles in are carefully stored in their bags |
Carefully cocooned in cloth or plastic bags, the truffle exchange goes to the very knowledgeable buyers from growers who carefully watch over and tend their truffle oak woods which dot the countryside throughout the Luberon and the Vaucluse. It is a labor of love for the first ten years which is the time it takes before the first truffles begin to appear on the roots of the host trees.
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| One of the truffle oak forests you see as you travel through the Vaucluse (this one on the Plan de Dieu). |
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| A stand of young oak trees near Richeranches - it takes about ten years for the first crop of truffles to appear. |
Truffles in church? Bien Sur! .....you know that Gourmets throughout the world take truffles very seriously when you hear that there is a Mass specially dedicated to the "Rabasse".
In Richeranches, the third Sunday of January each year sees the well known (and well attended),
Truffle Mass.
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| The small "Eglise Notre Dame de Richeranches" is packed for the Truffle Mass |
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| The Truffle Auction after Mass takes place outside the Mairie |
The Conferrerie offers an aperitif to all those who attend the festivities, followed by a truffle based lunch - a sought after event which requires a ticket.
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| Truffle Auction |
Bon Apetit!
Menu truffes 2012
L’œuf de poule poché, truffé
(Truffled poached egg)
Foie gras de canard poêlé sur endives braisées aux truffes
(Foie gras served with braised Belgium Endives and truffles)
Noix de Saint Jacques, sauce
iodée de l'huître à la truffe
(Scallops with Oyster and Truffle sauce)
Granité … Noilly-Prat – citron vert
(Granita of Noilly-Prat Vermouth and Lime)
Poularde aux truffes, sauce suprême
pommes de terre écrasées
(Truffled Chicken with sauce Supreme)
Coulommiers parfumé à la rabasse, quelques feuilles de roquettes
(Coulommiers cheese - from the Seine-et-Marne region flavored with truffles, served with rouquette)
Entremet à la mandarine et « diamant noir »
(Dessert of Mandarins and "black diamonds")
valable de janvier 2012 au 3 mars 2012
90,00 € personne sans boissons
Many thanks to Chef Johannes Sailer for the pictures of the Truffle Mass two Sundays ago
- Merci Chef!
