Spaghetti with black truffle: simple recipe and tasty variations

When the desire for truffle takes you by surprise and you don't have much time to cook, you need a quick and easy recipe that will boost the flavour of the precious mushroom and please all your senses. Spaghetti with black truffle is a delicious and versatile dish that can be prepared by anyone in a short time.

Table of contents

• Ingredients
• Preparation
• Recipe
• Alternatives

Ingredients for 4 persons

• black truffle: 50 g
• potatoes: 500 g
• Fontina cheese: 200 g
• onion: 1 small white/yellow onion
• butter: approx. 20 g
• extra virgin olive oil: to taste
• salt: to taste
• pepper: to taste

Preparation

Spaghetti with black truffle doesn’t need a lot of tools or time-consuming preparations, all that you need is a pot large enough for 400 g of pasta, a frying pan to combine it with the sauce at the end of cooking, and a truffle cutter to slice the truffle. Not everyone has a truffle cutter at home, so don't panic! It's not quite the same thing, but with a little care you can use the potato cutter (or the part of the grater that cuts thin slices).

The most important thing to keep in mind is that you have to clean the truffle well and slice it while waiting for the water to boil. If you are not very handy you might want to start a little before lighting the fire. To clean truffles properly, read our guide carefully, so you avoid the risk of ruining such a precious ingredient! However, remember that for the black truffle (almost all edible species of black truffle) you only need to clean it well with a brush under a jet of lukewarm - or cold - water and then dry it thoroughly with a clean cloth.

Recipe

It really only takes a few steps to make this recipe well. One of the few things to keep in mind is how to clean and treat the truffle, the rest is really very simple.

• First, fill a pot with water and put it on the cooker.
• While waiting for the water to come to the boil, gently clean the truffle under a trickle of lukewarm water.
• Slice the truffle using the truffle cutter; you may also use a potato peeler or the slicer of your grater.
• Clean the garlic cloves well and, if you prefer, cut them in half to remove the central sprout. I personally never remove it, my grandmother trained me that way. :)
• When the water boils, throw in the spaghetti and watch the time so they don't overcook. This sounds obvious, but it's not; the pasta needs to be slightly "al dente" to give the dish the right character.
• While the spaghetti are cooking, pour 4-5 tablespoons of olive oil into a pan and lightly fry the garlic cloves.
• When the garlic cloves are slightly browned, remove them from the pan and slice the black truffle into the still hot oil (leaving a few truffle slices aside to garnish the plates at the end). The black truffle, unlike the prized white truffle, can also be cooked; however, be careful not to burn it.
• When the pasta is almost ready, drain the spaghetti and add it to the pan.
• Put the pan back on the hot plate ( on a low heat), stir and add the butter. Cook for a couple more minutes and then turn off the heat.
• Serve the spaghetti still hot and garnish with the remaining truffle slices.

Variation

Spaghetti with truffle is a really simple dish, but nevertheless can give great pleasure. Those who have already tried it many times, however, might want to try some variations! A tasty alternative could be to take the pasta out of the pot a couple of minutes earlier and stir-fry it with a couple of spoons of broth to make it even creamier. A very unusual variation, however, is to add some good quality anchovies along with the garlic; the flavour is significantly different, but it is certainly tasty and the flavour of the truffle is not covered at all. Try it and you will see.