Washington White Truffles

Last November was the first time I had ventured into the world of Washington truffles. The results, if you remember my story (see Washington Truffles), were not so enjoyable. The little black nuggets were anything but inspiring, unless of course you are a worm and enjoy that dirt flavor thing. Anyway, despite my misgivings I was lured into trying another variety of Washington truffles from the market, the white ones this time. I tried to politely ask if they were more similar to the European kind (therefore implying that they were less like the dirt kind) which he assured me they were. They certainly weren't much to look at, with the largest one being about the size of my thumbnail, but still worth a try, right?

Shortly after returning home with my score I knew that they were indeed different from the aforementioned black truffles because my entire refrigerator suddenly smelled like truffles. It was amazing. Going with the simple is best theory again, I made home-made pasta which I adorned with nothing more than good olive oil, garlic, parmesan, salt and pepper. I heated the olive oil in a small pan into which I threw the thinly shaved pieces of truffles and let them fry for a few minutes before removing them. I then did the same with some thinly shaved garlic pieces and tossed it all together with the pasta. The truffles, as I had hoped, infused the oil with some of their unique flavor and the pasta turned out fantastic. The white truffles were a winner! So I guess I don't have to go to Europe for good fungus after all.