Thursday afternoon, 4:32:08 PM, I get the call, "your truffle has arrived". How can you not be excited when you hear those words? How?
Will let you know what I do with them, but I think I will be keeping everything simple. Despite what people think, its flavour is quite delicate and shouldn't be masked by too many things. It is the aroma that really gets you. Especially when storing it in a sealed container - upon opening you get an amazing waft of earthiness that fills the room almost instantly. These truffles are the same species as the french variety which are available during our summer. These however, are sourced from WA, in Manjimup. So it is more sustainable with less kms travelled!!.
Enough of the truffles for now. I also dropped by the Vegetable Connection in Fitzroy yesterday and found myself some wild asparagus and fresh chanterelle mushrooms. I had never tried wild asparagus before, but I definitely know I like the normal type, so I thought I'd try them out. However, at almost $10 a bunch, I was expecting something pretty amazing!! Same with the chanterelle, their amazing golden colour was too good to not buy!
To be honest, I didn't really know how to use these ingredients as I wasn't even sure what they tasted like. But with a bit of googling, most things came up with very basic processes - eg, saute with butter. So that's what I did.
The asparagus, was different. It definitely tastes different to the standard supermarket variety. The texture was crunchier, despite its suppleness once blanched and sauteed (I hope I was meant to use the entire stem...as I said...no idea). It had a "fresher" or "greener" taste to it. Was it worth $10/bunch - maybe. The chanterelles, however, had a meatiness to them despite their size. The flavour was earthy, unlike the standard buttons that you would get. You could almost say they are like a shitake, but of course, the flavour profile is completely different, but the texture etc reminds me of why I love mushrooms so much!!
Where?
Simon Johnson, St David St, Fitzroy
Vegetable Connection, Brunswick St, Fitzroy
My laziness to just let it "cook" without doing much more than put in the stock and the "occasional stir/agitation" meant some grains a little under cooked. I could've kept the heat on, but I couldn't decide what was worse, glaggy overcooked risotto or one with a few undercooked bits. I opted for the undercooked bits. 
