About This Recipe
Until this year I had never had truffle oil. In fact, there was a time I thought truffle meant chocolate. For those of you who don’t know, a truffle is a rare mushroom that grows under the ground. The chocolate ones are supposed to look like the mushroom. Truffle oil is a taste and smell that one really can’t describe. It is something that needs to be tried at least once by everyone. There are a few places in Tallahassee that offer dishes featuring truffle oil (such as Clusters & Hops and The Wine Loft). I still haven’t had an actual truffle, they are too expensive. This dish was the first usage I came up with for truffle oil.
Ingredients:
1/3 Cup plus 2 Tablespoons Unsalted Butter
1/3 Cup Heavy Whipping Cream
1/3 Cup Ricotta Cheese
1/6 Cup Parmesan and Romano Cheese
1 Teaspoon White Truffle Oil
1/3 Medium Sweet Onion
1/2 Cup Chopped Portobello Mushrooms
1/2 Cup Chopped Broccoli
2 Cloves Garlic
Few Dashes Salt
Few Dashes Pepper
Dash Red Pepper
3/4 Teaspoon Sugar
1 Teaspoon Thyme
Dash Italian Seasoning
4 Servings of Your Favorite Pasta
If you want to add meat to this dish crispy bacon or grilled chicken would go great with it.
Estimated Cooking and Prep Time: About 45 minutes
Servings: 4
Cooking Process
In a bowl combine sugar, ricotta cheese, parmesan/romano cheese, a dash salt/pepper. Set aside for now.
Chop onion, garlic, mushrooms, and broccoli.
Heat a sauté pan over medium heat with 1 tablespoon unsalted butter. Cook onion till light brown and remove from the pan. Place half a tablespoon butter in the pan and cook mushrooms and garlic together. Add a dash of salt, pepper, and red pepper to the mushrooms. When fragrant remove from pan, about 5 minutes. Place broccoli in pan with the remaining half a tablespoon of butter. Cook for about 6 minutes then remove from pan. Place all the vegetables in the cheese mixture and work together.
Cook pasta as detailed on the box. Cooking til al dente works best because we are going to cook this pasta again.
In a sauté pan melt 1/3 cup unsalted butter with 1 teaspoon thyme over medium heat. Continue to cook until the butter turns brown, about 6 minutes. Once brown add 1/3 cup heavy whipping cream to the butter and whisk together.
Next add half of the cheese and vegetable mixture to the pot. Cook and constantly whisk together for about 3 minutes at a slow speed. Toss pasta into the pan with the remaining cheese and vegetable mixture. The idea here is to have some clumps of the mixture present like ravioli filling mixed into regular pasta.
Portion the pasta into 4 bowls and add 1/4 teaspoon white truffle oil to each bowl. Toss and garnish with Italian seasoning. The truffle oil is added before serving because heat will diminish the flavor of the oil.
Cook The Blog 
Another delicious-looking dish chock full of cheesy, carby comfort. Great step-by-step photos, too. And kudos for using such a controversial ingredient as white truffle oil. Life is boring if we never take risks. 🙂
First time visiting your blog, and it looks great. I found particular interest in your description of truffles. The Japanese have a term for the flavor encompassing truffles (and other earthy, meaty items), Umami. Umami is the fifth element of taste, with the other four being sweet, salty, sour and bitter.
You are correct in that it is impossible to describe the deliciously hearty and earthy notes of truffles. They do need to be tried by all and enjoyed.