From time to time I can’t help but buying a beautiful truffle – for its incredible look, for its taste and for its timeless elegance. Season for winter truffles tends to an end by the end of march, so I took a chance. Spinach and fried or scrambled eggs with (white) truffles are among the most beloved gourmet delights, combining the simple and the precious. It’s normally served as a whole dish, but I tried to create an appetizer upon this classic using black winter truffles from Italy. Here’s what came out in the end:

 
Here’s my recipe

You need a truffle of about 12 gram to make 6 appetizers. Clean the truffle carefully with a soft brush – you don’t need to wash in most cases. Cut off the ends and slice finely. Chop finely two shallots and a garlic clove. Heat some butter in a pan, roast shallots and garlic gently in some butter and add the truffle pieces. Let simmer and add a tiny bit of cognac. Add also a 4 table spoons of fine, home made vegetable stock. Reduce the liquid to the half and add 4 table spoons of double cream. Stir well and let simmer untill you get a nice consistency. Add salt and pepper.

In the meanwhile, stir two eggs, add few salt and pepper and a tiny pinch of quatre-épices. Mine is home-made of cinnamon, nutmeg, black pepper and clove. Heat butter in another pan and add the eggs. Stir softly and soon add one table spoon of double cream and go on stirring gently. At the same time give two handfull of fine young spinacy leaves into the cream sauce and let get hot for only about half a minute.

If you are lucky, both the sauce and the eggs are ready on the point at the same time. The eggs should be still creamy and moist, not dry and crumbly (it’s therefore necessary to take very fresh eggs). Arrange the scrambled eggs and the spinacy with the sauce on tiny plates or appetizer spoons. Slice the truffles finely upon eggs and spinacy by using a very sharp knife or a truffle slicer. Serve and be happy – there are few things that are as simple yet refined.

We thought that the most famous truffle-shaped bulding in the city might be a good urban shots companion to the recipe. Here we go with different perspectives on the TV tower at Alexanderplatz:
 

 
This post is my contribution to a tiny blog event which I started on my second food blog Le bonheur goûteux. It’s named Lasst uns über Trüffeln sprechen! (which would translate to “Let’s talk about truffles”). Everyone is invited to take part in it and tell about his or her funny, elegant, exciting, rustic, or even disappointing experience with truffles. The main post is in German language – but you can take part in any language you like. Take a look here: