Some weeks ago, a good friend of mine and me have been out for some food. We were in search for a nice little place with some uncomplicated yet delicious treats and decided to try out a place we had both heard of already but haven’t been to yet, the New York Deli Mogg & Melzer in Berlin Mitte. Good decision!
As the visit dates back more than a month, I don’t remember all the details of our stay to do a proper food review. Indeed, I might like to give this blogger’s genre a try sometimes in the future as I myself love to read which foody places other bloggers like and for what reasons. Today I just want to mention that we loved the style and atmosphere of the place, the friendly staff – and of course our food. My friend chose a Pulled Pork Sandwich which looked delicious even to me as a vegetarian, and she was very content with it as far as I remember. On the menu, I spotted a creation which contained the word „truffled“. I’m helpless in such cases and have to order, regardless of what else the card has to offer.
I was more than happy with my choice – assorted truffled mushrooms on a slice of brioche with a poached egg cooked on point (maybe with a slight “touch to much” of vinegar, but to complain about this would be picky regarding the fine ingredients and handcraft). There was also a handful of fine salad leafs involved which added a nice freshness. All told it was a very well balanced small soul food dish.
Need I say that I HAD to create something similar at home upon this sweet, earthy and creamy inspiration? However, spring seemed to be on the agenda already somewhere in the meantime, and deep and dark winter dishes where far away. But snow and Siberian cold have come back to stay, obviously. Take a look at today’s urban shots of Arne to believe it:
Due to those snowy circumstances, I can fall for truffles a few last times, and finally I gave some fancy brioche-mushrooms-connection a try – with my new gorgeous truffle oil that changed my mind regarding this kind of product. My mother gave it to me as a present on the occasion of our usual food shopping at Galeries Lafayette which we always do when she is in town. We got out of the place with fromages assortis and many other delights for an evening with cheese. Among them was some high-end extra vergine olive oil with white truffles: As my mother has fine senses regarding the foody desires of her daughter, she had recognized very well that I had marveled at the tiny bottle. I fainted when I looked up the price, but my mother insisted upon buying it for me. Back at home I fainted again when I opened the bottle because of its heavenly smell of real tuber. Isn’t my Mom the best Mom in the world?
I love fresh truffles, but you can do some really nice things with oil as well like flavoring a sweet dessert (which I posted the other day on my other blog) or croutons! And here we go: I truffled the brioche instead of the mushrooms as it literally breathes in the flavor and made cubes of it to have a little bit more of „crunch“ on the outside. As we had a lot of eggs the days before I prefered Gaperon d’Auvergne which I decorated with some fresh bianchetti slices. I tended to faint a third time. So delicious.
Here’s my recipe
Let’s talk about brioche at first: You can of course buy one or go for a home-made version. I luckily found a very fine recipe that is easy to handle at Aurélies nice blog Aux délices d’Aurélie and changed it into a full grain version, and the leftovers where just perfect for this dish. You find her recipe here and my full grain version here. Julia with her beautiful blog Chestnut & Sage did another version the other day – tiny brioches parisiennes which look just beautiful (all three recipes in German language).
To serve two people, take 2 slices of brioche and cut into not too small cubes in order to have it still soft in the middle once they are fried. Clean and cut a handful of king trumpet mushrooms and some small shallots lenghtwise. Wash some fine salad leaves (I took young beetroot and mangel leaves). Make a small vinaigrette out of walnut oil, raspberry vinegar, salt and pepper and mix with the leaves. Take a small bianchetto truffle and slice finely with a truffle slicer. Cut a quarter of a Gaperon d’Auvergne cheese into medium slices.
Heat some sunflower oil in a pan and fry first the mushrooms and than add the shallots. Add salt and pepper. In the meantime, heat some sunflower oil in another pan and gently fry the brioche cubes on all sides. Take out of the pan and carefully spread with one or two teaspoons of good quality truffle oil. Mix with the mushrooms, arrange on plates with the salad leaves, add the cheese on top and decorate with truffle slices. Et voilà!
And here’s some blog events:
Among the food shots today there’s one in monochrome sepia as well. Since a while already I have been experimenting with black & white and monochrome food photography (but never posted one so far). Normally, the colours make the food, and indeed I find it difficult to find some proper sujets that look interesting in b& w and not like “there’s something missing”. But it is fascinating to give it a try also in food as b&w photography is a timeless way of aproaching the things you see. Oh my goodness, I am getting philosophical, am I not ;-). Be that as it may: With that one, I want to contribute to the weekly blog event Black & White Wednesday which is administered by Cinzia of Cindystarblog and will be hosted this week by Susan of The well seasoned cook. I like to thank both for the nice blog event which features b&w and monochrome food photography. If you are interested in this kind of pics, you should check out the weekly galleries:
I also want to add this recipe to my experimental truffle journey on my other German language blog:
Thanks to Mogg & Melzer for the inspiration (and the nice evening, won’t be the last) and thank you again, Aurélie, for the nice brioche recipe!
Food with a View 
Thanks to your gorgeous truffle postings I ordered some Bianchettis yesterday. I know my family will be excited about… Especially excited about this version. I’ll try it. Hope there’s no difficulty I possibly overlooked in your recipes which could be a desaster for unexperienced truffle preparers…
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Oh, now I’m excited that you will give Bianchetti a try! I’m more than curious to know how you and your family will like it…
There are no complications in this recipe, but I would like to give you some additional hints: Bianchetti are not that intensive as Alba and they proift from resting in oil, cream or egg for hours (like in the galette recipe and in the panna cotta the other day). In this recipe I used a combination of fresh truffles on top and of truffled oil on the brioche cubes. Regarding the latter I would like to recommend a really good one. I had a not that good one some time before, and it tasted artificial… As for the slices on top: You might enhance the taste by covering the slices with very few walnut oil for some hours. The slices won’t look that brilliant any more, but as I sad: They need some time in some fat to sparkle, and they should not get cooked (It worked in the galette only because of the low heat and the short time of baking (and the long rest in the dough)). Hope these hints might help:-). Good luck!!!
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That’s why I’m in love with social media, with your blogs and – so far as it’s possible to feel like that only because of a virtual connection – with you (of course in a platonic manner 😉 Thanks a lot for your private lesson which I hope it’s a helpful lesson for other truffle’s novices, too. Can’t await starting my truffle adventure…
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Thank you so much for your very nice comment! I would very much like to give the compliment to you as well. And you are right, this is what blogging is about, sharing and inspiring each other :-). Let me know how it works with the little truffle beauties…
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I’ve always had a major weakness for truffle oil! In fact, last night I made pasta with wild mushrooms and used the last bit of a oil a friend back from Italy(insert sad face!). This looks delish! (Melissa)
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Thank you, Melissa! Yes, I have fallen for truffle oil now, too (I had made some not that good experiences before, but now I got a real good one). Your pasta dish sounds wonderful! I mean, Italian truffle oil has to be great :-). I can understand your sad face once the bottle was empty.
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Good truffle oil is definitely key 🙂
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Mums are like that 🙂 If they are not, they are no real mums… What kind of marvellous oil did she give to you? Just curious and maybe it crosses my way someday… Your dish looks fantastic! What does the Gaperon taste like? It looks very creamy.. (I love the “timeless” aspect about b&w that you suggested and it is true, just think of all the Stan & Ollie Movies :-)).
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Thank you 🙂 .
The oil is an extra vergine olive oil with white truffles of Maison de la Truffe: http://maison-de-la-truffe.com/ There’s no sub-URLs on the site but you will easily find it. They have a store in HH at Alsterhaus.
Gaperon is a soft cheese flavored with hearty taste. It’s made with pepper and garlic, and you taste bot of it quite clearly. It is in between creamy and a little bit of brittle, but it get’s very creamy if it get’s warm. Here is a Wikipedia link: http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaperon
Yes, b&w photography is as timeless as Stan & Ollie, indeed 🙂 .
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Thank you for the quick information (I did not faint when i read the price for 100 ml ;-)). First of all I will try to find the cheese 🙂
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Unfortunately, I tend to faint quickly – due to my dramatic nature ;-).
Good luck with the Gaperon! You might be lucky on local market stands with French cheese and in well sorted cheese shops.
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Claudia, I’m so sorry, but I have to write the Rest von diesem Kommentar in Deutsch, weil ich heute keinen gescheiten englischen Satz mehr formulieren kann! Das Rezept ist wie immer toll. Ich mag solche Gerichte mit unterschiedlichen Texturen, etwas weiches, etwas knuspriges, hach 🙂 Außerdem habe ich mir jetzt auch ein Trüffelöl besorgt, das ok ist, aber es gibt bestimmt viel bessere. Hast Du vielleicht einen Tipp für mich? Und vielen lieben Dank für Deine lieben Worte, ich freu mich sehr ❤
Liebe Grüße!
Julia
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Vielen Dank für Deinen lieben Kommentar, Julia! In Sachen Trüffel-Öl empfehle ich Dir gern mein Extra vergine Oliven-Öl mit weißen Trüffeln von Maison de la Truffe, das findest Du hier: http://gourmandisedeluxe.com/fr/huiles-condiments/82-se.html (auf der eigentlichen Firmen-Seite http://www.maison-de-la-truffe.com/ kann man keine Sub-URLs zu den einzelnen Produkten rauskopieren, daher hier mal der direkte Link zum Produkt im Online-Shop). Gestern habe ich im Bioladen noch zwei andere Öle gesehen, die interessant aussahen und nicht ganz so teuer waren wie dieses. Du kannst Trüffel-Öl auch selbst machen, indem Du die Abschnitte von frischen Trüffeln ganz fein hackst und für 24 Stunden in Öl gibst (Walnussöl ist dafür ganz toll). Das ergibt nur kleine Mengen, aber die haben es dann in sich ;-).
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Danke für den Tipp, da werde ich doch gleich mal ein wenig stöbern 🙂
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your photographs are awesome !!
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Thank you so much :-)!
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Wow! What a lovely array of photos! I really love the shadows in the snow – especially the photo showing the footprints on the path.
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Thank you very much, Elizabeth! I appreciate a lot your beautiful comment (and I like Arnes footprint shot a lot as well).
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Gorgeous post! So many fine photos to admire. The shaved truffles are the perfect choice for sepia – very stylish and modern.
Thank you, Claudia, for sharing with BWW!
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Thank you very much for your warm words and compliment, Susan! It was a pleasure to take part in your beautiful event, thank you for hosting.
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