MUNDARING TRUFFLE FESTIVAL 2010I have been trying to attend this annual event for years but each weekend that it's on, I'm either working or I have totally forgotten about it and come Monday it's too late.
This year I had a late invitation by some friends and luckily was able to make it. I had to take a Berocca and a panadeine before leaving home, which made me feel pretty queasy by the time we arrived in Mundaring. Fortunately, in my excitement I started to feel better and we all had such a wonderful time.
It cost $10 for entry.
We flitted from stall to stall, tasting all the free samples and making our purchases. It was difficult to get good photos under the marquees because I had very little or no time to adjust the camera settings because of all the crowds. We were constantly being jostled from side to side as people swarmed around the display tables. Just as well Fleurette was there to feed me samples while I was busy taking photos!
Aah, the highly sought after Truffle.
Looks like a chunk of farmyard poo doesn't it?
Here's one cut in half. The 'morphology' reminds me of the grey and white matter in brain tissue. That's the scientist in me I suppose!
Truffle Butter
Mushrooms in Truffle Oil
Truffle Tapenade
Truffle Mustard
Truffle infused into Honey, Antipasto and a Spicy Relish.
Around the other side of the marquee were the wines from the Truffle Hill winery.
Very impressive wines!
Penne with Basil Pesto from the Re Store
They were serving hotdogs with Bratwursts containing Truffle.
The meat was overpowering the truffle flavour but they were still quite tasty.
I had the Potato & Leek Soup with Truffle Oil and Truffle shavings - $8
The soup was absolutely divine! I will have to try this at home.
There was a mobile pizza oven to cook pizzas with rocket, parmesan and Truffle Rock Salt.
Sarah bought us Strawberries dipped in Chocolate.
Yay! Strawberries are coming back into season!
These 'Very Hot Burners' were indeed spicy! I bought one - $4
This stall 'Bare Crush' sold some delicious sauces.The one on the right was 'Mango Chilli Sauce' and I thought it tasted like sweet and sour pork!
In the early afternoon we found a nice warm place to sit to watch the demonstration with Truffle sniffing dogs. We enjoyed a nice cool Chinotto (
$2.5) from the Re Store.
This bakery stall had this gorgeous Macaron tower on display.
I had a 'Mushroom Pizza' - $2It was described as having sundried tomato pesto and mozzarella cheese, but it really just tasted like a mushroom with a dollop of pasta sauce from a jar and some cheese.
Sarah and I couldn't resist a cup of Mushroom Broth with Truffle - $5Although it tasted great, we couldn't help feeling disappointed that it looked like they'd boiled mushrooms in water, strained the mushrooms out and and added some Truffle Oil. The dirty brown water we were drinking looked like - well, dirty brown mushroom water!
Noel bought some Truffle Sausages in a cup.After an enormous day of sniffing out truffles and other delicious foods, we were ready to head home, each carrying a bag of goodies. It was an absolutely perfect day with beautiful weather. Despite it being so busy, it was a great crowd and everyone was buzzing with the same excitement and anticipation of fantastic wine and food. This is a definitely an event I'd love to go to again.
Nearing home, we stopped at the local IGA and picked up some groceries to cook dinner. What was on the menu?
For starters, Sarah sliced up a fresh baguette we bought from the Mundaring Truffle Festival and we toasted it in the oven. We spread Truffle Butter and Goat Bouche on them.
The Goat Bouche was a deliciously creamy cheese that Sarah bought from the festival. I'm going to have to keep an eye out for it at the gourmet store.
For our main course:
While my friends fed me the baguette slices with goat bouche, I laid some sundried tomatoes, cheese and seeded mustard on each thigh fillet and tied it up with twine, then baked them in the oven for about thirty to forty minutes.
Chicken Thighs rolled up with Sundried Tomatoes, Cheese & Seeded Mustard
with steamed Broccolini and
mashed Potatoes with a drizzle of Truffle Oil and Truffle shavings
What a frickin' TRUFFALICIOUS day!!
When I was young, it was my job to fill the tea canister with teabags when it was empty. This didn't mean that I just stuffed the teabags into the canister. Oh no. Mum showed me how to arrange the teabags in the canister in an orderly fashion so that if I continued the arrangement, I would be able to fit all the teabags into the canister. I haven't done this for over ten years. It brought back fond memories filling up the canister today.
You line a small bowl with a sheet of cling wrap and crack the egg into the bowl, ontop of the cling wrap. Gather the edges of the cling wrap and tie it off to contain the egg.
Drop the cling wrap into boiling water for a few minutes (longer if you don't want a runny yolk). To get the egg out, you simply cut the knot off with scissors or a knife.
I placed one egg on the plate bottom side up and one top side up to show how gorgeous the bottom of the egg looks. Smooth and white.
Basically, it's a soup originating from the Ukraine and beetroot is generally the main ingredient. It lends its gorgeous deep hues to the dish. I had to wear gloves while peeling and dicing the beetroot so as not to stain my hands and nails (yes, I've learnt this from past experience!).
We flitted from stall to stall, tasting all the free samples and making our purchases. It was difficult to get good photos under the marquees because I had very little or no time to adjust the camera settings because of all the crowds. We were constantly being jostled from side to side as people swarmed around the display tables. Just as well Fleurette was there to feed me samples while I was busy taking photos!
Here's one cut in half. The 'morphology' reminds me of the grey and white matter in brain tissue. That's the scientist in me I suppose!
This stall 'Bare Crush' sold some delicious sauces.The one on the right was 'Mango Chilli Sauce' and I thought it tasted like sweet and sour pork!
In the early afternoon we found a nice warm place to sit to watch the demonstration with Truffle sniffing dogs. We enjoyed a nice cool Chinotto ($2.5) from the Re Store.
For starters, Sarah sliced up a fresh baguette we bought from the Mundaring Truffle Festival and we toasted it in the oven. We spread Truffle Butter and Goat Bouche on them.
The Goat Bouche was a deliciously creamy cheese that Sarah bought from the festival. I'm going to have to keep an eye out for it at the gourmet store.
While my friends fed me the baguette slices with goat bouche, I laid some sundried tomatoes, cheese and seeded mustard on each thigh fillet and tied it up with twine, then baked them in the oven for about thirty to forty minutes.
