Borough Market and Bianchetto Truffle

Posted on 2012/03/11 09:55:57 (March 2012).

[Saturday 10th March 2012]
My birthday is approaching, and in the morning Chie asked me what sort of birthday cake I'd like. I had a hankering for black forest gateau, probably because that was the cake Mum made several years running for my birthday when I was a boy. This led to a quick bit of research on the web, and on a page about German food I was reminded about spätzle, which I had a sudden craving for. That then led to the discovery of the German Deli near Borough Market, and quickly a plan for the afternoon was constructed.

Bought a few bits and pieces in the German Deli, which I found rather exciting actually - I'm always on the lookout for new and interesting ingredients and it seems like German food is an often overlooked source for this.

As we were close to Borough Market it seemed more or less obligatory to go for a wander round, and as usual I quickly started to get irritated by how overcrowded and meat-centric it was. Some naff and overpriced falafel did not help this situation, but then the re-discovery of the stall where the Italian chap sells truffle products went some to compensate for this. I hadn't really expected to see any fresh truffles this time of year - White Alba truffles should have finished by January, and Black summer truffles shouldn't be in season untl, well, the summer. I'd never really heard of bianchetto before - white spring truffles - but after a quick inspection found them to be encouragingly fragrant, and comparatively very reasonably priced. I bought the biggest one he had for £28 - I think an equivalent sized White Alba truffle would probably be about three times that price.

We meandered from Borough Market over the bridge into the City, and wandered around there a bit - I always find the buildings around Bank to be really impressive. Eventually we ended up at Liverpool Street, where we got on the tube back home.

In the evening for dinner I started with some bruschetta topped with a small bag of mixed mushrooms we'd bought in Borough market. There was a bit of pied de mouton, some horn of plenty, and some probably less "wild" including oyster and portobello. We'd bought some St. John bread too which worked pretty well for making bruschetta.

For the main course I lightly sautéed some spätzle and topped it with the grated bianchetto. The end result was pretty satisfying albeit perhaps a tad dry - I think a very simple sauce (maybe just lots of melted butter) might have helped a bit.

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