Simply Truffles, A new Cookbook by Patricia Wells and a Class Luncheon at Southern Seasons

I took another class at Southern Season’s in Chapel Hill the day after Thanksgiving.  Talk about a food filled weekend!    The lunch classes at Southern Seasons are great.  Not only do you get to watch the dishes being prepared, you get a copy of the recipes and best of all you get to enjoy eating them as your lunch.  This time I was excited to hear Patricia Wells talk about her new cookbook called Simply Truffles and have a wonderfully prepared lunch paired with two new wines to try.  Our lunch started with a Watercress, Endive and Beet Salad and was then followed up by a Creamy Polenta with Truffles and a Poached Egg.  So delicious!  It’s one of the recipes in Patricia Well’s new cookbook called Simply Truffles.  See the two generous slices of a black truffle sitting on top the poached egg?  Adding the black pepper was my idea.  :)  We finished with La Maison Du Chocolat’s Bittersweet Chocolate Mousse from Patricia’s book called The Paris Cookbook.  Rich and extremely chocolaty.

Patricia’s new cookbook Simply Truffles is full of beautiful photos, delicious recipes, and interesting facts and wonderful stories about truffles. 

Watercress, Endive, and Beet Salad from the cookbook Salad As A Meal by Patricia Wells.

This salad was very good.  Unexpectedly so.  I really don’t eat a lot of beets although with color like that I am sure they must be loaded with antioxidants and be good for you.  The dressing was Creamy Lemon-Mustard Dressing and it was light and the lemon was subtle and not overwhelming.  I really liked it. 

      

The white truffles are highly prized with a price tag to match.  The more affordable black truffles are what we were able to taste and they have an aromatic quality and of course are delicious. 

My favorite tip that Patricia gave when she was speaking was that she like to place her truffles in a glass jar with 6 fresh in the shell raw eggs and store them in the refrigerator for a few days.  The egg shells are porous and absorb the aroma of the truffles and flavors the eggs.  Then she prepares the eggs anyway she wants as a meal and has truffle flavored eggs.  Great idea for helping to justify the price of splurging on truffles!

I had to take a photo of the container holding two golf ball sized white truffles.  Yes, that price tag does say $349.75.  Unbelievable!!  I knew truffles were expensive but I had no idea!  The black truffles however, are a lot less.

Someday, I hope to attend one of her week long classes in either Paris or Provence.  I love her books and truly enjoyed listening to her talk about truffles and her life in France.  Visit Patricia Well’s website and you can take a peek at her other books and get more information about here cooking schools.  Who would want to go to Paris and take a cooking class?!