I first discovered truffle oil on a year abroad in Italy. I was having lunch in an eaterie near the Duomo in Milan called the Panino Giusto and ordered – as this was back in my pre-vegan days – a Speck and Provolone panino. It had this incredible, intense, earthy flavour I’d never experience before, and I asked the server what it was. She told me that it was ‘olio al tartufo’ – which I’d never heard of, but was hooked from that day on.
This was back in 1994, so it was a rare ingredient to find in the UK, whereas now it’s pretty easy to find it in most supermarkets. This truffled spaghetti is a decadent and rich pasta dish that’s bursting with flavour, so definitely not one to make if you’re on a diet! This recipe serves four medium size bowls of spaghetti.
INGREDIENTS
- Block silken tofu
- 100g walnuts
- 2 lemons
- Salt
- 2 tbsp truffle oil plus more for drizzling
- 2 handfuls parsley
- About 250g spaghetti
METHOD
- To prepare the sauce, you don’t need to press the tofu as you are adding water anyway and blending it. Put it in your blender (I used a Nutribullet) with the juice of a lemon, a teaspoon salt, the walnuts, 2 tbsp truffle oil, a handful of parsley plus around 100ml warm water so the sauce isn’t too thick. Add more water if it isn’t creamy enough.
- Then cook the spaghetti to your taste and serve topped with the rest of the parsley – you’ll probably find this dish doesn’t require much seasoning as it’s so laden with flavour already.
Maybe even enjoy it with my homemade fennel and olive rolls!