Truffled Macaroni Cheese

Name: Truffled Macaroni Cheese
Yield: 2
Cuisine: Italian, French, American
Ingredients: 125g macaroni; Extra virgin olive oil, for drizzling; 25g butter; 1 tablespoon plain flour; 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard; ¾ cup milk; 70g grated Gruyere cheese (about ¾ cup); 2 tablespoons finely sliced chives; 6 quail eggs, hard boiled and quartered; 10g white or black truffle

I first made truffled macaroni cheese with white Italian truffles from Alba during their short October to December season. But it works just as well with the fresh black truffles that are the highlight of winter for many food lovers. Quail eggs take about 4 minutes for hard boiled, or you can use roughly chopped hen eggs instead. Any small hollow pasta, such as elbow macaroni or small smooth penne, is ideal for this truffled macaroni cheese recipe. You can buy a small truffle online from around $75 (with delivery) from Fish River Truffles near Bathurst (use code Roberta20 to save 20%). The rich flavours in truffled macaroni cheese work well with an aromatic white wine, such as the fiano from Margaret River’s Juniper Estate. You could also skip the truffles for a deliciously simple mac’n’cheese (see video below).

Serves 2 as a starter

Ingredients

125g elbow macaroni, penne, or other small hollow pasta
Extra virgin olive oil, for drizzling
25g butter
1 tablespoon plain flour
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
¾ cup milk
70g grated Gruyere cheese (about ¾ cup)
2 tablespoons finely sliced chives
6 quail eggs, hard boiled and quartered
10g white or black truffle

Method

Preheat oven to 180°C.
Boil pasta in well-salted water until just tender. Drain well, toss with a drizzle of oil and set aside.
Melt butter in a saucepan, add flour and mustard and stir for a minute or 2 until bubbling and slightly darker.
Remove from heat, stir in milk, return to heat and stir for a few minutes, until it thickens and starts to boil.
Remove from heat, stir in ½ cup of the cheese.
Stir chives and pasta through the cheese sauce.
Divide a third of the pasta mixture between 2 x 250ml ramekins.
Press half the egg pieces into the mixture.
Top with another third of the pasta mixture and press remaining egg pieces into it.
Top with remaining pasta mixture, press down into the ramekin and sprinkle with remaining cheese.
Place in the oven for 15-20 minutes until golden and bubbling.
Grate truffle over the top and serve truffled macaroni cheese immediately.

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Classic Mac’n’Cheese

What Other Food & Wine Lovers Say

Had so much fun at the truffle forage weekend. Loved meeting truffle farmers Lisa and Carmine, and Frank was such a beautiful hard working truffle puppy. Everyone seemed to get into it, with soil sniffing and digging like kids in the dirt for our buried treasure. The final lunch was a beautiful way to end the weekend. Food was amazing and plentiful. The dining room was a great shape and size to relax and share our thoughts on the adventure we'd had.

The truffle forage was an unforgettable weekend. It’s obvious the winemaker, restaurants and the truffle farm pulled out all stops for Roberta’s tours. The meals were feasts, winemaker tapped barrels for us, and we dug for and found plenty of truffles at the truffle farm. The other travellers were great company.

I went on Roberta's truffle weekend. She was amazing – great communication skills, friendly and knowledgeable. The truffle forage hosts were lovely with a wealth of knowledge and experience. The truffle dog was gorgeous, we found lots of yummy truffles and were given a generous discount on purchases at the end plus a gift of some truffle salt. Meals were amazing, lots of truffle at dinner and so many delicious dishes at lunch. We were well looked after. This was a well thought out and planned weekend and I would definitely do it again.

The recent Be Inspired truffle foraging weekend was a superb experience in a friendly environment. We met welcoming, informative and knowledgeable producers and enjoyed memorable meals with other food and wine lovers. Beautifully organised. Roberta's expertise in bringing together producers, winemakers and chefs provides a delightful experience for anyone who enjoys food and wine.

Our small group was expertly guided through some of the best places in the Hunter Valley by super host, Roberta. Thank you Roberta for such a great weekend of food and wine and the enthusiasm and knowledge you brought to our group. I had a beaut time learning lots of new things in great company and can't wait for the next experience.