Tagliolini al Tartufo: A Simple Tuscan Truffle Pasta Recipe

The best truffle dish is also the simplest: fresh pasta, butter and truffle. Nothing else. It is the dish we serve at Francesca's table in San Miniato and at Giulio's country house near Florence, and it is the best way to taste a truffle at its freshest. Here is how to make it at home.

Why Truffle Food Is So Simple

A fresh truffle has a strong but delicate aroma, and heat or a heavy sauce quickly dulls it. So the recipe is built around the truffle: a plain egg pasta, a little butter, and the truffle shaved over the plate at the last moment.

Ingredients for Tagliolini al Tartufo (Serves 2)

• 200 g fresh egg tagliolini, or 160 g good dried egg pasta
• 40 g good butter
• 10 g fresh truffle, white or black (about 5 g per person)
• Salt, and a few spoonfuls of the pasta cooking water

How to Make It

1. Bring a large pot of water to the boil and salt it lightly.
2. Melt the butter gently in a wide pan over low heat. Do not let it brown.
3. Cook the tagliolini until al dente. Fresh egg pasta needs only a minute or two.
4. Lift the pasta straight into the pan with the butter, add a splash of cooking water and toss for a few seconds off the heat, until the sauce is creamy.
5. Divide the pasta between two warm plates. Shave the truffle over the top with a truffle slicer and serve at once.

Tips for the Best Truffle Pasta

• Never cook the truffle. Heat dulls its aroma, so shave it on at the end.
• Brush the truffle clean and shave it just before serving, so the aroma is at its strongest.
• Use it fresh. Wrap the truffle in kitchen paper, keep it in an air-tight glass jar in the refrigerator and eat it within a week.
• Keep the rest plain. Garlic, cream or strong cheese compete with the truffle. If you add Parmigiano, keep it light.

Another Simple Truffle Dish: Eggs with Truffle

Eggs with truffle are just as easy, and just as Tuscan. Fry the eggs gently in butter so the yolk stays soft, add a pinch of salt and shave the truffle over the top. It is the other dish we serve at Giulio's house, next to the tagliolini.

What Wine Goes with Truffle Pasta?

With fresh truffles, choose a full-flavoured dry white wine, for example a Tuscan Vernaccia di San Gimignano DOCG. A new-world Chardonnay or Viognier also works.

Taste Truffle Food in Tuscany

The best way to taste truffle pasta is a few steps from where the truffle was found. In San Miniato, you can hunt truffles with a local truffle hunter and her Lagotto dogs, then sit down to a truffle lunch with tagliolini al tartufo and the farm's own wines: San Miniato Truffle Hunting With Lunch. Staying in Florence? Choose the Truffle Hunting & Wine Tasting Tour, with transport, a truffle lunch and a Chianti Classico tasting.