Vergil Foley
Truffles are underground fungi that smell quite strong and are considered delicacies. Abu Dhabi offers a mouth-watering array of dishes flavorued with truffles; here are a few that you must try.
This delicious five-star quality dish is the perfect comfort food, especially during the winters. It consists of fresh, homemade pasta with a filling that is made out of combining fresh spinach leaves, Ricotta, truffle oil, Parmesan, egg yolk, fresh truffles brought in from Alba and salt and pepper to taste. What truly makes this dish stand out, apart from the exceptional culinary skills of the chefs, of course, is the truffle component. White truffles are one of the most in-demand types of truffles and this dish certainly serves up a generous portion of the delicacy.
Made of pistachios, black truffle, and frisee, the dish is savoury and delicious. Imagine puff pastry baked to crisp perfection that just melts in your mouth letting loose the explosive flavours sealed within; culinary heaven.
This dish is without any doubt a perfectly lavish dish. The duck is treated with truffle and served with rocket and onion crisps. Known for its tender and succulent nature, the smoked truffle adds a tinge of truly divine taste while the tangerine gel adds a sweetish taste to the duck. In contrast, the onion crisps add coolness while the crunchy texture adds to the overall finesse of the dish. Served as a delicacy in many an Abu Dhabi desert restaurant, the dish may be pricey but worth every bit of your money.
The fresh in-house made pasta consists of white flour, semolina and eggs. The butter and parmesan that is incorporated into the dish gives it a creamy and rich taste as well as texture. A generous shaving of truffle gives the dish that all-important oomph factor. The aroma that the white truffles in the dish give out is fantastic and the taste is sharp yet subtle at the same time with just a bit of garlicky goodness.
Black truffles accompanied by juicy prawns and leeks in a tomato sabayon complete this creamy and mousse-like dish. The flavor of the truffle adds a "wow" to the already brilliant taste of the fresh prawns which makes this a very "trufflicious" dish.
The dish is a mushroom soup flavoured with truffles with an infusion of parmesan cream and garlic croutons. The mixture of fresh truffles and wild mushrooms make for a spectacular palate freshener that you might not be able to get enough of. It is said that the aroma itself is enough to define the dish.
The ingredients of this dish include Risotto, truffle fondue, butter, aged parmesan, truffle oil, olive oil, vegetable stock, black truffles and of course the show stopper – fresh White Alba Truffles. If you want to get a truffle hangover, this dish is the perfect way to go. White Alba Truffles are notoriously hard to grow, find and even harder to source which makes the product extremely sought after and very expensive. But then again you only get to splurge on truffle once a year so might as well do it in style.
If you want to taste a classy dish that is big on the comfort and hearty side of life, order yourself a bowl of Truffled Penne Pasta. Black truffles, penne pasta and a very creamy peti pois blend drowned in Parmigiano-Reggiano Sauce are what finish off this absolutely filling, fragrant and lavish dish. Most resorts and hotels such as Qasr Al Sarab Desert Resort by Anantara and many others may serve the dish or variations on it during truffle season.
