Spaghetti with black truffles

This is an authentic Italian recipe from My Primrose Hill Kitchen and it's vegan, but its also served with Pecorino cheese finely grated on top if you don't do vegan. I love truffles on nearly everything, eggs, chips, risotto, pasta, mashed potato..the list is endless. I gave my friends Timna and Vicki my {black truffle carbonara } a couple of weeks ago and they are still talking about how sublime they think it is. However, I wanted I to do a vegan version too. I think it tastes fantastic, all truffley and garlicky. Its very Italian and it only takes about ten minutes to make, or as long as the spaghetti is cooking. Perfect for a dinner party, you can multiply the amounts or halve the quantities for a super tasty date night.

Recipe

Ingredients

• 2 black truffles in a little bottle, I get these from my local Italian deli for about seven pounds, some supermarkets stock them or you can get 2 small fresh ones.

• 2/3 cup of extra virgin olive oil

• 500g of spaghetti or spaghettini

• 2 cloves of minced garlic

• a little sprig of finely chopped parsley

• 1 tablespoon of truffle oil plus more if required( I like a lot)

• salt and pepper to taste

• Pecorino or Parmesan if you are not vegan( optional)

How

In a big pot of salted water, cook the spaghetti according to the instructions on the packet. 

Meanwhile slice, very thinly the, the truffles and I chop the ends up into tiny pieces for sprinkling on top. 

In a large shallow pan, heat up two tablespoons of the olive oil and gently cook the garlic till it is soft, not brown. Take off the heat and add the rest of the olive oil and just the slices of the truffles, not the tiny pieces. 

Drain the spaghetti and reserve two tablespoons of the cooking liquid. Add both of these to the pan with the oil, garlic and truffles. Reheat slowly over a low heat and stir in salt and pepper to taste. 

Transfer to a serving dish or divide between plates. Sprinkle with the parsley, the truffle pieces and test to see if it needs more salt and pepper. 

Finally serve with extra truffle oil to add if required and grated Pecorino or Parmesan if going down that route. 

Lastly...I love dried spaghetti more than any other pasta, however I used spaghettini for this recipe as I found it works perfectly with the delicate truffles. If the truffles are out of your price range then sauté some mushroom slices with the garlic and add truffle oil at the end. My truffle oil cost around £4.50 from {Sainsbury's} and it lasts me about six months, because you only use a little amount. So it's kind of an investment.

Anna FrancescaCredit: My Primrose Hill Kitchen