Don’t you guys love truffles? I grew up eating them, since my father himself grew up in Italy in a region producing lots of truffles, so when he moved to France he brought with him a dog called Boby, whom he trained to smell truffles and find them. Boby died when I was about 10 and it was the only dog we had. My father has always been a truffle “hunter”, wild mushroom “picker” and unfortunately a bird hunter too (which I hate) and anytime I go home, I have to argue with him about this. In France, there are unfortunately lots of hunters (in Italy too, to the point where there are barely any wild birds left). The argument of hunters is, oh well they are destroying the crops of the farmers (talking about the wild boars), well they don’t realize that humans have invaded all animal habitat and have left no space for animals to live.

My dad’s aunt, in Italy used a pig to find those rare mushrooms, so did most people in the countryside. I remember after days of truffles hunting with Boby, my dad would come home with bags filled with them…and of course, my mom would make tagliatelle with a ragu and truffle sauce. Now the ones I bought were not as good as the ones I am used to eating, they barely had flavor, so if you can find great truffles, you’ll be the lucky one. Truffe means truffle in French, but it also means the nose of the dog. Yes, every dog has a truffe…I am wondering if it has to do with his sense of smell finding truffles.

I love the sweetness and creaminess of the corn combined with the shrimps, then the truffle adds such an elegant and refined final touch. It’ s a little unconventional salad due to the corn purée, but all the elements work perfectly well together.

Ingredients for 4

• 16 shrimps
• 1 large black truffle
• 2 cups mâche salad
• 1 tbs olive oil
• salt and pepper

For the corn purée

• 1/2 lb fresh corn
• 2 tbs heavy cream
• 1/2 cup vegetable broth
• salt and pepper

For the truffle vinaigrette

• 3 cl truffle oil
• Sherry vinegar
• fleur de sel

Preparation

In a pot, combine corn, cream and broth and bring to a boil, let it cook slowly for about 10 minutes until the liquid has evaporated, adjust with salt and pepper. Blend in a mixer, and pass through a sieve to obtain a smooth cream. Keep warm and set aside.

Saute shrimps in olive oil, salt and pepper until cooked.

Prepare the vinaigrette by combining truffle oil and sherry vinegar gradually.

Place corn in the middle of a plate, top it with the shrimps, shave some truffle on top of the shrimps. Sprinkle with the vinaigrette and fleur de sel, then decorate with the salad sprinkled with additional vinaigrette.

Creamy soups are great for a light dinner…I had bought this fresh sweet corn on the cob a while ago. Needless to say Americans love corn, you find cobs everywhere in any supermarket, so no need to buy corn in cans, the fresh one is so much better. Summer is almost here, and it means Barbeque season, and corn and BBQ are inseparable. I am talking about summer but not really in San Francisco but outside the city it is, summer mainly means non stop fog in the city…that’s why most of the time, I go back home in July or August . Who wants to be fogged out for two months when you’re supposed to lay on the beach and eat ice cream?

Being a true Libra and faithful to myself, I could not decide if I wanted a corn soup with curry or a tomato corn soup with basil, so after many thoughts, I decided to combine both, except for the basil. I served this soup with the traditional Indian “tarka“, which is a mixture of onions and spices, served with Dahl, but I made my own mixture which is a little different from the traditional tarka.

The interesting and pretty thing about this soup is its color, it has a very bright orange color (I remember from my wheel of color that yellow and red make a nice orange) and it is beautiful to look at. I don’t know you, but I want to eat pretty food, if the food is not pretty, I don’t enjoy it as much, so the more color, the more exciting and the better. 

Ingredients for 4

For the soup

• 4 corns on the cob
• 3 large tomatoes
• 1 leek
• 2 tbs curry powder
• vegetable broth
• olive oil
• 1 onion

For the tarka

• 1 yellow onion, chopped
• 1 tbs olive oil
• 1 tsp coriander seeds, crushed in a mortar
• 1 tsp mustard seeds
• 1/2 jalapeno pepper, finely chopped
• 1 tomato, chopped
• 1 tbs coriander, chopped
• salt 

Remove corn from its cob. Heat up some olive oil in a large pot, add corn and leeks, cook until leek is soft. Add curry powder. Stir well, cook for a few minutes and add tomatoes. Add broth, salt and pepper. Cook until the soup has reduced, and vegetables are soft. Mix in a blender but do not blend into a purée, leave some pieces to get a texture.

For the tarka, brown onions in olive oil, add mustard seeds, coriander seeds and jalapeno pepper, stir well. Add tomatoes and salt. Stir for a few minutes. Remove from stove and add cilantro. Serve a tbs of this mixture on top of the soup.