Source: NCDA&CS, 3/10/16

Each month we take a look at local restaurants, farms and farmers markets featured on episodes of UNC-TV’s Flavor, NC. This week, we highlight an episode from season 4 and a trip to Keep Your Fork Farm in King and Josephine’s Bistro in Greensboro.

“What’s black and lumpy and practically worth its weight in gold? Why truffles of course!” Lisa begins this episode at Keep Your Fork Farm in Stokes County, the first farm in the county to harvest the Black Winter Perigord Truffle. Native to France, the soil in Stokes county is ideal for growing this prized crop.

Truffles are fungi that grow around the roots of some varieties of hazelnut and oak trees. Lisa joins Jane Morgan Smith of Keep Your Fork Farm on a truffle hunt with a border collie named Friday. Smith has 500 trees in her truffle orchard – giving her 500 chances to unearth a truffle.

Most of Smith’s truffles are sold to restaurants and the farm also offers truffle products such as truffle honey, truffle butter and truffle salt.
After her visit to the farm, Lisa joins Chef Chris Blackburn of Josephine’s Bistro in the kitchen to cook up a few recipes featuring black winter truffles. Below is his recipe for Black Truffle Pasta.
Ingredients:
• ¼ pounds unsalted butter
• 2 ounces olive oil
• 2 cloves garlic
• 3 green onions
• ½ cup white wine
• ½ pounds spaghetti noodles, cooked al dente
• 3 duck eggs, whisked together
• 2 ounces bread crumbs
• 1 sprig fresh parsley
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1 ounce black winter truffle, divided
• 1 ounce black truffle oil
• 2 ounces pecorino cheese
In a large sauté pan, add butter, olive oil, garlic and green onions. Deglaze pan with wine. Add cooked spaghetti noodles and stir until hot. Add duck eggs and lightly toss until eggs are cooked. Add breadcrumbs, parsley, salt and pepper. Add truffle oil and slice ¼ ounce black truffles over pasta and fold in. Place spaghetti on a platter. Shave remainder of truffle over noodles. Sprinkle with breadcrumbs & pecorino.