Recipe: Melted Fontina with White Truffle and Mafaldine with Walnut Fondue and Black Truffle - Recipes using taleggio for Katie.

White Truffle Fondue Fonduta con Tartufi
(Melted Fontina with White Truffle. For best results, only use imported Italian Fontina.)
Servings: About 4

Equipment needed: Cheese fondue set with ceramic pot, 6 fondue forks, stand, burner and safety fuel.

5 oz. Italian fontina, trimmed of rind and cut into 3/4-inch cubes
2 teaspoons flour
1 cup whole milk
2 egg yolks
1 tablespoon butter, softened
1 ounce taleggio cheese, trimmed of rind
1 (1-ounce) white truffle, gently brushed clean
4 to 8 slices Italian bread, toasted

Toss fontina and flour together in a medium heat-proof bowl, stir in milk, cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate overnight.

The following day, stir egg yolks and butter into bowl with cheese-milk mixture. Set bowl over a medium pot of gently simmering water over medium-low heat and cook, stirring constantly, until cheese is completely melted, 15-20 minutes. Add taleggio and stir until it melts into fontina, about 2 minutes.

Divide melted cheese between 4 soup bowls and shave slices of truffle over cheese. Serve with toast.

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Mafaldine with Walnut Fondue and Black Truffle
(A dish typical of north-west Italy. The black truffle was already used by the Ancient Egyptians, Greeks and Romans, who considered it a divine product made from the sacred thunderbolt of Jove.

Mafaldine (Pasta) 300 g
Butter 10 g
Salt to taste
Taleggio cheese 100 g
Whole milk 400 g
Walnuts 20 g
Wheat Flour 10 g
Fontina 100 g
Egg yolk 1
Fresh ground pepper, to taste
Grated Parmigiano Reggiano cheese 50 g
Chopped italian parsley, to taste
Black Norcia truffle, to taste

Clean the fontina and taleggio of all maturing impurities, then cut into small cubes.

Melt the butter, then mix in the flour and milk. Add salt and pepper, then stir until boiling. Add the cheese, the chopped nuts and the egg yolk, then mix vigorously.

Cook the Mafaldine La Collezione Barilla in abundant salted water, drain when "al dente" and saut in a frying pan with the cheese sauce (if the pasta is a bit dry, add a few spoons of the pasta cooking water). Sprinkle with slices of black truffle and freshly chopped parsley, then serve immediately.

CHEF'S NOTE
Put a few slices of the truffle in the fondue and keep the rest for garnishing before serving. Instead of walnuts, use almonds or chestnuts.