culinary journeys STORIES

David Griffiths, executive chef at Vinnies in Herne Bay, Auckland, was responsible for the entrée course served to 420 guests at the APEC Leaders dinner at the Auckland Town Hall last year. David's mission was to showcase New Zealand seafood. For this he created a tasting trio of sautéed West Coast whitebait and a seaweed salad, a small fillet of Gulf snapper marinated with kaffir lime leaf, coconut cream and palm sugar served with mango salsa and baked Marlborough salmon sprinkled with a serious amount of finely chopped Gisborne truffle.

Saggio di vino in Christchurch has just released a special truffle menu in celebration of the 2000 season. Restaurateur Lisa Scholz has been purchasing fresh Oakland truffles for her fine dining restaurant ever since they became available. She lists them on the menu as "fresh New Zealand Perigord Truffle" and she has developed a local following who return each season to enjoy the truffle infused and adorned dishes. This years menu includes two aromatic starters, a truffle consommé served under a pastry lid (NZ$19.50) and a duck liver and truffle pâté with toasts (NZ$32.00). Three main dishes highlight the care taken to get the maximum flavour of the truffle coming through the dish. If you want to go all out and truly love yourself, try the Tournedos Rossini - 150 grams of prime eye fillet, oven roasted to medium rare, served on a crouton with truffle and Madeira jus and topped with a slice of foie gras and freshly shaved truffle (NZ$68.50). One of the hits of the menu and back by popular demand is the duck breast with truffles served with truffle and Madeira jus. It is prepared by tucking shaved truffle underneath the skin, it's then wrapped and stored chilled for 5 days to perfume the breast meat. Slowly roasted the skin becomes crisp while the scented meat stays succulent. Lisa insists her guests eat the skin, "it's the best part". A taste of this deliciousness is a mere snip at NZ$41.50. For those after a non-meat dish you can try the egg pappardelle with Remy Martin butter and chopped truffle - simple perfection ($NZ39.00). All mains are served with salad greens. To finish, Saggio di vino offers a slice of walnut and truffled brie (NZ$18.00). A French brie is split through the middle and thinly shaved truffle is sandwiched between the layers and allowed to mature in the cheese room for 3 days before it is topped with chopped fresh Canterbury walnuts. So when's the next flight to Christchurch? (For Australian readers, all prices are inclusive of gst).

Reprinted with the permission of Divine magazine.