Dinner with Ina Garten "Tagliarelle with Truffle butter"and a cake for my 100th post for 2009

If I had to pinpoint what celebrity chef's style of cooking I relate to the most, I would have to answer "Ina Garten". Though I am a fan of other Food Network Stars like Tyler Florence and Ann Burrell, to name a few, Ina's recipes are user-friendly and always a winner for me. I recently purchased Ina's cookbook "Back to Basics".

My son was flipping through it, with me, and he stopped at Ina's "Tagliarelle with truffle butter".
My son loves pasta, so he pleaded with me to make this recipe. He even ordered black truffle butter from the grocery store where works.

Truthfully, I think truffles are highly overrated. The last time I ordered dinner at a swanky restaurant in Carmel, CA (my home turf) I received four scallops with tissue paper thin black truffles for $40.00! Vegetables and the salad cost extra, by the way. Personally, I'd rather taste cremini mushrooms in a lovely garlic and wine sauce for a lot less money.

But, that's me...

The recipe was very simple to make. Heavy cream, freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano, pasta, salt & pepper and herbs. I used black truffle butter instead of white truffle butter, because that's what my son ordered for me. It cost $8.00 for 3 oz. of it.

When making the sauce, it doesn't thicken up that much. I was very tempted to help it along, but once I poured it into the cooked pasta, the liquid did absorb and all was well.


I think there must've been no more than a thumbnail size black truffle (if that), chopped up into fine pieces. I used parpardelle pasta, from Trader Joe's.

TIP: I place a cup into my pasta strainer to remind me to reserve pasta water, in case my dish becomes dried. Pasta water revives it perfectly!

I have a LOT of chives and parsley in my herb garden, which makes a nice garnish for this simple pasta dish.


It's a fast recipe to make, I will say that. I bought fresh petrale sole that I dredged in seasoned flour and then egg and cooked with a little olive oil and butter.

To give the plate a little color and vegetables, I steamed fresh broccoli with lemon juice.

It's a very simple weeknight dinner-- and a lot less expensive to make at home. My son loved his hoity toity truffle pasta, and he ate most of it. That's what makes a foodie wife and mom happy.



I just noticed that yesterday was my 100th post! To celebrate, I'm making an encore recipe for Raspberry Buttermilk Cake. This Gourmet Magazine recipe has been floating around blogosphere for weeks, and I've bookmarked it multiple times.  The first time I made it, I used my abundance of olallieberries. It is not only easy, it's delicious! If you haven't made this recipe, please do so now. It's so simple-- you can use peaches, strawberries, blueberries or any kind of berry to make this cake. OMG! I kept licking the batter, knowing this was going to be high on my "keeper list". It disappeared so fast, I never had a chance to photograph it once it was sliced! I wish that I could share a piece of this with each one of you.

Thank you for making food blogging so much fun, and for stopping by to see what's cooking at my home. You are all a group of delightful and friendly foodies-- and I wish we could all gather together in one place. What a blast that would be!