There May Be Truffle Ahead

My friend Roberto, who runs www.trufflestories.co.uk brought me back a few black truffles from L'Isola d'Asti the other day while we painfully wait for the white truffle season to start.Guiliano, the truffle hunter who found these (along with his dog) recommends cooking with the black truffles and saving the white ones for grating over scrambled eggs or shaving them finely onto fresh pasta. So with that in mind, I made a fresh pasta dough the usual way with 400g strong flour, four eggs and two egg whites and grated some truffle into the mix.Hey presto! Ready-made truffle tagliatelle.Chicken is great with truffles, not too overpowering so I made a kind of white coq au vin using prosecco and to finish the dish, some truffle butter poured over it. It's nourishing, comforting and a little luxurious, if you can call scrubbing Italian forest mud off a truffle with a toothbrush luxury.Ingredients:Fresh black trufflePasta dough, as above1 poussin per person2 carrots1 onion1 celery stick1 large glass of prosecco500ml chicken stock60g butterSalt and pepper to seasonMethodSear your poussins in a little oil and set aside. Add the chopped carrot, sliced onion and celery to the pan, season and cook until softened. Pour in the prosecco and reduce a little. Add the poussins and some more shaved truffle (be generous) back to the pan and top up with stock. Cook on  low for about 30 minutes with the lid on.Melt the butter and slice some truffles into it. Leave it to infuse for a bit.Cook the pasta and divide between bowls.Top with some of the veg and the broth, put a poussin in each bowl and pour over thee truffle butter.