When we spent a few days on the Istrian Peninsula, I knew I would have to get my fill of truffles. This fascinating bit of mountainous, waterfront land has changed hands between Italy, Slovenia, and Croatia over the years. Since the fall of Yugoslavia, this has been mostly Croatia.
And lucky Croatians, they ended up with an area that is known for one of the most luxurious food items on Earth: truffles.
Americans might know truffles from the oil that is often tossed with chips or popcorn. The synthetic oil holds nothing on the real stuff – a potato-looking mushroom that grows underground.
We sought out a full truffle hunting experience with Miro Tartufi. The fascinating Miro and his beautiful dogs took us out to a bit of private land where they demonstrated how the dogs sniffed out the miraculous mushrooms and Miro collected them for consumption and sale.
After our discoveries, we were whisked back to Miro’s house where his energetic wife Mirjana prepared the most amazing truffle-loaded meal for us with the new finds. And she invited our kids to help with the cooking too!
This was a very special experience, probably the most special of our entire trip through Croatia and Slovenia. Not only did we get to experience a once-in-a-lifetime activity hunting truffles in the Istrian forest, but we got to meet two incredible locals and taste the most magnificent truffle dishes they collectively prepared.
Our table was full of local salamis and cheese studded with truffles, salads topped with shaved black summer truffles, spreads of truffle cream, and some awesome local wine (the one thing without any truffles).
Mirjana (and our kids) cooked some farm fresh eggs, scrambled with truffle puree and topped with more shaved truffles. This humble (but super earthy and decadent) plate of food would cost at least $100 back home in New York. Here it was just one part of this rather affordable feast and experience.
Our final bite was a sweet creamy chocolate cake with some more shaved truffles. Of course, we ended the afternoon in their living room (aka the gift shop) and bought all sorts of truffle ingredients (salts, sauces, balsamic) to keep these flavors and experience alive as long as possible.
Miro is one of many truffle producers in the region that offer a similar experience and while we haven’t done any of the others, it’s hard to imagine anything can top this. Price: 90 EUR per person
| MIRO TARTUFI |
| Kanal 27, 52424 Motovun, Croatia +385 91 523 0321 |
| miro-tartufi.com/en |
