Chris received this fabulous gift box for his birthday, which was two months ago. It was from our lovely friends that own a kickass Italian restaurant called Casa Tartufo, which is all about truffles, truffles and more truffles!

And so it was pretty apt that they gave him a gift box filled with truffle pasta, and truffle salsa in a jar. YUM!!!

I finally got round to cooking it up one night. And oooo… it was awesome 🙂

I made it very simple – simply sauteed some whole crushed garlic cloves in salted butter until they were tender, then popped in some sliced mushrooms. I then stirred in some cream, then poured the sauce all over the truffle pasta.

It was meant to be served with parmesan (which we had freshly shaved and kept in the fridge), but I forgot! GAH!!!!

Fortunately, the pasta was still good as is 🙂

I served it with the most random (and inappropriate!) side dish ever – chicken nuggets. My kids LOVE this dish, and it is DEAD EASY to make, so I’ve been cooking this up quite a bit in the past few weeks.

I simply cut up a couple of chicken fillets, then pop the into a shallow dish and marinate them in a blend of salt/pepper, random spices and herbs I find in our pantry, crushed garlic cloves, and enough buttermilk to cover the chicken. It sits in the fridge marinating overnight.

The next day, I simply take each piece out and roll it into crushed cornflakes+breadcrumbs (with some dried herbs and seasalt mixed in). I drizzle melted butter over it all (so it turns golden brown), then pop into the oven, and bake at 180 celcius until cooked (usually 10-15 mins).

They are addictive and super yummy dipped into spicy Mexican salsa, or simply with good ‘ol tomato sauce.

A MEGA hit with kids!