Hot damn do I love truffles. After my trip to NYC back in April, I posted about the Il Buco restaurant and their drool worthy black truffle pasta (click here to salivate over that post a little more) - one of the best things I think I've ever put in my mouth, and that's saying a lot. This week I was reminded of how much I love truffles while out dining at a restaurant, and I got to thinking - how can I enjoy the delight and wonderment of this delicious treasure from the comfort of my own home? I did a little Googling and ended up having my very first truffle buying experience just a few days ago. I actually had to go through a dealer; the guy came over with a BRIEFCASE full of truffles - the damn thing cost so much I felt like I was buying illegal drugs from some cartel. Expensive, but in the end, SO so worth it. One of my most amazing culinary memories was my first international truffle experience at a rehearsal dinner in a 17th century castle in Provence. The night was a definite blur (what with all the champagne being served) but the simple appetizer of a buttered sourdough cigar baguette covered with gorgeous slivers of truffles and sea salt is forever stamped on my brain. 

After discovering how expensive it is to buy whole truffles, I stewed over how to get that same truffle-gasmic taste for less. After a few test runs in the kitchen, I got it right - the best way to eat truffles at home is also one of the simplest. Slice a delicious, crusty baguette in half (leaving it connected on one side just by the crust) and stuff it full of truffle butter and sea salt (garlic sea salt if you want to jazz it up even more). Truffle butter is WAY more reasonably priced than actual truffles, and if you use enough, works *almost* as well as slices of the real thing. Close up the baguette and bake in the oven until the bread is good and toasty and the truffle butter has melted completely into the bread. If you're in a hurry (or just lazy like I admittedly can be in the kitchen), toasting bread slices in the toaster and topping with butter and sea salt after works too. It ends up like delicious homemade garlic bread... but with TRUFFLES. Trust me. I'd eat it every day if I could...