This recipe for potato soup with shaved white truffle came from the restaurant The Walnut Tree in Wales. I came upon it recently, and it bought back a lot of memories for me.

Ten or eleven years ago I had a young enthusiastic talented English chef staying with us named Daryl Taylor. Daryl and my son Robert owned a restaurant in Woollahra called the Jersey Cow. Daryl was the chef, and he was passionate about all aspects of food. He would often come and stay with us in Collector and on his days off, away from the city, he would embrace being in the country by spending all his free time cooking, gardening and roaming through the paddocks with the dogs.

He had recently returned from England after working at the restaurant The Walnut Tree. He would describe how well Ann and Franco Taruschio ran this beautiful restaurant which was genuinely in the middle of nowhere in Wales.

One day I asked him to come and see a little run down building in Collector we had found and fallen in love with, (which we like to think is in the middle of nowhere, but it has the additional benefit of being on the road to everywhere), and as we crawled through the blackberries along the river I did not know what a project we were about to embark on.

The rest is what has happened over the last ten years, but the memories did come flooding back when I struck upon this recipe very recently. I never had the chance to go to the Walnut Tree when Ann and Franco ran it, but this recipe, of truffles, served simply and honestly with ingredients that enhance the foods we use every day is the kind of recipe that continues to inspire what I aim to do and achieve with food. I am always seduced by the simplest and most restrained dishes, and this recipe exemplify such an approach. This recipe is from Simon Hopkinson’s latest book Week In Week Out, which is currently dominating my bedside table.

Potato Soup with porcini:

5 medium potatoes

2 cloves garlic

60g butter

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

200g porcini, finely diced

1-cup single cream

1-2 tbsp finely chopped parsley

Freshly grated Parmesan cheese

1 white truffle, shaved (I used the black truffle)

Peel and roughly chop the potatoes, boil them in salted water with the garlic. Leave the potatoes to cook until they disintegrate. Pass the potatoes, cooking water and garlic through a food mill, return to the heat. Add half the butter, salt and freshly ground pepper. Beat the mixture with a balloon whisk; if the mixture is too thick add some more water.

A few minutes before serving, add the porcini mushrooms, which have been sautéed in the remaining butter, the cream and parsley. Check the seasoning.

Serve with Parmesan cheese and shaving of white truffle, if available.

I used the black truffle in the recipe above. It was very kindly given to me and arrived in a small-recycled jam jar. The truffle was wrapped in tissue paper, looking most restrained. When I opened the lid of the jar the earthy aroma made me think of paddocks, grass, farms and soil in autumn.

The aroma seems an inspiring beginning for me to learn more about the truffle. I am looking forward to learning more and exploring the possible partners as in flavours that are possible with this small-restrained fungus.

Thank you for the truffle.