Parmesan Shortbread with Truffle Pesto

Are you looking for original ideas for starter? This recipe for an appetiser with truffle offers a fresh take on the genre, giving a chic twist to your spread. This recipe for Parmesan Shortbread with Truffle Pesto is made up of a Parmigiano Reggiano cheese cracker covered in a truffle cream. For a colourful decorative touch, borage flowers top it off beautifully.

Preparation time: 30 minutes • Cooking time: 10 minutes • Resting time: 1 hour

Serves 6

• 1 pot of Pesto & Summer Truffle Sauce
• 200 g (7 oz) Philadelphia-type cream cheese
• Salt and pepper

For the shortbread

• 100 g (3.5 oz) grated Parmigiano Reggiano
• 130 g (4.6 oz) flour
• 1 egg yolk
• 100 g (3.5 oz) room-temperature unsalted butter
• 2 pinches of table salt
• 2 g (3/4 – 1 tsp) cracked black pepper

Method

For the shortbread

1. Mix all the dry ingredients together, then add the egg yolk.
2. Work the dough until you can form it into a ball, then cover in clingfilm and leave it to rest in the fridge for 1 hour.
3. Preheat the oven to 180°C. In the meantime, take out the dough and roll it out onto a floured work surface or between two sheets of baking paper. It should end up about 5 mm (just under ¼ inch) thick.
4. Use a cookie-cutter to cut out shapes from the dough and put them on a sheet of greaseproof paper on top of a baking tray. Make sure you space them far enough apart, so they don’t fuse together as they’ll swell slightly during baking.
5. Bake in the oven for about 10 minutes, then leave to cool on a wire rack.

For the rest of the recipe

1. Mix the cheese with 1/3 of the Pesto & Summer Truffle Sauce. Adjust the amount of sauce to get the texture and taste you want. Put a spoonful of this pesto on each shortbread biscuit.
2. Sprinkle with a few pinches of salt and grinds of pepper. Decorate with some edible flowers such as borage.

Photographs: Aimery Chemin • Culinary stylism: Coralie Ferreira