We have our truffle safely ensconced in the fridge in a tub of rice and a couple of eggs. They will absorb the flavour of the truffle. Even though they are all tightly sealed in the plastic tub. The smell of the truffle gently wafts out every time we open the fridge door.

I decide to make a mushroom and truffle risotto for dinner. I have a couple of big brown mushrooms and I pick a few hot red peppers from the garden to go along with it. I have an ancient porcelain soba cup that I use to measure out the rice. One soba cup of dried rice is the correct amount of rice to make a risotto for the two of us. I bought this old soba cup at the Toji markets in Kyoto. My old cup is repaired with gold kintsugi and lacquer. It really deserves a bit of respect, because it is a beautiful thing. It was made in an important family workshop at the turn of the last century.

I still have a small amount of my marrow bone stock left in the freezer. Made before I went to Japan. It’s a beautiful, rich concentrated block of flavour. I do all the usual things, coating the rice in oil, browning the onions, deglaze with a cup of wine and then stir the carnaroli rice constantly in the stock until it cooks down and goes all thick and creamy. I finish it off by melting a good dollop of butter into the pan and stirring it through. It gives a lovely soft and creamy mouth feel and rich taste. Towards the end I grate a lot of truffle into the mix, little bit of very good cheese and then after plating-up, I grate a lot more truffle on top. A little bit of salt and pepper completes the dish.

Know that it is good when Janine asks if there is any more.