Fuži recipe: Istria's truffle pasta from Livade

Fuži are the twisted pasta squares of inland Istria, and in truffle season the whole peninsula serves them the same way: tossed in butter with nothing but fresh white truffle and a splash of broth, so the aroma does the work instead of the sauce.

The shape matters as much as the dough. Each square is folded corner to corner into a loose diamond-boat, which opens slightly as it cooks and catches butter and truffle shavings the way a flat ribbon never could. It's the dish Istrian households make for the same reason Livade fills up with truffle hunters every October — because the crop is finally in the ground, not the freezer, and travels best in the simplest possible dish.

Ingredients

A pasta fold invented for one job: holding butter and truffle, nothing else.

• 350 g plain flour, plus extra for dusting
• 2 eggs
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 2 tbsp white wine
• Pinch of salt
• 50–80 ml warm water, as needed
• 40 g butter
• 100 ml vegetable or light chicken broth
• 20–25 g fresh white truffle (or good black truffle), plus extra to finish
• Grated Parmesan, to serve

Method

1. Mix the flour, eggs, olive oil, wine and salt, adding warm water a tablespoon at a time until the dough comes together. Knead for five minutes until smooth, then rest it wrapped for 30 minutes — this relaxes the gluten so the dough rolls out thin without snapping back.
2. Roll the dough as thin as you can on a floured surface and cut it into roughly 4 cm squares.
3. Take each square by two opposite corners and press them together across the middle, twisting slightly, to form the fuži's open boat shape — the fold is what gives the pasta somewhere to hold the sauce.
4. Cook the fuži in well-salted boiling water for two to three minutes, until they float, then drain, keeping a little of the cooking water back.
5. Melt the butter in a wide pan over low heat and toss the drained pasta through it, adding a splash of the reserved water if it looks dry.
6. Pour in the broth, grate in most of the truffle, season and toss everything for under a minute off direct heat — truffle aroma is volatile and fades fast once it hits a hot pan, so the goal is to warm it through, not cook it.
7. Serve immediately, finished with more shaved truffle and Parmesan at the table, while the smell is still at its strongest.

A dish that doesn't survive reheating

Fuži freezes well as plain pasta, but never sauce it with truffle until the moment it's served — the whole point of the dish is a smell that lasts about ninety seconds off the stove. Short on fresh white truffle? A good black truffle or truffle butter stirred in at the end works well enough for a Tuesday.

Can fuži be made a day ahead? Boil and toss the plain pasta with a little oil, then refrigerate. Reheat gently in butter and add the truffle only at the table — it never improves overnight.