Morels

I have more fresh morels than any person should be allowed to have, pounds not ounces. Can anyone help with recipes? Tonight is morels in olive oil with herbs and garlic over pasta. After that I'm out of ideas.

Did you hunt this delicious fungus or buy it? Sorry, I have never seen one, so cannot offer suggestions, but just curious about the amount you have.

Morels appear for a couple weeks about this time every year, so it is an annual occurrance for us. We traipse around the woods picking up what we can find. Some years are better than others. A neighbor always provides some, and she can find them when no one else can. I think she can smell them. We could probably find more if we were willing to spend the time looking. We've dried them in years past, and that works pretty well, although the weight shrinks by probably 80%-90%. They do keep. I've heard of them selling for $70/pound in Ohio, out of my usual price range.

A couple tasty suggestions from Stuart's cobweb

Thanks Cynthia, That's helpful.

A cooking pal of mine has a young friend who is a morel hunter, so she gets bagsful of them every year. She sent this recipe the other day from the wife of the gatherer.


Morel Enchiladas

1 Butter
1 large onion -- thinly sliced
2 poblano chilies -- seeded, stemmed, and thinly sliced
1 lbs of fresh morels -- sliced lengthwise in half OR
2 ounce dried -- reconstituted in 2 cups water and
sliced (reserve liquid)
Olive oil
8 corn tortillas
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon sugar
1 tablespoon soy sauce
2 tablespoon flour
2 cup of grated Monterey Jack cheese (8 ounces) - can use 1 cup of low fat cheese

Melt 1 tablespoon butter and 1 tablespoon of olive oil in a skillet. Add the onion and chilies and sauté for 2 to 3 minutes over medium heat, until they begin to wilt. Add the fresh morels, turn the heat to low, and cover the skillet with a lid. This will draw liquid from the mushrooms, which is an important part of this process. Simmer for 10 minutes. (If you are using dried morels, add the morels now and also sauté for 1 minute, then add the reserved liquid, cover, and proceed to the next step.)

Meanwhile, heat a little oil in another skillet. One by one, place a tortilla in the skillet and heat for 30 seconds on each side. The tortillas will loose their brittleness and become pliable enough to fold. As each tortilla is done, place it on a paper towel and continue until all the tortillas are softened. Keep warm on the counter until ready to assemble the dish.

Preheat the oven to 425°F.

Add the salt, sugar, and soy sauce to the morels and simmer for another 5 minutes, if necessary adding a little water to keep mixture immersed. Strain through a fine sieve, squeezing the morels as much as possible. Reserve the liquid; there should be ¾ to 1 cup.

Evenly divide the mushroom mixture among the tortillas. Roll the mixture up in the tortillas and arrange side by side in a glass baking dish.

Add 1 tablespoon of butter and 1 tablespoon of olive oil to the skillet and set over low heat. Add the flour and blend thoroughly to make a roux. Stir over medium heat until the roux begins to lightly brown, in about 4 minutes. Immediately add the reserved liquid and stir until the sauce is thickened. (Adjust thickening if necessary by adding a little water and further reducing.)

Spread the sauce on the enchiladas, then sprinkle the cheese evenly over the top. Cover the dish with aluminum foil and place in the oven. Bake for 20 to 30 minutes, or until all the cheese is melted.. Remove the foil and allow enchiladas to brown on top. Remove from the oven, let stand 10 minutes.

And I thought this sounded interesting, but I haven't had it.

Corn Bread With Roasted Morels In Thyme Mushroom Broth

Yield: 6 servings

1 c Fine Ground Corn Meal (Red, Yellow or Blue)
3/4 c All purpose flour
1 tb Baking Powder
1 ts Kosher salt
6 tb Unsalted Butter
1 tb Honey
1/2 tb Molasses
2 Eggs
1 c Whole Milk

For the Morels:
30 To 40 medium size morels
1/4 c Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1/4 c Thyme leaves
1 tb Chopped Garlic
1 tb Kosher Salt
2 c Cold water

Preheat Oven to 350 F

Mix the first four ingredients together in a large mixing bowl. Cut in the butter using a fork or two knives until the texture of coarse
corn meal. Mix the remaining ingredients together in separate bowl. Slowly add the two together and mix well.

Grease twelve 4" by 3/4" nonstick muffin molds and distribute equal amounts of batter into each. Bake in the oven for approximately 10
minutes or until a toothpick comes out dry. Pull out of oven and cool on bakery rack until room temperature. You may keep the muffins
for two days wrapped in plastic at room temperature.

For the Morels: Preheat oven to 200 F. Lightly toss all ingredients together in roasting pan, cover and bake for 1 hour until the morels
are soft. Strain and reserve the liquid.

Presentation: Place one of the savory corn muffins in the middle of each of 6 soup bowls. Top with 5 or 6 of the Morels. Pour the reserved
liquid in equal proportions among the 6 bowls. Garnish with fresh thyme sprigs and serve immediately.

Recipe by Chef Chris Perkey

I was served this at a brunch last year.

SPRING VEGETABLE FRICASSEE WITH SAFFRON CREAM

2 cups baby carrots (about 3 bunches) tops removed, scrubbed
1 cup fresh peas or frozen, thawed
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 small onion, thinly sliced
2 shallots, thinly sliced
1 leek, white part only, halved, thinly sliced
1/2 teaspoon (scant) saffron threads
3/4 cup fresh morels
1 teaspoon chopped fresh thyme
1/2 cup dry white wine
2/3 cup vegetable broth
1 1/3 cups whipping cream
1/2 pound asparagus, trimmed, cut into thirds
4 cups baby spinach leaves (about 3 ounces)

Preheat oven to 350°F. Lightly butter 1-quart baking dish. Cook
carrots in large pot of boiling salted water 2 minutes. Using slotted
spoon, transfer carrots to bowl of ice water to cool. Using slotted
spoon, transfer carrots to medium bowl. If using fresh peas, cook in
same pan of boiling water 2 minutes; drain and transfer to bowl of ice
water to cool. Using slotted spoon, transfer peas to small bowl.

Heat oil in medium saucepan over medium heat. Add onion; sauté 1
minute. Add shallots; sauté 1 minute. Add leek and sauté until
vegetables are soft, about 4 minutes longer (do not brown). Stir in
saffron. Add carrots, mushrooms, and thyme. Season with salt and
pepper. Add wine and simmer until almost dry, about 3 minutes. Add
broth and simmer 4 minutes. Add cream and bring to simmer. Stir in
peas, asparagus, and spinach. Transfer to prepared baking dish and
bake until edges are bubbling and top begins to brown, about 30
minutes.

Bon Appétit
April 2006

Alan - try looking here: Welcome to The Great Morel.

Thanks everyone, that oughtta' do it. I knew I could rely on you. Best.

You cannot go wrong with morels, butter, and garlic. Keep the preps for the fresh ones very simple.

Yesterday, we did a stir-fry with fresh morels and blanched/refreshed/peeled favas. Very spring-like!

We did a saute on Saturday with morels, fiddlehead ferns and asparagus. It was awesome!

How coincidental! Maybe we shopped at the same place... The morels were awesome, and as the season wears on, the prices will drop- last June, they were under $10 a pound.

We did the morel/fava stir-fry, some braised fiddleheads, and a light spring soup featuring fennel and both red and green spring onions. Baby artichokes with lemon. Goat cheese and asparagus grilled pizza.

I just love the beginning of Real Food season.

I need to put that pizza on the menu soon. It's one of my favs.

Thought about you this morning...I'm playing around with calzones (easy to take on a trip and easier to heat up on a coffee pot burner.). I tried Trader Joe's dough (although I don't find it very easy to work with), Sara Moulton's pizza dough, then our version. Our version is in the oven right now. The wetness was tricky. You kind of have to use the parchment to get the folding over started.

Morels also have an affinity for eggs, so morel/asparagus omelettes are comonplace in our house during morel season. If you're not a vegetarian, morels also make an outstanding sauce for game birds like duck. Sautée the morels with shallots in butter until fully sweated, add red wine and reduce.

Mark Lipton

[Jenise]

We did a saute on Saturday with morels, fiddlehead ferns and asparagus. It was awesome!

One of the most interesting treatments of morels I've ever had was a saute with asparagus and topped with feta cheese at Lucques restaurant in L.A. The asparagus and the morels had an affinity for each other I wouldn't have guessed or predicted.

Sauté morels and leeks in EVOO. Add some kale and wilt. Season with S&P. Serve on a plate with a grilled pork chop. If you really want to dress it up then put some potato/fennel/truffle puree on the plate first, then morel/kale sauté, then pork chop.

rwj

A litre of whipping cream slowly simmered for about an hour with about 500 g. or morels, a bit of fresh sage at the end and a finish of fino sherry will turn into liquid golden ambrosia when served in a puff pastry shell. Works well with chanterelles as well, and you can vary the flavours by substituting thyme, or using a different wine or liqueur to finish it.

Oh, indeed, just simmer them in cream and then pour liberally over anything... anyone... so good.

I have more fresh morels than any person should be allowed to have, pounds not ounces. Can anyone help with recipes? Tonight is morels in olive oil with herbs and garlic over pasta. After that I'm out of ideas.

A morel dilemma, eh?

(sorry, I couldn't resist)

I'd suggest any of the European-type "Hunter's" dishes involving cepes or porcini, but substitute the morels for those mushrooms.

-Paul W.