The morel of my story, or, The story of my morels

[Jenise]

I've got a new connection. Got me a mushroom man! A private dealer. Hooked up by a friend. Not supposed to tell anybody around here. Brown paper bags left on porches, cash in envelopes slipped under door mats. All that surreptious stuff. This week's 'drop'? A pound of morels. For ten bucks. Fresh porcinis are also in the supply line but due to an allergy those are like death caps for me, so I passed.

Last night's appetizer? Crostini smeared with duck mousse and topped with sauteed morels, washed down with an old champers. Heaven!

I wanted to work those morels into the rest of the meal too. Was going to sautee them with asparagus to go with a rack of lamb, but oddly I couldn't find any asparagus at my first two stops and I didn't have the time to forage further. Settled for a pea and mint risotto.

Also had this crazy idea about combining the morels in an egg-cream sauce with chunks of lobster. So I stopped by Barleans, this bizarre little red barn next to a very modest house in a rather dodgy patch of the countryside between me and Bellingham that is one of only two seafood retailers in this entire county. In fact they specialize in not one but two products: seafood and flax seed oil, and they are enormously successful at both. But their location is so remote there's nothing else around them--well, nothing except dairy cows, an Indian reservation and the Conoco oil refinery--and if you didn't know they were there you honestly wouldn't know they were there. Certainly nobody in their right mind would suggest anyone open a retail business in that location. And, they don't advertise. They don't really do anything--they just put up homemade signs on the country roads they're located near listing what they've got on hand that day. But damn if they aren't hugely successful; there's always a wait and when your turn comes there are already people waiting behind you, too. Where do they come from? Anyway, that's where I went because they always have a few lobster tails in the freezer. But not yesterday: the guy said I missed them by about an hour and added, "So what restaurant are YOU from?" Apparently it was a restaurant that cleaned him out and other restaurants had been calling in search of more. The reason, they told me, is that the current local supply of relatively inexpensive lobster tails apparently comes out of the Carribbean, and the Gulf crisis has suddenly bottlenecked that situation. The fishermen in Maine are probably not unhappy about this.

I settled for spot prawns and made a completely different dish.

So, sadly only one morel dish on the menu last night. But that's good news for Wednesday night!

Jenise
That sounds like a very fine connection you've acquired there. I'm envious!
Enjoy the Morels
regards
Ian

Your post has the key elements of a true food lover: fearless foraging for things edible anywhere and everywhere anything good is to be found; flexible menu planning using what can be found rather than clinging to an idea without the quality ingredients to support; thinking ahead to the next wonderful meal possibilities. Brava ! Always interesting to see how your thoughts run .

I'm so happy to read your thoughts on morels! I found them at a local farmer's market on the weekend, but I didn't buy any because: a) I wasn't going home right away and I didn't want to squash the poor things under my 30 pounds of wine bottles, and b) I hadn't a bloody clue what to use them for. I don't think I've even tasted morels before. So I'm glad to hear you chat about possible dishes! I think I'm definitely going to go on a mushroom binge this weekend. (Ok, that sentence could be taken in an ENTIRELY different way).

Melissa, the easiest, and one of the best, things to do with morels is simply simmer them in cream (maybe with some shallots and tarragon) and pour over vegetable-of-choice.

[Jenise]

I'm so happy to read your thoughts on morels! I found them at a local farmer's market on the weekend, but I didn't buy any because: a) I wasn't going home right away and I didn't want to squash the poor things under my 30 pounds of wine bottles, and b) I hadn't a bloody clue what to use them for. I don't think I've even tasted morels before. So I'm glad to hear you chat about possible dishes! I think I'm definitely going to go on a mushroom binge this weekend. (Ok, that sentence could be taken in an ENTIRELY different way).

Morels are wonderfully earthy--I know, basically all mushrooms are earthy, but morels have a texture, color and taste like no other, so they're pretty cool in their uniqueness. Cream sauces and asparagus are classic pairings. If I find asparagus today I might just combine all three elements and tuck them into some crepes to serve with a good pinot.

[Jenise]

Your post has the key elements of a true food lover: fearless foraging for things edible anywhere and everywhere anything good is to be found; flexible menu planning using what can be found rather than clinging to an idea without the quality ingredients to support; thinking ahead to the next wonderful meal possibilities. Brava ! Always interesting to see how your thoughts run .

Thanks Christina. I was going to brag about my mushroom "connection" and mention the lobster shortage as two separate posts but once my fingers hit the keyboard it just spilled out in a single narrative. Also in the back of my mind was a conversation I had with a woman I met on my travels that day who was shopping from a computer-generated list: she has a rotation of recipes that she selects from for a week's meals and a computer program that consolidates a shopping list from same. To avoid being stumped by not being able to find an ingredient she avoids recipes that are seasonal-ingredient dependent. We are each other's worst nightmare.

Melissa, the easiest, and one of the best, things to do with morels is simply simmer them in cream (maybe with some shallots and tarragon) and pour over vegetable-of-choice.

That settles it - morels in cream over asparagus is on the menu for Saturday's dinner! And I'm confident that the farmer's market will have everything except the cream. We're near the end of peak asparagus season, but I've still seen a good number of bunches still floating around.

[Jenise]

Melissa, the easiest, and one of the best, things to do with morels is simply simmer them in cream (maybe with some shallots and tarragon) and pour over vegetable-of-choice.

That settles it - morels in cream over asparagus is on the menu for Saturday's dinner! And I'm confident that the farmer's market will have everything except the cream. We're near the end of peak asparagus season, but I've still seen a good number of bunches still floating around.

Suggestion: lay the asparagus atop a thick slice of longish bread that's been brushed with olive oil and garlic and pan-browned. Hmmm...I'm suddenly wanting that instead of my crepe!

Suggestion: lay the asparagus atop a thick slice of longish bread that's been brushed with olive oil and garlic and pan-browned. Hmmm...I'm suddenly wanting that instead of my crepe!

That sounds like a "win" to me, Jenise! Now I just need to find a wine to go with it. I'm thinking your previous suggestion of Champagne would be awesome - though sadly I have no old bottles in my cellar. Maybe a really stinky, earthy Cava would rise to meet the challenge.

Quick question that I forgot to ask earlier: would you chop the morels up a bit, or leave them whole? The ones I'll be buying are about three-ish inches long, which might be a bit too cumbersome to use successfully on a slice of bread. Maybe just cut them in halves or quarters?

[Jenise]

Quick question that I forgot to ask earlier: would you chop the morels up a bit, or leave them whole? The ones I'll be buying are about three-ish inches long, which might be a bit too cumbersome to use successfully on a slice of bread. Maybe just cut them in halves or quarters?

There are some that big in the ones I just got--largest morels I've ever seen. I'm quartering those lengthwise, and halving the smaller ones. The pieces are then similar which is an elegant look, but they're more manageable and since the asparagus & toast already require knife and fork, no problem.

Sounds like a plan! I'll post a follow-up after my Saturday morel adventures.

[Jenise]

Melissa,

Here's what my morel dish looked like last night:

IMG_0470.JPG

It was fantastic. The morel component consisted of about (I don't measure) 1 1/2 cups of beef broth, 1/2 cup of cream and a few splashes of brandy, all cooked together and reduced over about 30 minutes' time. The asparagus was simply boiled and drained, and the crouton was kind of lame: a kaiser roll that I sliced the bottom and top off of before pan-toasting because I had two leftover kaiser rolls from something last week, but it saved me from buying a whole new loaf of something I didn't need otherwise just for this dish.

Groan!!!! That looks truly awesome, Jenise. I adore morels, but can't afford them.

One day perhaps... I might make the ultimate in decadence. Morels stuffed with sweetbreads.

By the way, The classic wine with them is Vin Jaune, an Arbois wine made with the Savagnin grape aged in barrels under a "voile". It's very vaguely like a dry oloroso, which I imagine could be substituted for the real thing.

Oh my goodness Jenise, that looks absolutely fabulous! Thanks for the recipe for the morels, I'll probably follow it pretty closely since I've never worked with them before.

I had envisioned a larger hunk of break, almost like serving it as half a sandwich. I'll have to see what looks good at the market...

Oh, and Ian, I may just look for a vin jaune to go with it - though I only seem to recall finding one such wine previously in this city. I agree that oloroso could probably work, but I've just never been a big fan of sherry. Perhaps it's time to test those waters again.

I've always thought a Blanquette of Morels would be pretty awesome.

...The morel component consisted of about (I don't measure) 1 1/2 cups of beef broth, 1/2 cup of cream and a few splashes of brandy, all cooked together and reduced over about 30 minutes' time.

Mouthwatering. Were the mushrooms just simmered in the broth/cream/brandy, or first sauteed, and for how long?

Christian

[Jenise]

Oh my goodness Jenise, that looks absolutely fabulous! Thanks for the recipe for the morels, I'll probably follow it pretty closely since I've never worked with them before.

I had envisioned a larger hunk of break, almost like serving it as half a sandwich. I'll have to see what looks good at the market...

Optimally, I'd have chosen a longer piece of bread, like a center cut from a large sour dough boule. But my Kaiser was about 6" in diameter, so not actually underpowered to the task so much as odd because it was round. But it sure was the right way to serve the dish, having that toasted bread to mop up every precious drop of morel-ness.

[Jenise]

Mouthwatering. Were the mushrooms just simmered in the broth/cream/brandy, or first sauteed, and for how long?

Christian

Christian,

Not sauteed, just simmered. You don't need any maillard, nor do they need to absorb oil for structural integrity so the only benefit to sauteeing, in this instance, would be to shorten your total cooking time. Better, to my mind, is to save the fat and go straight to the pot. For this meal, it was the first task I started: while they were bubbling away I prepped the rest of the meal.

[Jenise]

Groan!!!! That looks truly awesome, Jenise. I adore morels, but can't afford them.

One day perhaps... I might make the ultimate in decadence. Morels stuffed with sweetbreads.

By the way, The classic wine with them is Vin Jaune, an Arbois wine made with the Savagnin grape aged in barrels under a "voile". It's very vaguely like a dry oloroso, which I imagine could be substituted for the real thing.

Ian, it's a luxury I've never had before either, not in this kind of quantity. I could get used to this! I served an earthy, aged Oregon Pinot with it, and I can't complain about the match, though I can see where a Vin Jaune would work. Not something we see around here very often, though!

Morels stuffed with sweetbreads? Yum! I've only had a stuffed morel once, I believe, at a Vancouver restaurant. The filling was crab!

So I had a feeling that I had waited too long this morning to get to the farmer's market, and sure enough - the mushroom guy was completely sold out of morels! All he had were dried ones, and I just didn't think they'd taste nearly as well as fresh ones. Worse still, the asparagus guy was all sold out too!

I don't get it - last week I arrived later, and there were lots of morels and asparagus left. Oh well - lesson learned, I guess.

Maybe I'll try the morel dish next weekend. For tonight, it's just going to have to be regular old burgers. Which still sound pretty tasty at this point in time.

Groan!!!! That looks truly awesome, Jenise. I adore morels, but can't afford them.

Ian, what do morels go for there? The season here is VERY short, and fresh morels sell anywhere from $25 to $40 per pound. I to do not often afford them. I remember a few years ago I was at a funeral, and a nephew of the deceased (my sister-in-law) brought 2 five gallon buckets of morels. WOW, what a treasure. He said it took him only about an hour to pick 10 gallons! I didn't ask where his patch was located, but somehow I doubt he would have told me anyway.