How do I best use a few pounds of morels?

May 20, 2018 11:06 PM

A couple of friends and I went on an impromptu mushroom hunting trip today, got VERY lucky, and came home with about ten pounds of beautiful morels! My third of these is way more than I've ever had at once - please help me know what to do with them?

I have the tools to freeze, pickle, dry, make pasta including ravioli, and do just about anything else you can do to produce. I'm going to a thing on Wednesday that I need to bring snacks to and probably having a small dinner party on Friday. Some of these are going to need to be preserved in some way for the future.

Things I've done with morels before include risotto, a mushroom tart, and just sautéing a pile of them with butter and spring garlic. Hit me with other recipes/ideas you know and like please!

posted by centrifugal to Food & Drink (16 answers total)

The Mycological Society of San Francisco's cookbook, Wild About Mushrooms, has a chapter on morels.
posted by XMLicious at 12:13 AM on May 21, 2018 [1 favorite]

an unrestrained orgy of duxelles
posted by poffin boffin at 2:32 AM on May 21, 2018 [12 favorites]

In an idea shamelessly stolen from Galactic Pizza in Minneapolis, they work on pizza. I actually think that's the only way I've ever had morels, and the only mushrooms I've ever liked on pizza.
posted by hoyland at 3:25 AM on May 21, 2018 [2 favorites]

Ina Garten’s Chicken with Morels is to die for. Worth the effort.
posted by nightrecordings at 3:48 AM on May 21, 2018

For the ones you preserve, just dry them. Morels dry beautifully, and reconstituted ones are supposed to be even better than fresh.
posted by daisyace at 5:05 AM on May 21, 2018 [1 favorite]

If you dry them, the texture is lost. I've done this many times in 30 years of morel hunting, and in my opinion there is one good way to do this. Wash and pat them dry. Slice them all lengthwise, and saute them in a light oil until they lose their moisture. You can see it happening- they shrink up and start to brown. When they just start browning, remove them from the pan and drain. Put them in a ziploc bag and squeeze them down to get all the air out, then put them in your freezer. When you take them back out, don't thaw them way ahead of time. Just throw them into whatever they need to go into. They will keep very, very well for about 3 months.
posted by Patapsco Mike at 6:33 AM on May 21, 2018 [2 favorites]

Duxelles looks about right. In a similar situation a friend just sauteed them in salted butter and ate them until they were gone (it took several shared meals, I got in on one, it was great).
posted by ldthomps at 6:38 AM on May 21, 2018

Risotto is another classic choice.
posted by mmascolino at 7:08 AM on May 21, 2018

Just came to say I'm very envious. This has happened to me ONCE in my 14 years of collecting.
posted by falsedmitri at 7:38 AM on May 21, 2018 [1 favorite]

They are fantastic in a cheese fondue.
posted by plinth at 8:36 AM on May 21, 2018

Cook them very thoroughly and take it very, very easy on how much wine you drink while eating them (or just avoid alcohol altogether), because the combination can cause a RAPID SERIOUSLY THOROUGH UPCHUCK reaction, even in people who are not allergic to anything and furthermore have only vomited like twice in their lives.

/oh hell yes personal experience
posted by desuetude at 12:46 PM on May 21, 2018 [2 favorites]

I also found a ton of morels this weekend! I cooked them in a cream sauce and served them with sauteed fiddleheads and homemade fresh pasta.

I remembered while eating them that I, like desuetude, can't drink while eating morels (while they don't automatically make me throw up, the effect of the alcohol is SERIOUSLY intensified and I'm wasted after a single glass of wine.) So be careful!
posted by mollywas at 10:03 PM on May 21, 2018

Please make the most delicious food I've ever put into my face.

I used roasted sweet potatoes and a variety of mushrooms and a local port instead of white wine. If it was possible to marry mushroom ragu I'd be hitched right now.
posted by latch24 at 1:22 AM on May 22, 2018 [1 favorite]

Send them to me.

I mean, um, this recipe for veal chops with sauteed morels and cream sauce is exceptionally amazing.
posted by ananci at 10:50 AM on May 22, 2018

Response by poster: Thanks everyone! I began the mad orgy of duxelles last night by mixing them with shallots, garlic, lemon thyme, parsley, butter, salt and some lemon juice highly diluted with water (got spooked about using wine at all). This is going in little bite-size puff pastry bits. I'm going to stuff some little ones with chèvre and shallot greens and bake them, also. And probably make all of the recipes you all listed and dry some for the future. I love this situation.
posted by centrifugal at 10:54 AM on May 22, 2018

Morels are my favorite mushroom and my favorite way to eat them is sauteed in butter, add in parsley and put over halibut.
posted by Packy_1962 at 12:04 PM on May 22, 2018