Morel Mushrooms three ways

Spring is here and with it are things that only spring can bring. Straight forward simplicity, if morel mushrooms sauteed in butter are the be all end all then this sandwich is the top of the pops. Morel mushrooms sauteed in butter on a baguette from Balthazar Bakery would most certainly turn some heads.


Want to put a little more twist in your step? How about a nice crispy fried morel that was dipped in seasoned flour, then egg then seasoned cornmeal and cooked until golden served atop a bed of melted goat brie? Yup, thats right!



No, thats not enough? Then how about a souffle pancake with roasted orange peppers, spinach and morel mushrooms?


Spinach lightly sauteed with morel butter.


Fresh morels in butter.

Souffle Pancakes

3 egg whites
3 egg yolks
1/2 c flour
dash of salt and fresh ground pepper
1/4 water (or less)


Beat the whites to form stiff peaks. Mix together egg yolks, flour, salt and pepper with water to form a stiff batter. Fold batter into whites incorporating completely. Spoon palm size dollops of batter onto hot pan and cover so cake can rise. Let cook two minutes on one side turn gently and cook 30 seconds on other side. Remove from heat and eat. (souffle pancakes are also great as a sweet treat with your favorite fruit compote)


The lightness of the souffle pancake, the earthiness of the spinach and morels played nicely with the sweetness of roasted orange peppers, this would have been even better with a nice crispy Pinot Grigio. Thanks to Justin at MarxFoods for hooking me up with such plump and wonderful fresh morel mushrooms. If you want to experience this delight you need to act fast the window of opportunity for fresh morel mushrooms is slowly drawing its blinds.

It's that time again

Yup, mushrooms, how'd you guess?



After breakfast of Mondongo we........




Passed through into the magical forest.....



we encountered large tortoises.....



and some nasty looking stinkhorns......





Chicken mushrooms and...





Honey mushrooms with a cityscape......




and this bad boy that is similar to a portabella but I forget its name at the moment....when it comes to me I will post it but BTW this ones flavor is not all that great.

Oh and on a side note that guy passing into the magical forest is my mushroom buddy who knows all the edible anythings and he told me the name of this one but I forgot and he said it tastes bad and I tasted it and he was right but "banana" tasted it and liked it and ate all of it.

lets clear up some things....I personally can identify about 6 mushrooms in the wild and thats about it...well maybe 7 or 10 but this guy knows every single living edible thing that is a plant or fungus. He is vegan and our recipes differ but we still eat the same things...mostly. Oh and we went out yesterday (wednesday) morning early and were back in the city by noon.

Melange

Any time I get to speak french I jump at the opportunity, not that I speak french or anything but who doesnt like to say french words, so today it is a melange of unrelated things. First of those is nopalitos. Nopales are the leaves, if you could call them that, from the prickly pear cactus. People do different things with them but I simply slice them into strips and then flour egg and bread crumbs and fry. They are tasty and okra like.



Then it is more mushrooms, since I found mushroomlandia I have hit the mother lode of wine cap mushrooms, they are so much tastier than portobellas and they are wild, plus they will keep coming back up until October. These are not wine caps these are entylomas and they are poisonious but they look nice. The wine caps are below.




Then it was two dozen oysters on the half shell with lime, horseradish and hot sauce. Sweet, succulent and briney all the qualities of a good oyster.



Oh and cherries, tons of cherries. we did our own cold stone creamery by freezing a marble slab and then mixing custardy fresh made vanilla ice cream with pitted cherries. Who needs to go anywhere?

Stropharia rugosoannulata (Wine Cap)

Delicious and often enormous, the Wine Cap pops up commonly in the hardwood woodchips used in landscaping mulch around trees and along tended pathways. This mushroom can be identified positively only in the presence of both the young and mature specimens. The buttons are sometimes but not always a Burgundian red wine color on top. When the veil is still closed over the immature gills, there is a coglike star pattern around the stem. In the mature fruiting bodies, the gills change from pink to a dark pinkish grey to grey brown color while the color of the cap lightens to a light brown to beige color. The spore print is purplish black in color.

I recommend eating only the young mushrooms of this species which are firm and bug free. The buttons of this species can reach 5-6” in diameter while still immature. They are meaty and rich and are well paired in meat sauces and sautés.

When large, it can be cut into strips, brushed with olive oil, balsamic vinegar, sprinkled with herbs, salt and pepper and grilled to perfection.

So once again I have too many mushrooms. Dont feel sorry for me this happens all the time. Seek and ye shall find. I wish in my life it applied to something more than mushrooms.