Now for something Delicious! Morels!
 

First Morels of the year for me any recipes out there? This is my fav

Sautéed Morels with Cream
15-20 fresh morels or reconstituted dried, cut in half if large
1 large shallot chopped fine
1 large clove garlic chopped fine
2 TBS butter (best with unsalted)
2 TBS olive oil
3/4 cup chicken stock
1 cup heavy cream
salt & fresh ground pepper to taste

Put olive oil in heated pan over medium heat. Add garlic and shallots, stir and sauté until softened but not brown. Add butter until melted then add morels. Stir and cook until mushrooms start to brown, about 4 min. Add chicken stock and cook for 2-3 minutes. Add cream and cook on low until reduced and thickened. Classically served on toast, but the best on grilled New York Strip steaks.

Those look way worse than ordinary mushrooms.

mmmmmm ... braiiiinnnsss.....

Awesome find Nirvana! I found the first one of the season last Sat...
:( <Keyword = one> :(

My brother has found a boatload. I've heard that people are finding them just popping up in the weirdest places...due to the weird weather maybe.

Tomorrow sunny and 70. Seems it would be a great time to look. Maybe my brother will let me borrow his woods. I don't even like the things, but it's fun to find them and my friends like them.

they sure do - and ordinary mushrooms are pretty damn gross.

Looks like coral on a stick.

Isn't there a poisonous mushroom that looks very like a morel?

The way to tell a false Morel from a real morel is to cut them open. The one on the left is a yummy morel! It is hollow. The one on the right is a false morel do not eat this!

Not really. The "False Morel" looks at best, similar.
There are some very easy to see distinctions between them.
If you look at the two (google them) they really don't look alike at all.

They are way "gooder" than any ordinary mushroom with the exception of truffles. :p:

I love morels! Thanks for the recipe, Nirvana. Now, time to go to the market...

Lord, what foods these morels be...

#WINNING

After 25-ish years of being a hater, I now fully embrace the mushroom.
But I woiud NEVER pick my own.
Even Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall says if you're not sure, don't pick.

But in Siena (Italy) I did have an omlette with "freshly picked mushrooms" (fresco funghi).
It was extraordinary. I have no idea if or how I could ever replicate the taste. And this was just a sidestreet cafe.
In fact I had it more than once :)

Around here these morels are scarcer than hen's teeth and if you do get lucky enough to sell a few lbs [$25lb] you don't mention where you live. ;) These are the only mushrooms I know so they are the only fungi I pick!

I noticed that Nirvana was selling for $25 a pound when she last posted.
They are upwards of $40 now with shipping and all - and its mid season out west.
In a couple months they'll be $60-$70 per.

Morel season has been AWFUL for me the last couple years. I haven't even gotten more than a dozen total.
Gonna head out again today and see what I can find.

What are optimal morel conditions?

No extramarital nudity or sex.

Now! We are actually a little late, but I think I'm as confused as the morels this year with the weather and all. At least I hope I am.

"Hunting the Mighty Morel Mushroom

The "mushroom walk" is a low, Groucho Marx-like walk that gets the mushroom hunter closer to the ground. Crouch down and look 10 to 20 feet ahead — not around your feet and look for the (tiny) Christmas-tree shapes in the distance. Keep moving and investigate the shapes. You'll cover more ground and find more morels.
It's a fallacy that pulling a mushroom out by its roots will prevent another from growing there next year. The "root" system that brings the mushroom to the surface is a one-time, one-way system. It deteriorates through winter and spring thaw, and is replaced each year. Cut or clip the morels at the base to keep them clean.
Mushroom hunters never tell where their favorite spots are. Don't bother asking."

Morels: In my neck of the woods we look near the base of a tree on a hillside, on the downhill side. Therefore, we usually walk up hill when hunting morels.

Had any luck this year Grav?

I don't think I've been in the woods this year. At all.:(

Well ... ... ... GTFOT. Its only 5:30.

uphill both ways?

In Kentucky everything is uphill. All the time.

Are there a lot of uphill gardeners, then? I guess it might be easier in KY?

I wouldn't know.:lol2:

This one?

Nooo, not this one. That one over there.

I really thought I started one to post my stuff in, but spent an hour looking at all these threads I started.... ??? Must have had one too many shrooms or something.

When I stayed up near Boone, NC working for the Federal Park System gardeners used a double barrel shotgun to plant seeds on the hill. I had to get rock climbing gear for fall harvest. Trying to find a horse for my job was expensive. It's hard to find one with two short legs on one side for walking around the hill.

tarheel

That's easy, just wash the uphill legs in hot water.;)

You needed one of our Allen County horses. They're made just like you need. But they can only go around the hill in one direction, otherwise they tip over.:neutral:

It was hell in town where the land was flatter. I made sure to get a left legged horse. If I had a right legged horse my head would've bumped a few stop signs.

tarheel

You mean it didn't? :eek:

MORELS!!!
 

A song about morels?

A song about morels (kinda)!



That's the drummer, Fred Young, on vocals. Kinda rare, he doesn't usually sing lead.