Morel mushrooms are probably at the top of my list when it comes to Spring favorites. They do require a bit of care when it comes to cleaning them, but it’s well worth it. They respond best to being sautéed, so if you’re looking for that roasted mushroom flavor, try something like a Chanterelle or a Maitake. Morels are best cooked in fat, like butter or oil and work quite well with sauces and glazes. They soak those flavors right up, so a good veal or chicken stock will saturate these with tons of flavor. This dish uses a homemade veal stock, which I have yet to put the recipe up for. Until then, you can use store-bought veal stock, or a good bone broth. You really want something that has a lot of collagen so it gets that nice glazed finish once it reduces down. Deglazing these mushrooms with a wine can make a big difference in the flavor profile of your dish, so try different types of wine paired with different types of stock to see what you like. This recipe used a splash of red wine paired with veal stock, but you could easily use a dry white wine (sauvignon blanc) paired with chicken stock, or a sweeter wine (Madeira or Marsala) paired with beef stock. Mix it up and see what you like, or maybe it’s as simple as what you have hanging around in your pantry.

Cleaning

Normally, cleaning a mushroom wouldn’t get it’s own section, but these deserve it. They’re deceptively dirty and somewhat of a pain in the ass, since you can’t just throw them in a pan to cook. They need to be soaked in luke warm water over and over until the water runs clear. When you first drop them in, you’ll see the water cloud right up and turn brown, and if you get close to the water, you can sometimes here a little fizzling noise, similar to a soft drink. After a minute or so, you can drain the dirty water and repeat the process. Keep repeating until the water stays clear when you put them in. I’ve had some that only needed 2-3 rinses and I’ve had others that took so many rinses that I contemplated scrapping the whole dinner in favor of In-and-Out.

Ingredients

• .5lbs Morel mushrooms

• 1 large or 2 medium shallots, minced

• 4tbsp unsalted butter (tempered) or cooking oil

• 6-8oz Veal stock or Bone Broth

• 1/4 cup red wine

• 1-2 sprigs of fresh thyme

• kosher salt

• sherry vinegar

• fresh ground black pepper

Prep

• Clean the mushrooms and trim off the root ends

• Try to get them as dry as possible. You can GENTLY squeeze them in a paper towel to help remove excess moisture

• Mince your shallots

• Pick the leaves off the thyme stems

Cooking Instructions

• Heat a medium sauté pan over medium heat

• Add your butter or oil to the pan

• If using butter, wait for it to stop foaming before adding the mushrooms

• Add the mushrooms to the pan

• They’ll begin to release whatever water they still have into the pan so gently stir them around so they don’t stick

• After 4 minutes or so, you should see most of the water has evaporated. At this point, add your shallots and continue to cook for another 1-2 minutes or until the shallots just begin to turn translucent.

• Add the wine and turn the heat up to medium-high

• Reduce the wine by 2/3

• Add your stock to the pan

• Let the stock reduce down. Once it gets reduced by 3/4, you should see if start to thicken. This is where the collagen comes into play and why it’s important to use bone broth versus standard stock.

• The more the stock reduces, the thicker the stock will become. You can gauge this visually by the bubbles and how long they last before they pop. Alternatively, if you scrape your spoon across the bottom of the pan, the liquid should not immediately fill in where you scraped.

• Once it reaches that level of thickness, you can kill the heat

• Add a few drops of your vinegar, and gently stir to incorporate.

• Taste. Adjust the salt level if necessary. Adding a few drops of vinegar will also enhance the flavor similarly to what salt does.

• Spoon the glazed mushrooms onto a plate and garnish with the fresh thyme leaves.

• Season with a few grinds of black pepper before serving.

The Finished Dish