Morel Mushroom Soup

Clean the mushrooms well. Barely cover with water in a saucepan. Turn the heat on and cover the pot with a tight fitting lid. When the water comes to a boil, turn it down to a simmer for 10 minutes. The mushrooms will have given off their liquid and literally made their own soup. For every 2 cups of liquid, add 1 tsp each of salt and sugar and 1 Tbsp soy sauce. Add 4-5 scallions, sliced thin and 1/3 cup shoestring potatoes.

The soup is finished when the potatoes are cooked.

Morel Mushroom Gravy

¼ cup butter
3 tbsp flour
20 g dried morel mushrooms
salt, pepper


Melt the butter, add in the flour and brown it in the frying pan .

Rehydrate the mushrooms for half an hour and simmer in the water used for the rehydration.

Add the flour-butter mixture to the simmering mushrooms and stir untill it thinkens. You can use it with many dishes. It is very good over Perogies with sauerkraut.

Morel Mushroom Stroganoff

1 lb. beef (sirloin or your favorite cut)
1 finely chopped medium onion
¾ teaspoon nutmeg
2 cups sour cream (regular or light)
½ cup white wine
1 - 1½ cups dried morel mushrooms
½ teaspoon dried basil
salt


Soak morels in warm water 1½ hours prior to cooking time. Cut beef in 3 to 4 inch strips and brown over high heat. Reduce heat to medium. Add onions and saute until soft. Drain morels thoroughly - squeeze out excess water.

Add morels, basil and nutmeg. Saute from about 5 minutes. Add white wine and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low. Add sour cream and salt and stir until smooth.

Simmer over low heat from 15 to 20 minutes. Serve hot over your favourite pasta. Makes enough sauce for 5-6 people

Stuffed Morels

larger morels (fresh or rehydrated)
butter, as needed
1 lime
chopped green onion
garlic, squeezed
your choice of herbs
cooked rice/jasmin or basmadi


Mix herbs, green onion and lots of squeezed garlic into rice. Stuff the morels with mixed rice and bake in a covered pan for 30 minutes at 350 degrees.


Melt generous portion of butter and more squeezed garlic and pour on morels at 15 minutes.

Just before serving, pour on juice from fresh lime.

Pasta With Morel Mushroom Cream Sauce

1 lb. homemade pasta or ½ lb. Capellini or thin Linguine (Linguine Fina)
2-3 tablespoons butter (or your favorite substitute)
As many morels as you can find or substitute 6 ounces dry morels or porchini mushrooms* or one pound of fresh white button mushrooms, Cremini mushrooms or Portabello mushrooms.
½ cup of cream or half and half (you can substitute any soup stock or the water from reconstituting dry mushrooms instead of cream if you want to go low cal.)
1 Tbsp chopped wild leeks or garlic
2 Tbsp fresh coarsely chopped parsley
Grated Parmesan or Romano cheese (to taste)
Pinch of salt and pepper (to taste)


Slice mushrooms into bite size slices. *If using dried mushrooms reconstitute them in a bowl by covering them in warm water for half an hour. Then, lift them from the water and squeeze out most of the liquid. Reserve the liquid.

Melt butter in a large sauté pan. Add sliced mushrooms and sauté on medium heat. As the mushrooms begin to release their juices, stir in the wild leeks or garlic, the chopped parsley and a pinch of salt.

While the mushrooms are cooking, cook and drain the pasta so it will be ready as soon as the mushroom sauce is done. If the mushrooms begin to dry out, add a little water (use the mushroom water if using dry mushrooms). Cook the mushrooms until they begin to brown in spots. Stir in the cream.

Heat through until the mixture thickens a little (you can add more cream if you are serving 4 or more people.) Stir in a tablespoon or two of grated cheese and add some black pepper. In a large serving bowl mix pasta with the cream sauce a little at a time. if you add too much pasta it will be dry. Serve with fresh ground black pepper and grated cheese. Garnish with fresh parsley sprigs.

This should serve from 4 to 6 people, depending on appetites.