The Story of the Morels

The Berkeley Farmers’ markets include a mushroom grower (Solano Mushrooms in Vacaville, #15 in my map) who sells both cultivated and wild varieties. In a fit of splurging recently, I went for the morels. Morels are small, hollow wild mushrooms with a wonderful flavor (some photos). They are pricey, so I like to use them in simple preparations that emphasize their distinctive nature. I cooked three dishes with my morels: a quick pasta dish, a potato-morel gratin, and a morel souffle (pictured above).

Pasta with Morels

The pasta dish required the least amount of work (unless you make your own pasta, which I recommend for the best eating experience). I sauteed some sliced morels in butter over medium heat, added a little garlic and fresh thyme, then some half and half (heavy cream would be great too). I reduced the heat under the morels to low, then put the pasta into boiling salted water. When the pasta was cooked, I pulled it right out of the pot and piled it onto the morel-cream mixture, and combined. Seasoned with salt, pepper and grated Parmesan, it was a simple, delicious way to have a somewhat tangled morel lesson.

Potato-Morel Gratin

The second way I used the morels was in a gratin with potatoes, based on a recipe in Alice Waters’ Chez Panisse Vegetables. I peeled and diced potatoes (Yukon Gold from the Ludwig Ave Farm in Santa Rosa, #8 in my map), then boiled them in salted water until almost tender. Meanwhile, I sauteed sliced morels in butter for a few minutes. Into a buttered shallow baking dish, I layered the potatoes and morels, topped it with some salt and pepper, and then poured in enough half and half to cover the vegetables. I baked it in a 375 F oven until the liquid was bubbling and the top showing spots of golden brown. Although the ingredients were few and the preparation uncomplicated, this gratin had a delightful complexity of flavor and texture, with the springiness of the morels, the tenderness of the potato, and the morel-infused cream.

Morel Souffle

My most elegant use of the morels was in single-serving souffles. I used Julia Child’s master recipe for Cheese Souffle from The Way to Cook as a guide. Souffles are relatively straightforward to make, but there are many things that can go wrong. In this case, for example, I was unsure about whether the morels would stay suspended in the souffle foam, or whether they would all sink to the bottom of the baking cup, forming a crust of sorts (as happened with a asparagus souffle in May). In this particular souffle experience, I did not suffer from “loose morels” and most of the pieces stayed suspended in the egg foam, diffusing the deep flavor throughout the light yet rich souffle base.