After many, many hours of foraging in the woods in several different towns, we had come up short of finding any morels this year. We really thought we knew just where to look, but again and again we emerged defeated. Then, on a brief hiatus from rock band, our good friends Timm and Faith came down for a visit. When they arrived we again lamented how the precious fungus had foiled us and unless we wanted to shuck out 40 dollars for a measly pound, we should simply throw in the towel until next year. It was around this time that Timm mentioned he had brought along some treats that we could use for our culinary ventures over the weekend. He pulled a small cotainer (that's for you , Timm) out of the fridge and you can imagine my look of surprise when I saw those elusive suckers hiding beneath the lid. It just so happened that Timm's Aunt had them growing in her yard of all places and she was generous enough to share a few with him, and in turn, us.
We had all decided that pork was on the menu for the night and after a few stops at local stores, we decided on a 4 lb loin. The morels went into a sauce with salt, pepper, butter and cream and made for a delicious topping of the pig.
I imagined every bite of the morel sauce as it were my last on earth. Seeing as how the morel has such a short(and elusive) season, you almost have to relish every last morsel. If we had the funds, we would have these mushrooms flown in from all over the earth to have them on top of our steaks, our pork, our chicken, our pasta, our asparagus, well, I think you get the picture. But with a price tag of $40-$50/lb, we will remember the woody and wild flavor until next year when we are lucky enough to stumble across a patch under a dead elm tree, or have friends who are willing to share. Either way, we are happy that we had the chance to dine on these beautiful specimens and will wait patiently until next year when we can don our hip boots and walk through the muck searching for this tasty treat.
So glad you shared a pic of the mighty morels as that will have to satisfy us until next year. Ben found just one tiny morel this year and left it in the woods for a deer to munch on, how generous of him!
ReplyDeleteI wish someone would tell us why, for the past two years, we have had very few morels in the forty acre woods that surroud us. And yes, a shroom bag (compliments of Cha & T) is used so the spores are left in the woods!