Because it’s spring and morels are amazing, we’ve taken the liberty of integrating them into this dish. The results may not be authentic, but they are undeniably tasty.

Drink Pairings: Sake or a lighter Japanese Beer (Sapporo, for example)

Ingredients:                         (Makes 4 Servings)
16oz Dried Soba Noodles
4 cups Fresh Morel Mushrooms
1 tsp Fresh Ginger, grated
2 tsp Sesame Oil
4 large sheets Kombu Kelp
1oz Dried Bonito Flakes
2 tbsp Tamari Soy Sauce
2 Green Onions, sliced
Unsalted Butter & Oil (to cook morels)
Sesame Seeds for garnish

Directions:
1. Bring a pot of water to a boil.

2. Saute the morels in butter (Butter Sautéed Morels Recipe).

3. Add the soba to the water and stir immediately. Cook until tender, stirring occasionally. Drain the soba and run cold water over it to stop the cooking process.

4. Combine 8 cups of cold water and the kombu in a large pot. Bring to a simmer.

5. Once the water has reached the simmer, add the bonito flakes & stir. Turn of the heat and let the flakes steep for about five minutes.

6. Strain out the bonito and kombu.

7. In a bowl combine the tamari soy sauce, 1 cup of the dashi broth, 1 tsp of salt, the ginger, and the green onions.

8. Toss the cold soba noodles with salt, sesame oil, and the morels.

9. Plate the noodles next to a small dish holding some of the sauce, garnish with extra cooked morels and some sesame seeds. Serve.

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Morel Mushroom Recipes

The Foodie Blogroll and Marx Foods teamed up and sent a sample of Dulse Seaweed, Fennel Pollen, Bourbon Vanilla Beans, Maple Sugar, Dried Porcini Mushrooms, Tellicherry Peppercorns, Smoked Salt and Aji Panca Chilies to each of the 25 Iron Foodie Challengers.  Each blogger’s task was to create an original recipe incorporating at least 3 of the 8 ingredients.  As you’ll see below, the Iron Foodie Challengers delivered!

La Bouna Cucina’s timpano recipe was voted the best by readers of the Marx Foods blog, with Cookistry’s ice cream recipe being voted the best by the other bloggers participating.

Browse their incredibly inventive dishes below:

We Like to Cook!: Roman Oxtail Stew followed by Spicy Fennel Creme Brulee

The Well-Lived Life: Chinese Pork Confit Fresh Wraps with Vanilla-Maple Barbecue Sauce and Fennel-Dulse Slaw

The Smart Kitchen: Chile Cranilli Bacon Peanut Butter Sandwich & “Chee” Crab Sandwich

The Growing Foodie: Fennel Pollen Waffles with Vanilla-Chile Syrup & Maple Whipped Cream

The Colors of Indian Cooking: Chenna Poda Indian Style Cheesecake

Seriously Sassy: Spicy Gingerbread Biscotti with Maple Drizzle

Notes from the Alpha Test Kitchen: Toasted Ravioli

La Buona Cucina: Timpano di Maccheroni

Everyday Southwest: Aji Panca rubbed Pork Tenderloin with Porcini Tamale & Sweet Potato Haystack

Kate in the Kitchen: Warming Winter Soup

Kahakai Kitchen: Two Pepper Seared Ahi with Avocado-Dulse Yogurt Sauce, Porcini-Dulse Brown Rice & Smoky Lotus Chips

HyeThyme Cafe: Stuffed Pork Loin with Roasted Veggies & Cornbread

Foodalogue: Sweet, Spicy & Smoky Asian Shrimp

Dog Hill Kitchen: Cherry Pie Lattice Cookies

Cookistry: Ice Cream: Buttery, Salty, Sweet ‘n Nutty

Coco Cooks: Duck Rillettes on Goat Cheese Croquettes with Black Pepper Balsamic Cranberry Relish

Chez What?: Grilled Swordfish, Poached Baby Octopus & Fresh Cured Sardines

Chef It Yourself: Salt & Pepper Salmon with Fennel & Panca Cream

Can´t Believe We Ate: Porcini, Tellicherry & Smoked Salt Crusted Standing Rib Roast

Burnin´ Love BBQ: Potlach Salmon with Umami Risotto

Bite and Booze: Seared Duck Breast with Smoked Salt & Dried Chile over Homemade Pasta & Porcini Cream Sauce

At Home with Rebecka: Tang Yuan with Smoky Hoisin in Spicy Porcini, Seaweed Broth

Adventures of an Amateur Foodie: “Blasphemous” Guanciale Fennel Fried Rice

A Little Bite of Life:  Pfeffernusse Creme Brulee

A Good Appetite: Sweet & Spicy Spare Ribs

Thanks to all of the bloggers for contributing to this delicious recipe collection.  And a special thanks to the Foodie Blogroll for making this possible!

Making dashi at home

Dashi is a stock that can be easily manipulated to suit your individual tastes and the recipe you plan to use it in.  The dashi recipe below was designed for a robust evening-style miso soup, and so is itself rather strong.  For a milder version, use less kombu (2-4 strips), fewer bonito flakes (only one handful), and either switch from matsutake mushrooms to shiitake mushrooms, or leave the mushrooms out altogether.
 

Ingredients:

13 cups of cool water
1 ½ handfuls of bonito flakes (should be thinly sliced and fluffy)
~7 inch-wide strips of kombu seaweed
¼ cup dried matsutake mushrooms (if using traditional dried shiitake mushrooms, use twice as much)

Directions:

1. Wipe off the strips of kombu with a damp towel.
2. Put the kombu and dried mushrooms in a pot of cool water, allowing them to soak for about 10 minutes.
3. Bring the water in the pot slowly to a boil, removing the kombu with tongs or a slotted spoon when it starts to bubble.  Do not throw the kombu away.
4. Add the bonito flakes and skim the surface for any rising particles.  Turn off your burner and let the dashi sit for about a minute before straining.
   
5. Strain the dashi into a bowl, reserving the bonito flakes and the mushrooms.
6. Use dashi immediately in a soup, sauce, or stew, or freeze it packaged in the amounts you plan to use later.

The mushrooms can be cut down to small bites and put in miso soup, (if they’re still too tough, soak them in some more hot water until they are tender).  The first batch of dashi you make with these ingredients is called ichiban dashi (ichi means one, ban is the counter for order and quality, so ichiban means “first,” or “best”).

The kombu and the bonito flakes can be reused (with the addition of some more fresh bonito flakes) for a weaker dashi (niban dashi).  If the kombu has soaked long enough to no longer be tough, you can slice it into smaller strips and add it to miso soup too.

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Culinary Techniques
Mushroom Recipes