Fresh Morels for Joy!
The random.org number generator has picked Joy (comment #58) as the lucky recipient of the fresh morel mushrooms! Congratulations Joy! She said she’d be featuring them as the star of a pasta dish, which is a great way to enjoy the tender texture and buttery flavor of fresh morels.
For those of you who aren’t Joy, don’t despair, we’ve got a new event starting right now where you could get a Pantry on Steroids sampler for a Mother’s Day gift (there’ll be no doubt who’s her favorite).
Enter here, (hurry! It’s a short one!), tell the rest of the family to put their names in the hat too, and cross your fingers for mom!











I would make a roast with a port wine and morel sauce. Yum!
April 20th, 2010 at 2:37 pmI adore morels! I love to saute them in butter and pair them with fresh trout and fresh asparagus, with some nice crusty bread with of course … real butter.
April 20th, 2010 at 3:28 pmThanks for the opportunity!!
I have no idea. I’ve never had them before. But I’ve been reading about them from @herbfarm and several food bloggers, so it’d be fun to give them a spin.
April 20th, 2010 at 3:54 pmI’ve never cooked with morels, but I would enjoy seeing what kind of tasty dishes I could come up with.
April 20th, 2010 at 4:23 pmI would love to try them in pasta and on pizza!
April 20th, 2010 at 4:51 pmI love using all kinds of mushrooms in my cooking but morel is a mushrooms which I have NOT tried. This is a good opportunity to incorporate them in my cooking.
April 20th, 2010 at 5:01 pmI love using me some Morels in German food. I always have to use dried but I would love to use some fresh in cheesy Morel spaetzle with leek, and in gravy with venison schnitzel…heck maybe some on the side sautéed in bacon fat and a little apple cider….a giant mug of Hacker Pschorr to top it all off.
April 20th, 2010 at 5:08 pmMy fantasy is to have enough morels to saute in butter until I am stuffed…several times!
April 20th, 2010 at 5:10 pmOoooh – 2 lbs! With that I could make some amazing pasta one night and some great grilled flatbread pizza another night. Mmmmm…
April 20th, 2010 at 5:23 pmSeared scallops over homemade linguini tossed with lardons, pecorino romano, sauteed morels, and EVOO; garnished with a chiffonade of ramps.
April 20th, 2010 at 5:40 pmMy morel needs are quite simple – morels and a little butter and salt.
April 20th, 2010 at 5:56 pmWow… with two pounds, I’d enjoy it by the half pound…
0.5. Stuff with cheese and herbs (research for type required) and bake;
1.0. Saute in butter, garlic and rosemary;
1.5. Chop, fry briefly in olive oil with salt and pepper and toss with fresh angel hair;
2.0. Slice thin, layer in a small bread pan with pasta, mozzarella and mellow marinara, and bake…
…and then sit back and enjoy the wonderful pain of excessive indulgence.
April 20th, 2010 at 6:12 pmHomemade pappardelle, shallots, wine and cream. Nothing too fancy – just a good chance to let the morels shine. Shine on, morels. Shine on.
April 20th, 2010 at 6:13 pmmaybe saute them with some shallot and garlic, add some white wine and fresh rosemary and put it over a fat steak ORRRR saute them with garlic, anchovies and asparagus, toss it with some pasta, grape tomatoes, peas and some Parmesan ORRR put them in an omlette with gruyere. SO many possibilities. this is exciting!
April 20th, 2010 at 6:38 pmmorel risotto!!!
April 20th, 2010 at 8:39 pmI have only had morels once…an omelet with a cream, sherry morel sauce. It was divine. I’d try to duplicate that at home. I would keep it very simple to let the morels special taste shine through. Thanks.
April 20th, 2010 at 10:40 pmAlthough I’ve never used morels, I’d lightly saute them and serve over soft polenta.
April 21st, 2010 at 6:26 amI’ve never cooked with morels! But I’d love to saute and serve with seared duck breast…
April 21st, 2010 at 6:34 amMy culinary fantasy is to be wandering the woods after a spring shower while camping and stumbling across a literal field of these tasty treats while just happening to have a method to carry pounds of them home with me.
After cleaning them up, I’d love to fry them up with a nice beer based batter in a Dutch oven and enjoy their wonderful flavor while watching the sunset over the trees and river.
Heaven.
April 21st, 2010 at 6:37 amMorel and truffle 5 course meal, prepared with all things marx foods
April 21st, 2010 at 6:40 amIt’s a simple fantasy, one I put into reality every spring: fresh morels, sauteed in butter, sprinkled with salt. That is all. When it’s that good, it doesn’t need elaborate preparation.
April 21st, 2010 at 6:41 amA morel fantasy for me would be a 5 or 7 course meal with each dish highlighting these fabulous highly prized mushrooms. With wines to match of course!
April 21st, 2010 at 6:56 amI will make an amazing homemade pizza or pasta! Never had morels so will enjoy trying them on something new!
April 21st, 2010 at 7:40 amtwo words: FLOUR, BUTTER.
April 21st, 2010 at 8:00 am‘nough said
My culinary fantasy would be to have Grant Achatz come over with a basket of morels, some jujubees, a melon, and a trout and whip me up something.
April 21st, 2010 at 8:29 amI would make an omlette with some, sautee them in butter to serve with trout and/or make a sauce for lamb with the others. Mmm…I’m getting hungry!
April 21st, 2010 at 8:29 amI’ve never cooked with morels (they aren’t available where I live in the boonies.) I want to try. Please select me!
April 21st, 2010 at 11:01 amI just saw a cool recipe for mashed potatoes topped with morel sauce…I would start there and who knows where it will lead.
April 21st, 2010 at 12:02 pmI’d love to go morel hunting myself, but in absence of that, cooking and eating them will suffice! I’ve been imagining a reinvented beef stroganoff — made with morels. Yum!
April 21st, 2010 at 1:47 pmButter. That’s all they need! A little saute and you’re in heaven.
April 21st, 2010 at 3:46 pmA morel pizza with plenty of garlic sounds mighty good to me.
Thanks for the awesome giveaway!
April 21st, 2010 at 6:34 pmI have not had a chance to eat morels for many years, and my fantasy would be a lovely dinner, starting with a salad garnished with sauteed morels, and featuring a morel bisque.
April 21st, 2010 at 11:44 pmI’ve never had morels – I keep seeing recipes using them and articles about the wonders of morel mushrooms, but I don’t think I’ve ever even seen them at the grocery stores or the public market. I’d love to try them in . . . something spring-like!
April 22nd, 2010 at 4:20 amSauteed in clarified butter, then sprinkled with fancy salt!
April 22nd, 2010 at 7:56 amI think I’d make a whiskey cream sauce with them to serve with grilled grass-fed steaks…or maybe a risotto…or maybe…
April 22nd, 2010 at 9:58 amIve never cooked with them before but I would probably cook them with coconut oil and put them in a pasta recipe!
April 22nd, 2010 at 10:30 amI am thinking of a very fluffy omelette stuffed with creamy morels.
April 22nd, 2010 at 11:22 amIna Garten’s chicken with morels recipe is possibly one of the best things I’ve ever eaten!
April 22nd, 2010 at 11:28 amMy morel fantasy? Okay – I just received 24 beautiful little quail from Marx Foods.
I defrost all of them.
I make a beautiful little stuffing out of fresh morels, fine fresh bread crumbs, shallots and slivers of granny smith apples.
I stuff the quail, pan sear them, deglaze the pan with apple brandy, thicken the sauce with cream and butter and a few more fresh morels and invite 12 of my closest friends for dinner.
The fantasy? None of them can make it and I have to eat all of it (including the rest of the morels) all by myself.
Linda Skelcy
April 22nd, 2010 at 11:45 amAKA The Good Cook
Morel, wild asparagus tart with caramelized shallots and figs.
April 22nd, 2010 at 12:21 pmOMG! I have soo many uses for these! First off, I’d love to make a morel-turbinado vanilla chocolate truffle, then a morel Alfredo for buckwheat pasta, and if I had any left, I’d love to make a morel-butter sauce for some smoked trout or Cornish hen. The recipes go straight to you!
April 22nd, 2010 at 12:37 pmI’ve actually never tried morels before, but I have a cookbook with several recipes calling for them. I’d love to finally make those recipes!!
April 22nd, 2010 at 1:00 pmI love morels! I’d make them with peas and serve under a nice piece of fish.
April 22nd, 2010 at 1:53 pmWould love to get at there essence with a soup, or pair them with some scallops!
April 22nd, 2010 at 2:17 pmI would love to make some chicken and morels with Madiera sauce! If anyone has ever seen the movie Amelie with Audrey Tatou, there is a scene where an old man is repainting Renoir’s Luncheon of the boating party. Amelie states “they look happy” and the old man says They should be!They’re eating hare with morels and waffles and jam for the kids”. Though I think that hare might be hard to come by, I have always wanted to make some sort of epic morel dish and have all the people I cook it for be that ecstatic! I am just learning to cook with different type of mushrooms and would love to win fresh morels!
April 22nd, 2010 at 6:57 pmI have never cooked with morels before but would LOVE to try!
April 23rd, 2010 at 6:29 amOh boy…I would definitely splurge for a tenderloin…something I never buy due to price…but to pair it with the morels would be more than worth it! So probably some sort of grilled tenderloin with morel/butter/wine/garlic sauce!?
April 23rd, 2010 at 6:34 amI’d like to make a really earthy primavera – homemade tagliatelle, morels, peas, brown butter, and pecorino romano. I’d start off with bruschetta made with taleggio and a little garlic/morel spread. Great. Now I’m hungry.
April 23rd, 2010 at 6:39 amI would love to have a never ending supply – now that would be a fantasy.
April 23rd, 2010 at 6:41 amI’ve read somewhere that the best thing Joel Robuchon had ever had was a plate of simple fresh morels sauteed in butter. That’s what I want!!!
April 23rd, 2010 at 7:23 amA spicy, lightly battered deep fried morel, with Brie cheese piped in after frying…
April 23rd, 2010 at 7:25 amMmmm, perhaps saute them in butter and wine and place them on a bed of homemade pasta topped with fresh herbs and veggies from the farmers market.
April 23rd, 2010 at 7:36 amMy morel fantasy is simply just to try one. I’ve never ever eaten anything containing morels. They do look so lucious.
April 23rd, 2010 at 8:02 amDear,
April 23rd, 2010 at 8:42 amEven though Morel mushroom tastes incredible with just butter, I would want to try making Morel-N-Onion, Cottage Cheese Crusted Tartlet and also maybe give an Indian spin on it–Make Mushroom Pilaf and pair it with Turkish Yogurt based Celery-root salad.
WOW! this is awesome!! I would love to fold them into a lightly cooked omelete with farm fresh eggs.. Ohh!! thinking about it makes me happy!
April 23rd, 2010 at 8:46 amI would make my own cheese using them for a twist on quesadillas, and a salsa!
April 23rd, 2010 at 9:04 amAh, morels would be delicious sauteed in butter with a sprinkle of fresh thyme and a wee bit of garlic, then served on toasted baguette points. Yum!
April 23rd, 2010 at 9:22 ammorels. brown butter. homemade pasta. need I say more?
April 23rd, 2010 at 9:23 amI would probably make a pasta where mushrooms is the star. That is such a great veggie. It could easily be subsituted for meat.
April 23rd, 2010 at 9:28 amMy father and I mushroom hunt every year for these little beauties. Hands down my favorite way to enjoy these mushroom is lightly breaded and pan fried. It’s amazing!
April 23rd, 2010 at 10:16 amWe used to forage for fresh morels when I lived in Michigan. We used them any number of ways and I’ve had them many ways since but my favorite was dipped lightly in flour and fried in butter. Simple, elegant and the full flavor of morels in your mouth. My dear mother certainly knew how to cook them!
April 23rd, 2010 at 10:19 amOnly once have I ever had all the morel mushrooms I wanted at a single setting. I have been daydreamin about repeating that heavenly day ever since.
April 23rd, 2010 at 10:32 amI love to create a zippy morel mushroom risotto but would also like to try them in a cream sauce over pasta. Cheers!
April 23rd, 2010 at 10:58 amI have never had them fresh – and THAT would be my fantasy. I have always bought them dried, and reconstituted them for soups and sauces and stews and the flavour is so special that I actually investigated goint Morel hunting in British Columbia Canada a year after their horrible forest fires.
April 23rd, 2010 at 11:17 amYUM!
What good culinary fantasy DOESN’T include morels?
April 23rd, 2010 at 11:37 amooh morels!!!! I think I’ll give risotto another chance: with morels and cheese and asparagus. Help me make it happen
April 23rd, 2010 at 11:37 amI’ve never actually HAD morels. I think I’d have to have a party! Barbara Kingsolver has a recipe for morel asparagus bread pudding in Animal, Vegetable, Miracle that sounds really intriguing.
April 23rd, 2010 at 11:51 amI would make quite a few recipes with all of those morels, but the first thing I would do is to try them just coated with a little flour and sauteed in butter to satisfy my craving! Then I would pull out the recipes and decide which to make next. So many uses, so little time!
April 23rd, 2010 at 12:17 pmA tasty morel risotto no doubt for me
April 23rd, 2010 at 12:27 pmMorels and Creamy Polenta
1. Cook and cover polenta and keep warm over low heat.
2. Heat 5 tbsp salted butter in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Once the butter is melted, add shallots and cook until soft, about 2 minutes. Add morels, salt, and pepper and cook, stirring occasionally, until golden brown, about 8 minutes.
3. Splash the mushrooms with a few 1/4 cup of Planeta Bianco.
4. Stir in 2 tablespoons butter and Parmesan into polenta and divide it among 4 bowls. If the polenta has become stiff, stir in warm milk a tablespoon at a time until the polenta becomes creamy again.
5. Top the polenta with the morel mixture, shaved parmesean, and parsley. Serve hot.
April 23rd, 2010 at 2:44 pmI would make the biggest morel pie imaginable. Seriously. Count me in, and thank you.
April 23rd, 2010 at 5:07 pmHeat. Butter. Salt. Maybe eggs.
April 23rd, 2010 at 6:10 pmHmmmmm! I love mushrooms, but I’ve never tried morels. If I won, I would have to look up an awesome recipe to cook them up.
April 23rd, 2010 at 7:04 pmMy morel culinary fantasy is to have the chance to try these wonderful mushrooms and cook with them for the first time ever! Yes…I am a true morel virgin. I would like to make a cream sauce or gravy of some sort for pasta…..allowing me to experience the full flavor with as little interference as possible
April 23rd, 2010 at 8:42 pmI LOVE morels sauted in butter and a splash of wine. yum!
April 23rd, 2010 at 9:24 pmI’ve never used morels but I would looove the opportunity! I think I would sautee them in butter and put in a pasta…or steak…or seafood…the possibilities are endless!
April 23rd, 2010 at 10:43 pmJust the way my father always cooks them…cut in half, dredged in flour/paprika/S&P and then pan fried in liberal amounts of butter till crispy. Heavenly!
April 23rd, 2010 at 11:34 pmWe never get good morels here and I am craving a morel risotto right now–cheesy, earthy and delicious!
April 24th, 2010 at 12:03 amSaute with butter and salt. Perfect!
April 24th, 2010 at 12:07 amMy morel fantasy would be to be at a beautiful house in the south of France and walk out in the ancient woods with, oh, Jean Paul Belmondo. We would pick some morels, desport in the cool of the forest with a bottle of great champagne and then return and fry them over an outdoor grill with homemade hazelnut oil and a handful of fresh herbs from the garden with a splash of our wine and eat them with toasted fresh bread … then some more champagne for us…then.. well it is Jean Paul Belmondo!!
April 24th, 2010 at 4:05 amThere’s an asparagus and morel quiche I’ve been wanting to make. . . eiher that or sauteed in butter over pasta or bread.
April 24th, 2010 at 5:16 amMy morel fantasy is a creamy risotto!
April 24th, 2010 at 11:12 amI agree with brenna; I’d pair them with fresh trout and fresh asparagus.
April 24th, 2010 at 11:40 amI have never cooked with Morels. But I am already dreaming of different ways – maybe risotto, on a grilled flatbread, pizza. Boy, Can’t wait to cook with them. Thanks.
April 24th, 2010 at 12:17 pmIn risotto, mmm so good.
April 24th, 2010 at 2:23 pmI’ve never cooked with morel mushrooms before, but love cooking with mushrooms; and always love to try cooking with new ingredients.
April 24th, 2010 at 4:37 pmJust saw a clip on the French site cuisiner en ligne of a dish with asparagus and morels and a poached egg.
April 24th, 2010 at 5:52 pmwhile i have seen delicious recipes that use them, i have never had morel mushrooms myself. would love to win to have the opportunity to try them.
April 24th, 2010 at 6:28 pmI have more than one choice to do with these lovely mushrooms:
April 24th, 2010 at 6:54 pm1- Chicken and Mushroom Nouelle in wine sauce, already posted on my blog.
2- Mushroom Galettes and yummy and vegetarian pastries
3- steak and mushroom strudel
The best morels I ever had were simply cooked in a generous amount of good butter and topped with flaked sea salt.
April 24th, 2010 at 7:35 pmthis year i would love to make a fresh pasta dish with sauteed morels. i’ve only found two morels this year, so i need some help!
April 25th, 2010 at 6:26 amI would have to try them dipped in flour and fried because I hear thats the best way to try them. Then I would make a frittata!
April 25th, 2010 at 6:57 amMorel mushrooms are the one thing I absolutely love (truly my favorite food) We have gone mushroom hunting multiple times a year every year of my life (even when 9 months pregnant I was happily out mushroom hunting) I love them in almost anything, but truly, the best is sauteed in butter, then over good homemade bread that has been toasted! YUMMY..:)
April 25th, 2010 at 7:05 amI have never tried these mushrooms before, but I’m sure one of the dishes I would use these in would be a pasta cream dish.
April 25th, 2010 at 8:38 amMy culinary fantasy is to have fresh morels every day of the year (not the cultivated ones, either, as they are just not the same!). In my opinion, simple is best – sauteed in butter until crispy with a dash of salt. Heaven!!!
April 25th, 2010 at 9:13 amNever had morels, bu I imagine a nicely seared rare steak with a morel cream sauce would be pretty tasty!
April 25th, 2010 at 5:59 pmI’d put them on my Fruit Loops.
April 25th, 2010 at 6:44 pmI think I would try a recipe with pasta of course, or stuff them in ravioli, or eat them sauteed with salt, or in stuffed breads, or with vegetables, or a cheese and morels pie, or on a steak, in rice, with sausages, or a roast, with beans on on green eggs and ham. It’s endless what I could put them on, but you’d probably get bored, of reading a longer comment.
April 25th, 2010 at 10:24 pmI am the challenger on Iron Chef and the secret ingredient is Morels (I am trilled because they are so versatile) I make a creamy morel soup, wonderful roasted morel salad, morel ravioli, morel sliders, and finally a morel torte. The judges love it all, they are a hit and I win…….. Unfortunately the alarm clock goes off and it was all a dream but on the bright side I can still make my dishes thanks to Marx foods. And I can enjoy my dreams because you never know sometimes dreams do come true!
April 25th, 2010 at 10:52 pmI so want to give these a try.
April 26th, 2010 at 6:42 amYum, I’d love to make a wine-morel sauce for steak/seitan.
April 26th, 2010 at 8:24 amI love mushroom sauteed in butter and add garlic annd fresh tarragon and a little white wine.
April 26th, 2010 at 8:30 amSauteed lightly in butter and a light white wine, then served with some risotto, steamed asparagus and perhaps some roasted chicken.
The fantasy part would be that I’d never run out of morels, of course. ; )
I’ve got two packages of dried morels in the pantry, but they just don’t compare to fresh. *sigh*
April 26th, 2010 at 8:52 amI would create a necklace of 2 pounds worth of morels and drape them over my pee-pee to prove what a morel kind of guy I am.
April 26th, 2010 at 10:33 amI see these morels next to a slice of organic tofu-not any tofu, Dearies. No, one that has been cured in a light soy with aromatics like garlic, rosemary and thyme. Some black and red pepper would be in there too along with some aged vinegar.
April 26th, 2010 at 10:43 amThe grilled slices would lay above garlic mashed potatoes ladled with a bit of a morel & cabernet red wine sauce. On the side would be a crisp, fresh salad. Some of those pickled ramps below would be in it, as there acidity and texture would certainly finish this dish off nicely…
Fresh Jersey cow cream, unpasteurized, thin sliced wild garlic bulbs, Spanish saffron and chopped morel mushrooms in a sauce for either Balmain bugs or Scottish Western Isles deep diver scallops, pan seared in fresh cream butter, garnished with chopped rue and Champagne grapes. Both served on the halfshell.
April 26th, 2010 at 11:28 amI had some wonderful morel mushrooms at Joes in Reading Pa. many years ago with my Wife and her parents. I still savor the pleasure of those tasty morsels to this day. That was about 25 year ago or maybe a bit more. They overpowered the fact that they had period furniture in the entrance.
April 26th, 2010 at 1:05 pmI love to make a morel sauce for pan seared steaks (filets). That is so delicious!
April 26th, 2010 at 3:43 pmMy morel fantasy would include pasta, a morel sauce with LOTS of morels, and lots of Michigan wine.
April 26th, 2010 at 3:56 pmshrimp stuffed gigantic morels with a cream sauce!oh, and red wine of course…
April 26th, 2010 at 8:48 pmi have very little experience with cooking morels. SO, i would consult with some of my chef friends and come up with something scrumptous!
April 27th, 2010 at 9:15 amI love morels!!!!!! My wife sautes them in butter, cooks them in truffle oil, marsala wine, olive oil, includes them in stroganoff, pizza, quiche, omelets, etc. They are wonderful!
April 27th, 2010 at 9:30 amI have never actually tried a Morel, so I guess first would be to sauté them in just a bit of butter to get an idea of their flavor profile. From there, a new fantasy will be born.
April 27th, 2010 at 11:19 amThere are a number of things I would do with two pounds of these delicious fungi! I would definitely make some secret recipe chef’s butter with them small diced, adding in to some sweet cream butter with shallot, fresh herbs and spices. Then I would be able to enjoy them for months from the freezer!
With the rest, I would probably make a dish or two at a potluck dinner and share with my chef friends here in Houston. Most likely simply prepared to accentuate the true flavor of the Morels. I would try them on a wheat crust thin pizza with garlic oil, fresh herbs,spices, and a mild cheese like a hard Manchego.
I would use what little I had left to add over some grass fed beef from one of the local markets I support. Again, not wanting to override the mushrooms, I would lightly sear them in oil and seasonings with thyme flowers, then roast in the oven to increase the depth of flavor. Then I would serve the beef(most likely ribeyes(grilled), with a red wine demi glace and the oven-roasted Morels on top…mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm
April 27th, 2010 at 11:29 amMy morel culinary fantasy is just HAVING SOME. We usually find some every year, but this year was not a good one in my area for morels. We coat them in a light batter and fry them up in butter and sprinkle salt and pepper on top before devouring them.
Oh I hope I win! My husband will be thrilled.
April 27th, 2010 at 12:13 pmI’d keep it simple in order to focus on the flavor of the mushrooms. A simple pasta dish (morels, herbs, olive oil) or an omelette would be amazing!
April 27th, 2010 at 1:52 pmTo be honest, I would not know how to use these beauties. They seem like such a treat that I would want to make something special, but at the same time, I would want to taste the flavor fully. I might just sautee them for the first recipe and then go more adventurous with others. Definitely make a quiche with them too.
April 27th, 2010 at 6:14 pmI think that morls are best in creamed myshroom soup with pancetta croutons, or maybe in a rissotto?
April 27th, 2010 at 6:48 pmI want them so I can make a special dinner for my wife on our 45th anniversary. The onlyh oh ter ingredient I’m sure of so far is champagne! I’d make them a couple of ways, but simple is good, just saute in butter.
April 28th, 2010 at 2:52 amThere is no better mushroom!! I don’t need anything with my Morel mushrooms besides butter and garlic. I enjoy the flavor of the mushrooms without adding them into a recipe.
April 28th, 2010 at 6:15 amAlthough I have enjoyed morels in a restaurant, I have yet to cook with them myself. 2 lbs would be enough to try several different recipes and techniques, allowing me to become “morel” familiar with them as an ingredient and star of a dish.
April 28th, 2010 at 7:52 amI have no idea, which is why this is a great opportunity to try. I might put them in pasta with a creamy white sauce. I’ll figure it out lol
April 28th, 2010 at 8:50 pmI have never tasted Morels before and I know I would enjoy not only the flavor but cooking with them.
Pick me…Pick me…Pick me!
April 28th, 2010 at 10:52 pmCongrats, Joy!
April 29th, 2010 at 7:21 pm