Sorry, I am behind on blogging and have a backlog of posts I want to put up! Let's start with MORELS...
I was all excited the other day because I found two morel mushrooms near our woodlot.
Now, I would never pick and eat a mushroom without getting an expert identification, except for puffballs. They are huge and unmistakeable and nothing else around here looks like them!
But I wasn't about to chow down on these until I checked with my friend Ronna. Not only does Ronna have a duck named after her (our Muscovy who is about to hatch out nine eggs!), she also wrote and illustrated the book Wild in the Kitchen: Recipes for Wild Fruits, Weeds and Seeds.
When I sent her the photos of my two morels, she confirmed their identity and told me to EAT THEM! They were already getting a little aged, so I went back yesterday and cut them off close to the ground.
The final proof that they are morels ? Hollow insides:
As per Ronna's suggestion, I sautéed my two little darlings in butter and Gordon and I had a very nice afternoon snack:
Delicious! I sure hope I find more of these on our farm.
Now, I don't advocate picking and eating wild mushrooms unless you are 100% sure they are safe. There are false morels out there and you don't want to be eating those. But because I had Ronna helping me out, I felt confident about eating these.
Heaven on a plate!
I've never seen these before but they look great and good.
ReplyDeleteHugs
Elna
Very very yummy mushrooms! :)
DeleteI'm so jealous. We only found 2 here this year and I can still taste 'em!
ReplyDeleteI am going to have to look harder next year. There must be more somewhere on this 86 acres!
DeleteSomething about wild free range mushrooms that beats all other mushrooms. Store bought mushrooms? Forget them.
ReplyDeleteThey were so flavourful!!
DeleteI will have to take your word for it since I'll never have the opportunity to try them. They sell for around $50 a pound here in the Twin Cities. I wonder how they propagate because another blogger here in St Paul recently posted he found some in his back yard. It seems like they just grow willy-nilly!
ReplyDeleteFIFTY BUCKS A POUND?! Good grief. I need to ship the to MN!
DeleteI think we will just let you enjoy those mushrooms and eat something else ourselves. We really don't have many mushrooms around here anyway. Great pictures. And love the picture of the cat in the dog bed. Some of our kitties do the same thing.
ReplyDeleteI really wouldn't be eating these if my friend ROnna hadn't identified them for me. I'd be paranoid about poisoning myself. These were so yummy.
DeleteKitties everywhere love to steal dog beds, don't they?
All I can say is WOW!!!! I went back and saw your blog about the puffballs. I ahd never even heard of such thing. Amazing!!!
ReplyDeleteAren't they ridiculous? But oh so tasty!
DeleteI didn't know Ronna was into wild food! It's always nice to find people who appreciate nature's bounty and have a wide palate.
ReplyDeleteShe is! I really like the cookbook she wrote. :)
DeleteMushrooms - one of Father Nature's best inventions! I shall be having rather a lot of them later today wrapped in a curry. Should add that mine are domestic "Ford car" mushrooms, not "Rolls-Royce" morels, otherwise I wouldn't lather them in curryings! Hopefully they'll ward off the dull, grey, flat coolness of our English mis-fire of a so-called spring season! Deeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeelicious things.
ReplyDeleteOh, those ones from the grocery store are such a snooze. I am now growing oyster mushrooms in our basement (in a container, not on the walls!) and next I want a shitake log.
DeleteI would love to find some chanterelles but will need Ronna with me to i.d. them.
Curried mushrooms sound divine. Enjoy!
What a find!
ReplyDeleteI'm behind on my reading so I expect I've got lots of your posts to catch up on. I may just be reading and running on some of them!
I have to catch up on my blog reading too! :)
DeleteVery cool! I am actually hosting a morel linky party at http://www.2sisters2cities.com/2012/05/fresh-produce-tuesday-morel-recipes as part of our Fresh Produce Tuesday series. I would love if you submitted this recipe!
ReplyDelete-m
Oh dear, it's just "melt butter in pan, fry morel!" :)
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