pantryslut

Last Thursday,

nishgyrl invited me to partake of her secret morel mushroom stash. But alas, when the date came around, the morels had gone moldy. We've promised each other a make-up date.

Meanwhile, I'd told

black_pearl_10 how excited I was by the prospect of morels, how much I missed the Midwest morels of my youth, etc. etc. He confessed to me that he had never tasted a morel.

Apparently his curiosity was piqued, though, because he insisted that I buy some when we ran into them at the farmer's market on Saturday.

I cooked them on Sunday. Basically, I sliced them, roasted them in the oven with some thinly sliced yellow potatoes, then finished them off at the last minute with a creme fraiche-based sauce spiked with shallots and cognac. (This was combining two different recipe ideas, btw.) I served this with an arugula salad, to balance the richness/earthiness of the main dish. Yum all around, and pretty easy, too. It's one of those combinations that comes off as very fancy without a lot of effort.

Another note: morels are one of those foodstuffs that require delicate poly negotiation.

imnotandrei wishes to share in morelly goodness sometime Real Soon Now, too. (Of course, he might get the leftovers, not such a bad deal.) And of course I still have that make-up date!