Don't Be Afraid to Try Something New - Morel Mushrooms

They look really weird.

I've heard of morels. I have heard and read that they can be sandy. I know you are supposed to soak them before cooking but really? I had never eaten one and had no idea what to do with them. So when I saw them at the Farmer's Market this morning I could not resist. I stared for a moment, taken aback by the steep price. Then I shrugged and added them to my produce purchase.

When I got them home I turned to the internet to find a recipe to cook them with. There are many. They are much loved by their fans. There were too many recipes and I was overwhelmed.  We were having beef wraps for dinner. So I decided to stir fry them in with the rest of the veggies for the wrap. Big mistake. The next time I make them, and there will be a next time, I plan to make them all by themselves so we can enjoy them in all their glory. They are delicious.

I was lucky enough to have some garlic from my garden to go with them. I hope I can get one more batch to enjoy with my fresh garlic. (Fresh from the ground garlic is it's own brand of culinary heaven.)

So how did I make them? First I put them into a bowl of warm water. Then I sprinkled about a teaspoon of salt onto the water and left them to soak for about 15 to 20 minutes while I ran back to the grocery store for the other ingredients for dinner.

When I got home I cut a little under 1/2 pound sandwich steak into strips as well as the morels, a green pepper and 1/2 a vidalia onion. I also had my minced garlic. I sauteed the sandwich steak in my nonsitck pan and set that aside. I then sauteed the other vegetables.

Culinary sin in progress - Still Delicious!

I had some flour tortillas (but this would taste so much better with whole wheat or spinach torillas.) to wrap the mixture in. I tend to add about 1 tablespoon of light thousand island to the tortilla for flavor. Not sure why it's always delicious with the meat, green pepper and onion but it is.

Despite committing a terrible sin against these lovely mushrooms they held their own with the rest of the ingredients. We did pick some out to eat on their own because they were so yummy. However when we took a bite of mushroom in with the rest of the ingredients they were just as good. That's the morel of the story here. I bought a produce item I didn't know what to do with. I didn't do the best thing I could have done with them but it still worked out. I know better for next time and I enjoyed my produce heavy dinner enormously.