When working with something as special as morel mushrooms, I’ve learned to keep things simple.
While many people forage for morel mushrooms on their own here in Wisconsin, I choose the easier path and just pick them up from the farmer’s market. Of note at the market this week was the variance in pricing. One stand was selling them for $100 a pound. The cheapest we saw was $38 a pound. I would have felt like a sucker had I bought them from the former.
The nice thing is that you don’t need to purchase huge amount to enjoy morels. In fact, just a quarter pound of these brain-like mushrooms was enough to make Jason and me a perfect lunch after spending all day Saturday working on our built-in shelves (Okay him, not me. I was baking). Some crusty bread, a little wilted spinach, shallots and some good goat cheese is all you need. And butter of course.
Really, these would work nicely with any soft cheese or greens. I took inspiration from fellow Madison blogger Wisconsin From Scratch, who used mascarpone and some herbs to top her toasts. So don’t worry too much about following a recipe. Just make sure you let the morels be the star of the show.
- 1 tablespoon butter
- 1 large shallot, sliced thin
- ¼ lb morels, thoroughly washed, halved and cut into strips
- 1 large handful spinach, chopped
- salt and pepper to taste
- a couple pieces of crusty bread
- 2 oz goat cheese
- In a medium sized pan, melt butter over medium heat. Add shallots, and cook until fragrant. Stir in morels, cooking until they soften (about 2 minutes). Add in spinach and cook until wilted (about 1 minute). Remove from heat, season with salt and pepper to taste.
- Toast your bread, spread goat cheese on it, and top with the warm vegetables.
Inspired by Wisconsin From Scratch.
[…] Morel, Spinach, and Goat Cheese Toasts – Morels are a special little fungus, and this is how it should be […]
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