Episode 5 : Morel Mushrooms
Dirty, sweaty and bug-ridden - Bob hikes into a remote swath of burnt forest in northern British Columbia in search of morels - one of the most valuable and sought after mushrooms in the world. Morel pickers are a wild and rugged breed. They live in the bush, covered in soot from head to toe, fiercely guarding their picking spots. It's always a competition to see who can make it out of the woods with the heaviest load, yielding the highest cash return. Can this city slicker take on some of BC's fastest, strongest pickers, all while surviving in the wilderness amongst black bears and burrowing ticks?
Recipes:
Morel Mushroom Risotto
Note: this is a slightly simplified version of the risotto we made on the show with Paul Moran. This one uses dried morels. Of course if you have fresh morels (you lucky sod), use them.
Ingredients:
2 ounces dried morels (or porchini, or shitake mushrooms - or any combination thereof). If you have fresh morels, use 4 ounces of them, roughly chopped, in place of the dried mushrooms. Add them while sautéing the onion and garlic to brown them. Ideally add some dried mushrooms to the chicken stock to increase the mushroom essence.
2 tablespoons olive oil
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 leek, pale green section only, or 1 medium size onion finely chopped, then washed thoroughly
1 cup arborio rice (Available in many grocery stores and all Italian food stores.)
½ cup any dry white wine (suggestion: buy a nice crisp Italian wine and serve the rest with dinner)
3 cups chicken stock, or vegetable stock
1 tablespoon fresh thyme, stems removed and minced or 1 teaspoon dried thyme
1 tablespoon butter
½ tablespoon freshly ground black pepper
¼ cup Parmigiano-Reggiano, ideally freshly grated
Directions:
1. Bring 2 cups of water to a boil. Place dried mushrooms in a medium size bowl and add water. Let stand for 30 minutes. Strain and reserve mushrooms and liquids separately. Let mushrooms cool, then slice.
2. In a heavy medium-size pot over medium-high heat, add olive oil. Immediately add garlic and leek and stir for 3 minutes, or until the leek is translucent.
3. In a second pot, bring stock and mushroom water to a boil, then reduce heat and allow to simmer.
4. Add rice to the garlic and leeks and stir vigorously for about 30 seconds until all of the rice grains are coated in oil.
5. Add wine to the rice, reduce heat to medium, and stir for 2 to 3 minutes, until most of the liquid is absorbed.
6. Use a ladle to add ½ cup of the hot stock to the rice. Stir frequently. Each time the stock is almost fully absorbed, add another ½ cup. Continue stirring and adding stock until rice is creamy yet still a little firm to the bite. (It may not be necessary to use all of the stock.) The total cooking time, once the rice has been added, should not be more than about 25 minutes. To keep the rice slightly creamy, don't wait until the last ladle full of stock is totally absorbed before pulling it off the heat and serving.
Remove from the heat. Stir in mushrooms (if using dried ones), thyme, butter, pepper, and three quarters of the Parmigiano-Reggiano. Serve on warmed plates and top with a sprinkle of Parmigiano-Reggiano.
Yield: 2 servings
Morel Mushrooms stuffed with Qualicum Bay Scallop and Dungeness Crab
Compliments of Warren Geraghty, Executive Chef of West Restaurant in Vancouver, BC
Ingredients:
4 large morel mushrooms
3½ oz fresh scallops
5½ oz fresh picked dungeness crab
3½ oz sea asparagus
½ cup whipping cream
1 egg white
1 small shallot, sliced
1 clove garlic, minced
2 tablespoon Madeira
¼ oz chives, chopped
2/3 cup butter
1 cup white chicken stock (water may be used instead)
salt, pepper, olive oil and butter
Directions:
1. Remove the tail and at least 5mm from the bottom of each morel mushroom. Gently wash, and let rest on a towel.
2. In a heavy bottomed pan over medium heat, sauté the shallots and garlic in a little olive oil and butter until golden brown, then add the trimmed morels.
3. When the morels are softened, add the Madeira and wait until alcohol has evaporated. Cover with water and simmer for approximately 20 minutes, until liquid has again, evaporated.
4. Strain through a fine sieve. Measure the liquid content; add 10% cream and 10% butter.
5. In a food processor blend the scallop meat until smooth, adding a dash of salt and pepper, the egg white, and then blending again.
6. Slowly add 50 ml of cream to the mixture. Pass though a fine sieve then, over ice, fold in the other 50 ml of cream. Then add the crab meat and chopped chives.
7. Place a small teaspoon of mousse in cling film and poach for 3 minutes to check the flavor and seasoning, correct accordingly. Place mousse mixture into a piping bag.
8. Pick through the sea asparagus making sure to remove any woody pieces then wash and drain.
9. Combine the butter and the white chicken stock together in a pan and bring to a simmer, stirring constantly.
10. Pipe the mousse into the cavity of each mushroom then place into the butter/stock emulsion and poach gently for 5-6 minutes.
11. Sauté the sea asparagus over medium-high heat, in olive oil for approximately 30 seconds.
Place the asparagus on the plate; arrange the finished morels over the top. Either with a whisk or a hand blender, create foam on top of the morel bullion, gently spoon this foam over the morels to finish the dish.
Links:
Ponderosa Mushrooms & Specialty Foods
University of British Columbia Herbarium
West restaurant
