Mmmmmm Morels

Hunting for morel mushrooms is a time-honored forager's pleasure.  Wet woods and rain followed by hot temps usually bring these tasty fungi up and out. Lately, weather patterns have been disrupted and so the predictability in the appearance of these early May treats is hard to pin down. 

One is simply forced to head out to the woods and enjoy the spring flora and fauna day after day...how we suffer.

Our old hunting grounds of ten and twenty years ago are pretty well consumed by the spread of garlic mustard. So we have tramped alot over the past few years looking for just the right new spot. When we don't find morels, a kind neighbor shares or, if worse comes to worst, a stop at farmer's market to buy a few at a dear price is still fine with us. We crave the season's fruits and fungi!  This year, we supported a local farm family who found bushels of morels and paid the price for some amazingly big yellow beauties.

We usually get enough to put in some scrambled eggs or to saute lightly and put on toast.  Rarely, we still have some hoarded ramps and then we make our absolute favorite spring treat - ramp and morel pizza!

We saute the morels and ramps lightly. If we're lucky, we still have a chunk of garlic scape pesto (those lovely curlique greens that grow on your garlic as it strives to flower) saved in the freezer to spread over the pizza dough to create the foundation for the pizza. 

Garlic Scape and Almond Pesto
Blend together into a fine pesto paste.

• 10 garlic scapes, chopped fine
• 1/3-1/2 cup finely grated Parmesan cheese
• 1/3 cup slivered almonds, lightly toasted if you like
• sea salt to taste
• up to 1/2 cup olive oil

We add goat cheese and mozzarella, perhaps some slices of roasted fresh asparagus, a little Italian sausage on Lloyd's homemade dough and pop it on the grill.  The tastes are unique and sublime. Spring is encompassed!

And if we don't happen upon more morels this year in our hunt, we'll be back tramping again next spring. The woods invite us to enjoy them no matter what the result of our quest (I will say we found one lone stalk of tasty wild asparagus on our latest morel tramp so all is not lost in the tasty treats department). And that makes it all the more special!

Singing Sorrel's Praises

In the spinach family, sorrel has a tangy bite and pokes its head up early to greet the spring. Tender leaves are great in salads or added fresh to yogurt to make a sauce.  When they are cooked down, they turn a less lovely shade of green, but their tart taste stays true.

I've planted it in the garden and am happy to see it in spring (hint: I plant this perennial in the ground in a pot to keep it's spreading ways under control). We love to add it to our first greens - watercress and spinach - when we make our spring salads.  It is delicate and doesn't keep well so with my own plant,  I just pick what I need when I need it.

We recently came across a beautiful soup recipe from Deborah Madison's Vegetable Literacy. She breaks out vegetables into their larger families (mint, carrot, knotweed, thistle, cucurbit, lily, sunflower, morning glory, legume, grass, goosefoot, nightshade and cabbage) and then talks about how to use foods within the same family. Like all her cookbooks, it is a rich and wonderful source of information and savory recipes that is a delight to read for research and for finding good foods to make.

 Ramped Up Spinach Soup with Lovage and Sorrel
(translated into Marge-ese)

2 c. chopped ramps (about 3 oz)
big handful of sorrel leaves (about 2 oz)
8 ounces of spinach leaves, w/o stems
2 T butter or delicate olive oil
3 c. ramp broth, water or light chicken stock
2 lovage leaves (we didn't have that and skipped this)
freshly ground black pepper
heavy cream or thick yogurt (optional)
toasted bread crums

Melt the butter over medium heat. Add the ramps and cook for 2 minutes. Add sorrel, spinach and 1 t. salt. Coat the veggies with the butter. Then add the broth, bring to a boil and simmer 10 minutes. At this point, if you have it, add the lovage.  Cool slightly and puree in blender. Gently re-heat and season to taste with salt and pepper. Serve with a smidgen of cream or yogurt swirled in. Add a few pinces of breadcrumbs if you want.

Simple and delicious as a spring rain!

Ramping Up for Ramps

And the spring food continues!  We are late this year for ramps - the wild leeks that grow in swaths in just the right spot. They usually spring up in late April and then literally fade away soon after. While we do some foraging, all our tramping this spring never revealed a good spot for these oniony short-lived treats. We don't worry about it though. Our friends at Harmony Valley Farms sustainably harvest these alliums and sell them at farmer's markets and the Viroqua Food Coop.

We always try to get our hands on 5-10 bunches during the season and cook with abandon. Stir-fries, added to scrambled eggs, sauteed and added to soups and stews, made into a pesto, on pizza. Theses are all wonderful ways to use these roots.

We were first introduced to ramps through our CSA on the eastern side of the state. Our May shares often contained ramps that our farmer Steve brought over from this area. We fell instantly in love with them. We were the CSA pick-up point for our area and I always hoped that members would take one look at these and put them in the "Anybody can take these" box for unwanted veggies. I would even leave an oh-so-casual note, "If you don't want your ramps, we would be happy to have them". One friend, a cook of some reputation though unfamiliar with ramps, took that as a ringing endorsement for these treats...and I didn't get his share!

Locally a Ramp Festival has started (invitation only..and no, we aren't on the list) in a forest that boasts fields of ramps. Last night Lloyd and I met some friends at the Rooted Spoon Culinary for a spring ramps dinner featuring ramps dug Thursday from those fields. The menu was delightful and included:

• Chicken and ramp terrine
• Ramp pesto and goat cheese crostini
• Pickled ramps (to die for)
• Pea shoot salad with ramp dressing
• Trout stuffed with ramps
• Couscous with wild mushrooms, carmelized ramps and watercress
• Maple creme brulee

We wondered if we would be overwhelmed but our chefs knew how to weave the strong flavors throughout the meals in a way that had us savoring the offerings.

The fleeting season of ramps is almost over but we feel like we honored it well. And there are still two more bunches in the fridge to play with!