COST OF MOREL MUSHROOMS RECIPES

Steps:

• Heat the stock, then pour over the morels and allow to hydrate for 30 minutes, then swish them to remove grit, remove the mushrooms and reserve then strain the liquid and keep separate.
• Separate the mushrooms into 2 piles: saving prettiest, smallest mushrooms that will fit on a spoon for garnish, rough chop the other half.
• Sweat the celery and onion in 2 tablespoons of the butter for 5 minutes, add the rice and cook for a minute more, then add the sherry and reduce by half. Add the stock, and the chopped morels bring the mixture to a simmer and cook for 20 minutes on low heat, or until the rice is just tender.
• Transfer the mixture to a blender*, add the cream, and puree until very smooth—a minute or two, carefully starting on low speed and gradually moving to high as you get comfortable-hot soup in a blender can be dangerous--make sure there's room for air to escape through the top of the blender lid while pureeing. Gradually add 3 tablespoons of butter. Finally, season the mixture with salt and white pepper to taste.
• To serve, heat the reserved pretty morels in the remaining butter until just caramelized and lightly browned and spoon them onto the hot soup, garnishing with chives or wild onion tops if using.

Steps:

• Soak morels for up to 4 hours in salt water. The mushrooms are hollow, and the salt water will kill any little bugs that might be living in them.
• Drain and rinse with fresh water.
• Slice at least one side of the mushrooms.
• Lie mushrooms on a towel.
• Direct the air flow of a small fan onto the mushrooms and let dry up to 24 hours.
• The mushrooms will reduce in size drastically. When they are dry, bag them in a ziplock bag and throw them in the freezer to use later.
• Reconstituting Mushrooms:.
• Soak mushrooms in broth, wine, or water for up to 5 minutes. They will spring back to the size they were when they were picked.