Wild Morel Cream Sauce

In the winter months we turn to our store cupboards, looking to preserves and dried foods for a taste of the warmer months. Eric Whitehead, Vancouver Island’s professional mushroom forager par excellence (the man behind Untamed Feast), shares his favourite morel recipe with us, adding that dried mushrooms such as morels offer a more intense, concentrated flavour.

Ingredients:

20 g dried morels (1 pkg. Untamed Feast morels)

1 cup water, room temperature

1 Tbsp. butter

1 cup onion, chopped

2-3 cloves fresh garlic, minced

1/3 cup bacon or pancetta, diced

1/4 tsp. salt

1/8 tsp. pepper

2 Tbsp. aged cheddar, crumbled

2 Tbsp. dry white wine

2/3 cups table cream

2 tsp. all-purpose flour

3 cups pasta of choice

fleur de sel

Method:

Place morels in large bowl with water. Swirl the morels around with your fingers to ensure they all get wet. Let stand for 10-15 minutes, kneading gently occasionally; this ensures full rehydration and helps any grit from nature settle to the bottom of the bowl. While the morels soak, finely dice onion, garlic and bacon. Sauté over medium-high heat in frying pan until golden and slightly crisp. Remove morels from water, gently squeezing them over the soaking bowl. Do not discard soaking water. Finely chop morels and add to frying pan. Reduce heat to medium and sauté for 2-3 minutes. Slowly pour the morel soaking water into the pan, leaving any grit in the bowl (you can also use a fine sieve to catch any grit). Reduce heat to low and simmer 5-10 minutes.

Cook pasta according to package directions. Add aged cheddar, wine, salt and pepper to morel sauce. Simmer for another 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Adjust seasonings if necessary. Combine water and cream. Sprinkle flour over cream and whisk until well incorporated. This mixture will be used to thicken the sauce. Add the thickening mixture to the mushroom sauce, stirring to combine. Reduce heat, simmer and stir for 5-10 minutes. Pour wild morel sauce over cooked pasta, and sprinkle with fleur de sel. Serve with your favourite steamed green vegetable.

Serves 3-4.