To die for Winter squash recipe

Last night I thought I was going to be lazy about supper, so I threw some potatoes in to bake around 5.

Around 6 I remembered the gigantic Butternut squash that had been sitting on my counter for a week and decided I'd do something with it. My son came in when I was chopping the squash up and asked what I was going to make with it. I told him that I was imagining a creamy soup, and he said "you mean miso soup?", Which is his absolute favorite food of the moment.

After searching around the internet for a while I came across an interesting page and recipe: Medicine woman recipe

I made a few little changes, but it was the most delicious soup, with delicate, harmonious flavors. Here is what I did:

I guess it could be called "Butternut Miso Soup"

Peel 2 large carrots, 2 large parsnips, and half of a butternut squash with the seeds scooped out. Put these in a large stock pot with 2 quarts of water. Boil for 30 minutes, or till soft enough to mash. Remove the veggies and mash them in a bowl, then blend with a mixer, or you could just put them in a processor.
Return the mash to the boiling water and add 3 T grated ginger, and 3 T finely minced garlic
Simmer for 10 minutes, then remove from heat and add 3-4 T brown or red miso paste, and 3 T tahini paste (perhaps mixing with some water in a small bowl to separate before adding to soup pot)

Cover with lid till time to eat, but don't simmer again. Serve with chopped greens, if desired. Could serve with brown rice.

We ate soup and potatoes and it was the perfect meal. Superyum.

what we done with them

When you love morels as much as we do, it's hard to know when to say when. Looking for them without finding them, looking for them and finding three or four, looking and finding 650-700...harvesting them, cleaning them, preparing and eating them, giving them to people, drying them.. Every step of the process is rewarding, and no matter how many we find, the desire to find more is strong.

Since this is the case, I have developed many morel recipes, all which one could substitute another mushroom depending on the season. A few years ago I made a pretty radical dip. We hadn't found any asparagus, and we really had a TON of morels, so I made another, similar dip. Here it is

Morel Dip 2

3 lbs fresh, clean, chopped morel mushrooms

1 package cream cheese

6 oz parmesan cheese

1 med white or yellow onion, minced

2 large cloves garlic, minced (three or four ramps, including green leafy parts can be substituted)

2 ribs celery, minced, including leaves

1 small package imitation crab meat, roughly chopped into penny sized pieces

1/2 t crushed red pepper

1/2 t freshly ground black pepper

1/2 T sea salt

2 cups white wine, sweeter types like pinot grigio, riesling, or some chardonnay

1/4 stick of butter

-Saute the onions, garlic (or ramps) celery, peppers in butter till translucent. -Add the morels and toss to cover with oil. -As morels become soft and limp, add the wine and allow to reduce in half -Lower heat, add "crab meat", half the parmesan cheese and stir -Chunk cream cheese into the pan a tablespoon at a time, stirring constantly to mix -Pour everything into a casserole or pyrex container -Cover the top with the rest of the parmesan cheese, a grind of black pepper, and a pinch of red pepper flakes Bake at 375 deg for 25-35 minutes.

I also made a breakfast frittata that was delicious

Sweet Potato and Morel Frittata

2 lbs fresh, clean, chopped morel mushrooms

3 green onions, chopped

1 small sweet potato, peeled and sliced into rounds

a handful of chopped spinach

2 cloves minced garlic

10 beaten eggs

1 T salt

1/4 t black pepper

1/4t thyme

1/4 c milk

3/4 c cottage cheese

1/4 c olive oil, or coconut oil

Preheat to 375

-Saute the green onions, garlic morels, spinach, thyme and black pepper in one T of oil

-Let cool in pan. Transfer contents of pan into town scraping the sides so there is nothing clinging to sides of pan. Put remaining oil into pan and put in preheated oven.

-add the beaten eggs, milk and cottage cheese to the mushroom mixture in bowl, stirring to completely blend

-Carefully remove warmed oil from oven and pour egg/mushroom mixture into it. Lay sweet potato slices over surface of mixture.

Bake for 25-40 minutes, or till golden in color, and a knife stuck into center comes out clean.

And finally I couldn't help but try

Morel Fettucini Alfredo with Smoked Andouille

1 lb fresh, clean, chopped morel mushrooms

One container cream cheese

one cup sour cream

1/2 stick butter

5 T milk

2 minced ramps or shallots

3 large cloves garlic, minced

1 1/2 C parmesan cheese

4ox andouille sausage sliced into moons 1T salt

1t pepper

1/4 t nutmeg

1/4 t allspice

Walnuts

-In a large pan sauté the garlic, sausage, shallots/ramps in 1 T butter. Cook till edges are just browning, then add garlic

-Remove the sausage and set aside where no one can see and devour it

-Add mushrooms and toss till they cook down. If the oil looks sparse add a few splashes of olive oil

-Add salt, pepper, spices, and remaining butter.

-Whisking constantly, add sour cream, chunked cream cheese, and the milk one T at a time.

-When the sauce looks smooth, add the parm cheese, a little at a time, reserving a little for the top. Toss sausage in sauce. Serve with parsley or crushed walnuts over pasta of your choice.

So that's what we have been doing with the insane number of morels we found.

4/20/2008 Morels Party Food

Friday night we had a cookout-get-together in celebration of my brother and friend's visit. Considering that we had gathered and eaten hundreds of morel mushrooms over the past week, and still had plenty, we thought it would be nice to prepare them for our guests. Morel purists insist on simple preparation including sauteing with onions and butter, but considering the number of people we had to feed, this method wouldn't provide anything more than a taste; I wanted to make something more substancial that wasn't just for novelty's sake.
After looking on the skinnard-net for a while, we decided on some certain ingredients which had been used repeatedly, but in dip form. This is what we came up with:

Morel cheese dip
small white onion chopped fine
one clove garlic chopped fine
4 tablespoons butter or olive oil
1.5 lb chopped morel mushrooms
2 cups chopped imitation crab meat (I know, I know. Sounds gross)
1 lb fresh wild (or store bought) asparagus spears

Saute onion and garlic in oil (or butter) till golden brown but not burnt.
Add mushrooms and cook till soft. Add a teaspoon of salt.
Stir in "crab" meat and stir around; then add chunks of cream cheese, stirring constantly till evenly mixed.
Pour into a casserole dish and top with parmesan cheese.
Cook in a pre heated, 325 degree oven for 35 minutes, or till the top is brown and bubbly. Serve with bagel chips, corn chips, or crackers.

This recipe was excellent and everyone identified the flavor of the morels. The imitation crab meat is kinda sweet, so it compliments the otherwise salty, savory mixture.

Yesterday evening after our guests had left, Jason and I decided to go over to the forks of the river park and look for more mushrooms. We found about 35 smallish ones and decided to make soup for supper. Here is the recipe:

Morel and butternut soup
1 lb butternut squash cut into small chunks.
1 lb morel mushrooms
1 small onion
3 tablespoons butter
1.5 lb asparagus spears cut into 1 inch pieces
two quarts chicken stock
3 tablespoons flour
.5 cup milk
1 tablespoon garlic powder
.5 teaspoon onion powder
.5 teaspoon white pepper
1 small habenero or scotch bonnet pepper

Again, saute onions in butter till golden, then add mushrooms and squash. Cover with a lid and allow to steam for 7 minutes or so.
Add onion and garlic powder, and white pepper, and chicken stock.
Simmer for 20 minutes till squash is really soft.
In a small bowl whisk flour into milk till smooth, and slowly pour into simmering soup. Use the whisk to stir mixture into soup, and smash some of the squash up into the broth. Throw in asparagus. Cover and reduce heat to low for 10 minutes or more.
Mince hot peppers and sprinkle on top of each bowl as they are served.

This soup was soooo delicious! The mushroom flavor is intensified with the boiling time, but sauteing them first makes the texture a little more firm.