Thursday, July 03, 2008

Spring of the Summer Sky

I spent time looking into the abyss of the Spring of the Summer Sky yesterday. She (actually they) spoke to me. I am humbled and terrified. I'll visit her again soon, this time with "the set." I'll send out directions and a rendezvous date for anyone wh0's interested.

We gotta revere the eternal coil before the coil casts us off. Here is The Mother presenting her Pre-Children as counselors, and all we gotta to do is line up and accept them? Could it be that easy?

Some folks just visited The Spring of the Summer Sky with Budweiser, stinky kids and grousing matriarchs. To them it was a big blue hole in the ground. We'll go pre-dawn at fall, with reverence and an amplified sense of wonder. Just let me know if you're in. I'll make a fine breakfast afterwards.

Friday, May 16, 2008

Venison Morel Glaze

Grandma did it by feel and couldn't tell me the recipe. I'll try to do the same here - from memory, an improv recipe I love... adjust the ingredients to suit your taste.

1# venison loin
2 tbsp olive oil
2 cloves garlic, crushed
2 scallions, finely chopped
1 small bay leaf
1 sprig fresh rosemary
1 tsp kosher or sea salt
2 tbsp red raspberry preserves
1 tsp balsamic vinegar - the richer the better
1/4 tsp ground black pepper
1/4# fresh morels, sliced lengthwise
1 bunch white asparagus spears

Cube 1" thick slices of venison loin into flat medallions. Heat olive oil in sautee pan until almost smoking. Add bay leaf, garlic, rosemary and 1/2 of the salt. Sautee until garlic just starts to turn dark. Add venison medallions and sautee for 2 minutes each side - they should be browned outside and lightly rare on the inside. Salt and pepper the medallions, remove and set aside on a serving plate and cover with foil to keep warm.

Cut the asparagus spears in 1" diagonals and steam until lightly done. Remove to serving bowl and add a dollop of butter and a pinch of salt.

Place the scallions, balsamic vinegar and raspberry preserves in the sautee, and heat until the mixture slightly simmers. Add the morels and cook them for several minutes - don't fry them, just cook them.

Serve the venison medallions with the morels and raspberry glaze drizzled on top, alongside a generous helping of asparagus. A nice crusty sourdough bread and a fruity Missouri red wine compliment the meal. When the wife and kids say, "ewww, mushrooms and deer meat!" give them $10 and send them off to McDonalds. Enjoy this feast alone!

Thursday, May 08, 2008

Culinary Ecstasy

Morels again.

Most commonly I egg wash 'em, flour them, and fry them in oil. Tonite I lightly egg washed them, dredged them in plain breadcrumbs, and fried them in pure, unsalted butter, with just a hint of salt and fresh ground black pepper.

Aw my freakin' chakras opened up! Oooooh! I'll never go back to flour and oil.

This weekend I'm gonna repeat the exercise, but this time with leeks, asparagus and medallions of venison loin.

If I die soon after, it will be with a grin the mortician will not be able to remove.

If morels grew year-round, I could easily give up meat.

Tuesday, May 06, 2008

Goodbye Missouri Morels

Farewell until next year, little spongy friends. After a serious ass-busting, bushwhacking last foray, all I could find was one solitary dried-out M. Esculenta. All of the half-frees, all of the gyromitras, all of the blacks, all gone now. With another rainstorm coming in, there's a possibility for more commons by this weekend. But with a freezer full of breaded shrooms and literally a bucket full in the refrigerator, I believe I've given it my all this year.

Last night, I went to the only location likely to produce. I was clouded by black mosquitoes biting me right through ounces of DEET, getting in my eyes and nose and ears. A wise sage once told me that morels put off a scent that drives mosquitoes away, and when the morels have gone the mosquitoes attack. Maybe so, maybe no. But it is a ripping yarn nonetheless.

If you are pure in heart and respect Mother Gaia's sacred places, the morel will find you, too.

Saturday, May 03, 2008

More and More Morels

More and more morels.  37 thursday eve.  Morel huting has consumed my life so I had to lay off a few days to meet my pink-assed employer's demands and my whinin' assed family's insecurities.  If only they knew how easily they could be summarily dismissed in favor of a lowly fungus.  Come to think of it, this magical morel season has caused me to re-think quite a few things.  But I digress...

Anyway, tonight, I egg-wash, flour and flash-freeze five pounds of my best M. Esculentas.  There'll be a fried morel feast at the C3 summer solstice show.  I just egg-wash 'em with 50% egg, 50% water with a generous portion of salt and coarse ground black pepper.  I put 'em on a cookie sheet with waxed paper, egg 'em, flour 'em, put 'em on the sheet, and toss 'em into the deep freeze.  Once frozen they go into a gas-tight bag (I use baking bags and suck the air out of them) and back into the deep freeze.

Wednesday, April 30, 2008

Morelizing Again!

Another 33 fine M. Esculentas last night in the vicinity of the Missouri River bottoms. Easily a quarter of them were new growth!

Monday, April 28, 2008

Mushroom Maelstrom

...just a quick hike in the vicinity of Twin Rivers tonight -- just spent an hour in the woods. Yield: 77 common morels, nice ones. Here's tonite's haul!










Here are a couple of shots of the larger blondes and the grays:



Morel Dilemma


What to do with all those mushrooms? A Puzzlement!

I scoured the Crescent Hills Saturday again. Found a young hobo lost, looking for water and directions - had just come off of a freight from Portland headed for Georgia. He couldn't understand why no one would befriend him. I gave him water and directed him to the kind ladies at Route 66 Park.

Moments later I popped out of the woods on top of a popular mountain bike trail. There at my feet were a couple dozen 3" beautiful black morels. The trail riders were oblivious. I packed them up and headed home for some spring yard work.

As I stacked brush I noticed several verpa bohemica (30 or so) and as I picked them I also noticed two 10" blacks, standing right there next to my rock garden. We use no pesticide or artificial fertilizers so those 'shrooms went right into the basket!

Yesterday I decided to brave the drizzle and spend another afternoon in the woods. Jackpot! Underneath blooming may apples, I found about 20 yellows, common morels, in perfect shape, all 5" to 8". I filled my bag and headed home to clean them.

I feasted on blacks and yellows last night. I'll have morels aplenty for the next week. But it doesn't stop there: The weather has turned cool and rainy again, so the fruiting will continue perhaps for weeks.

This has been the best year for Morels that I can remember.

Monday, April 21, 2008

Morel Imperative

First morels of the season! Jackpot!

Aside from the 50 or so ticks I picked off of me (no pain, no gain) I had good luck on this first fruiting of 2008. On April 19 I spent 4 hours in the woods. Here's the yield:

- over 20 Verpa Bohemicas - small and delicate.
- 16 Morchella angusiceps - nice, 3" classic black morels
- One solitary Morchella esculenta - small but lovely and meaty

Sunday morning I had these mushrooms with homemade Missouri small-farm raised pork sausage with lots of sage in natural casings. A breakfast fit for a king.

Where did I find the morels? In the woods, of course!

Tuesday, April 08, 2008

Morel Scout 2008 First Run

Yesterday I took a long foray into the Crescent Hills area scouting morels. Not a thing. Trilliums are up and showing but no blooms, oak leaves are not even out yet. Moderately warm, slow rainfall today may bring them out tomorrow.

But at least I did get my first tick of the season!

Friday, March 28, 2008

Morels are Coming!



Missouri morels are on the way!  This should be the best season in the last decade since we've had ample snow and moisture.  Old-timers say April 15 but with climate change I'll be in the woods as early as next week.

The morel will let you find it if you are pure in heart and respect its fleshy-folded goodness!  Curse it and it will hide.

Saturday, February 23, 2008

Slingshot Effect

Sometimes I wonder how I manage to keep rolling.

Last Friday I headed for a calming weekend on the Ozark Trail, near the devastation of Johnson Shut-ins... Bell Mountain Wilderness to be precise. Leaving St. Louis at a balmy 50 degrees, I found myself on the trail in the wilderness area crunching away on 5 inches of snow topped with an inch of ice. A fatiguing trek for sure. The temperature was in the upper 20's. After building a nice base camp, collecting downed wood, building star fires and settling in things looked pretty mellow if not a radical change from St. Louis.

Saturday evening the skies opened and a torrential downpour ensued until dawn. The ice and snow was rendered snowmelt, and Sunday morning it was time to go home to catch a plane for Manhattan. Except for one small detail: the tiny streams I had crossed Friday were now waist-deep torrents of frigid water. My exit was delayed as I erred on the side of caution. Crossing the last stream with the aid of rope-up, I headed home for the airport, wet and delirious.

From the wilderness to the chaos of 7th Avenue in less than 24 hours slung me into a physical/spiritual/mental change of existence pretty damned fast! I had just enough time to get used to the balmy NYC weather when I boarded a train to Philly and was stranded in amajor snowstorm. I'm packed up and heading home to High Ridge. I'll get home, groove on the family, spend some time in the Audubon Greenway (my back yard!) and then back to NYC.

I'm getting too old for this shit (not!). Resilience is everything! And they say acid takes a lot out of you. Compared to my week of environmental ups and downs, a healthy dose right now would seem like nothing more than a shot of whiskey on a cold morning.