Morel Cream Sauce

I think my favourite morel recipes are mushroom cream sauces. The fat in a cream sauce is a perfect flavour vehicle. Morels? Well morels are like the holy grail of mushrooms to mushroom hunters. Concentrate those incredible morel flavours and infuse them in a bit of butter and cream and you’re on the path to making some people very, very happy. For purists, morels really should simply be sautéed lightly in butter and eaten all by themselves. This way the pure, unadulterated flavour is front and center. And if you’ve never had morels I recommend you try them this way first. Though this sauce goes really well with poultry or pasta.

4 cups morels
1 Tbsp. olive oil
½ cup white wine or sherry
2 Tbsp. butter
½ cup heavy or half and half cream
¼ cup Parmesan cheese, grated
lemon juice, freshly squeezed
sea salt
black pepper (or medley), freshly cracked

To clean morels, slice in half and remove any visible crawlies. Soak in salt water for at least 15 minutes. Rinse under running water. Place morels between a few layers of paper towel and press gently to remove some moisture.

Heat oil in medium skillet over high heat until shimmering. Add mushrooms and cook, stirring occasionally, until well-browned, about 5 minutes.

Add wine and reduce to two-thirds. Turn heat down to medium-low, add butter, cream, and parmesan and simmer for a few minutes. Add a squirt of fresh lemon juice and salt and pepper to taste.

Makes enough for 4 servings.