Photo by Kimberly Daeschel
Provenance of Dish
This dish is based on a classic cream sauce recipe my Mom used for many meals growing up, most notably her famous creamed onions, made each year for Thanksgiving dinner. This recipe swaps the onions for delicious fresh morel mushrooms and has everything served over classic pasta. Fresh chive blossoms provide a nice pop of color and flavor on the finish. This dish is simple but oh so good and provides the perfect backdrop for enjoying the flavor of the morels. Use milk in place of the cream for a lighter taste or go full cream if you are feeling decadent! A crusty French bread will pair perfectly.
Recipe
Ingredients
1 package fettucine pasta
½ cup + 2 T butter
¼ cup flour
¼ cup heavy whipping cream (you may use milk instead if desired)
1 1/4 cup milk
Salt to taste
2 cups fresh morel mushrooms
Chive blossoms (optional)
Pepper to taste
Instructions
Boil a medium pot of water and add fettucine pasta. Cook according to package instructions.
Add morel mushrooms to a medium pan. Cook on medium until any water remaining in the mushrooms has evaporated. Once dry (this may happen immediately if your mushrooms are already fairly dry), add 2 T butter. Cook mushroom on medium low for approximately 10 minutes.
While mushrooms are cooking, take another medium pan and add remaining butter (1/2 cup), cooking on a low temperature until melted, then remove from the heat. Stir flour into the melted butter. Add the cream and mix all together, then place back on the stove on a low temperature (3/4), being careful not to burn it.
Slowly add the milk ¼ cup at a time, stirring constantly to avoid lumps. Once it starts to thicken, add salt to taste. Add cooked morels to the sauce, mix, and remove from heat.
Serve morel sauce over the cooked pasta. Add chive blossoms (pick small bunches off the large flowerhead) and salt and pepper to taste.
