Morel Sauce Food

MOREL SAUCE

Steps:

• In a small heavy saucepan boil water with sugar, without stirring, until a golden caramel. Remove pan from heat and carefully add red-wine vinegar and 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar down side of pan (mixture will bubble and steam). Stir mixture over moderate heat until caramel is dissolved,
• about 3 minutes. Remove pan from heat.
• In a heavy saucepan cook morels in butter, stirring, over moderate heat until liquid from morels is evaporated, about 5 minutes. Transfer morels with a slotted spoon to a bowl and reserve. Add shallots to pan and cook, stirring, until golden. Stir in wine and boil until reduced to about 1 cup, about 15 minutes. Add stock and reserved morel soaking liquid (if using dried morels) and reduce to about 1 1/4 cups, about 15 minutes.
• Remove pan from heat and stir in caramel mixture. Sauce may be prepared up to this point 2 days ahead and chilled, covered. Chill morels separately, covered. Reheat sauce over moderate heat before proceeding with recipe. Add morels to sauce with salt and pepper to taste. If desired stir in additional balsamic vinegar, 1 teaspoon at a time, and lemon juice.
• To soak dried Morels:
• Dried morels should be rehydrated in twice their volume of warm water until tender, 10 to 30 minutes. Lift morels out of soaking liquid and strain liquid through a fine sieve into a bowl, reserving it if desired. Pat drained morels dry with paper towels. (Do not eat raw morels as they can cause digestive disorders.)

CREAMY MOREL MUSHROOM SAUCE

Steps:

• Soak the dried morel mushrooms in the red wine just long enough to rehydrate them, about 20-30 minutes is usually sufficient. (I use a plastic container with a lid for this step. That way, I can tilt the container occasionally or shake it around a bit, to be sure all the mushrooms are adequately rehydrating.).
• After the mushrooms are rehydrated, place them in a colander and rinse with cool water to remove any grit from the mushrooms. Leave the colander in the sink to allow the excess water to drain from the colander.
• Finely mince the rehydrated mushrooms; set aside.
• In a large skillet, saute the minced shallots in butter just until they are clear, about 3-4 minutes. Add the minced mushrooms and beef base, and stir well. While stirring, add the cream and pepper, continuing to stir constantly until the sauce is thickened.
• Spoon the sauce over grilled steaks (especially New York or Sirloin), veal, lamb, grilled chicken breasts, or pasta.
• NOTE: For the wine, it doesn't really matter what kind of red wine you use. The wine is just to rehydrate the mushrooms, not to really flavor the sauce. So feel free to use whatever red wine you have on hand. I have used a lot of different red wines for this sauce, and they all seem to work just fine. But I probably use merlot and cabernet the most. But if a different variety of red wine is your favorite, then by all means use it. That way, if you use a wine you actually enjoy drinking, then it's more likely you'll enjoy using it in this recipe.

MOREL SAUCE

Steps:

• Melt 1/4 cup butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Add onions and garlic; saute until onions are soft and translucent, about 10 minutes. Transfer to a bowl, and set aside.
• In the same skillet, melt 1/2 cup butter over medium heat. Add morels, and season with salt and pepper. Saute until morels are soft and their released juices have reduced so they just cover bottom of pan, about 20 minutes.
• Return onion mixture to skillet. Add wine, and cook until it has reduced by half, about 7 minutes. Add chicken stock and cream; cook, stirring occasionally, until liquid is bubbling and starts to thicken, 18 to 20 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Remove from heat, and stir in dill just before serving.

PORK CHOPS WITH MOREL SAUCE

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
• Combine cooking oil and thyme in small dish; set aside.
• Soak mushrooms in 1 cup warm water 30-60 minutes.
• Dust chops with seasoned flour; pat off excess.
• Heat large ovenproof skillet on medium-high. Add just enough olive oil to coat bottom of pan and heat until oil faintly smokes.
• Carefully place chops in pan. Turn when carmelized (edges turn paper-bag brown about 1/4 of the way up the sides), 3-5 minutes.
• Top each chop with 1/4 Tbsp butter; drizzle with the thyme seasoned cooking oil (basting oil).
• Place skillet with chops in oven and bake 15-20 minutes, until thermometer inserted into thickest part of chops reads 145 degrees.
• Meanwhile, manually squeeze water from mushrooms (save liquid). Slice mushrooms in half lengthwise.
• Heat 1 tsp butter in medium skillet on medium-high. Stir in shallots and mushroom. Add wine and reserved mushroom liquid; simmer until almost dry, 10-15 minutes.
• Stir in demi-glace and Quark; heat to simmering.
• Add remaining 1 tsp butter.
• Remove skillet from oven; let chops rest 5 minutes to reach 150 degrees.
• Serve sauce over chops.

MOREL MUSHROOM SAUCE

Steps:

• In skillet, saute garlic in butter.
• Discard garlic if you wish.
• Saute mushrooms and remove. Set the mushrooms aside to add later.
• Stir in flour to make a roux.
• Add water, celery salt, salt and pepper.
• Stir and cook until thickened.
• Add mushrooms back inches.
• Serve with your favorite meat or as a gravy.