Pasta with morel mushrooms and ramps tastes like Spring in a bowl and is one of my favorite recipes with ramps and morels. Just about every year I try to get out and hunt a few morels with my old chef, friend and mentor Chef Andy Lilja. He's currently chef at Colossal Cafe in St. Paul.
After a great hunt one morning near Frontenac Minnesota we came home with a bunch of fresh morels. This simple morel pasta sauce with ramps is what he put together for dinner. I try to make it once a year-here's how to make it.
Ramp and Morel Spaghetti Ingredients
This is a light pasta dish without cream, reminiscent of dishes Andy taught me to make at the Italian restaurant we worked at. You'll need fresh ramps, or shallots, garlic or green garlic, dried pasta, butter, parmesan cheese, chicken stock, white wine, and a little anchovy paste.
How to Make Ramp and Morel Spaghetti
First the morels are washed and cleaned, then sliced in half or cut into pieces if they're large. You start the pasta with a little oil and the morels.
Next you add sliced ramp bulbs or shallot and garlic and cook. A little anchovy paste is also added.
Then the pan is deglazed with white wine and the ramp leaves are added and cooked to wilt them.
Chicken stock is added, then the mixture is cooked down and reduced by half. This helps make a nice, light sauce. Then the pasta is added off the heat and tossed with the morel sauce.
You finish the dish by adding some ramp leaf butter or unsalted butter and mixing to form a creamy sauce. At the end, you add parmesan cheese to taste, and twirl the noodles into a bowl, spooning the goodies from the pan on top.
Chef's Tips
- Make a creamy morel sauce for pasta by adding ¼-1/2 cup heavy cream after the chicken stock is reduced.
- If you don't have ramps, use a combination of shallot and garlic.
- If you're vegetarian, use mushroom stock or vegetable stock instead of chicken stock.
- The hot chili is great here and makes it taste Italian, I don't recommend skipping it.
- You can undercook the pasta slightly and finish cooking it in the sauce for maximum flavor.
Related Posts
Forager's Guide to Morel Mushrooms
Baked Morels with Garlic Butter (Escargot)
Creamy Dried Morel Soup (Bisque)
Ramp and Morel Spaghetti
Equipment
- 1 10 inch saute pan
- 1 2 quart pasta pot
Ingredients
- 4-8 ounces fresh morels depending on availability
- 4 oz dried spaghetti
- 2 teaspoons anchovy paste or a couple filets optional
- Pinch of crushed red pepper flakes
- ¼ cup dry white wine
- ½ cup chicken or other stock
- Kosher salt to taste, plus more for the water
- 3-4 Tablespoons grated parmesan to taste
- 4-5 large ramps bulbs and leaves sliced, reserved separately
- 3 tablespoons ramp leaf butter or unsalted butter
- 1 tablespoon olive or other cooking oil for sweating the morels and ramps
Instructions
- If the morels are very large, halve them, small morels can be trimmed, rinsed, and added whole if clean. Rinse the morels in water to remove any detritus, then dry on towels.
- Afterwords, cut the morels into roughly 2 inch pieces and reserve.
- Add a tablespoon of cooking oil to a large saucepan on medium heat. Add the morels season with a pinch of salt, then add the ramps, or shallot and garlic, anchovy paste stir and cook for a minute more, stirring occasionally. If the pan gets dry, add another glug of oil.
- When the pan starts to color around the edges, deglaze with the wine, cook down by half, then add the stock and cook down a bit more.
- Meanwhile, cook the pasta in salted water until al dente, drain, and add to the pan with the morels and ramps.
- Add the crushed red pepper, ramp leaves and the ramp leaf butter if using. Turn the heat to medium, then reduce the liquid to concentrate the sauce, turning the pasta over with tongs to coat with the sauce, allowing the heat to melt the butter. Add a splash of pasta water if the pan gets dry.
- Season with salt and pepper to taste as needed, toss in half the parmesan, divide between 2 heated bowls and serve with the extra parmesan on the side.
Video
Notes
Creamy morel pasta
This is a light dish. If you want a creamy morel sauce for pasta, add ¼ cup of heavy cream after the chicken stock is reduced.Dried morel mushroom pasta
You can use dried morels for this recipe and it will have even more morel flavor. Mix the white wine and chicken stock and use it to rehydrate half an ounce of dried morels.Nutrition
Lilia
I am sure others asked this, but, any chance you would consider publishing a cookbook with mushroom recipes? I have been stealing mushroom dish recipes from yours website for a while but would love to have these conveniently in a book and also contribute, so i don't feel guilty getting all these ides for free.
Alan Bergo
Hi Lilia. Yes I'll be writing a mushroom cookbook, but it will also be a culinary guide to more species than has ever been written before. This is a HUGE undertaking. As I do all of the photography myself and we've had years of drought, and many other reasons, it's taking much longer than I expected. The other issue is that it was extremely expensive for me to write my first book. It might sound strange, but I need to figure out how I can afford to take the time to write it. I was in the hole for 2 years after my last one. I am working on it regularly though, and the good thing is that it is getting very large, and should be more comprehensive than my first book. Books simply don't make money unless you self publish or have a massive audience. I know it's tough to wait but if I have to pay thousands of dollars and thousands of hours to write the book, I wont't settle for anything less than writing the book of my dreams.
Jake
Great recipe. Super simple and the anchovy paste is a great idea!
Alan Bergo
Hey thanks Jake, glad it worked for you. Hope you're having a good season.
Anna
I made this with the first morels I ever found! I used Dryad saddle broth, ramp butter and finished with a drizzle of ramp oil (all your recipes). So happy I found your site, it has been so helpful since I started foraging last year.
Alan Bergo
I’m honored Anna. Congrats on your first morels!
Marty
This is a great recipe. I use a couple of anchovy filets instead of paste, and sub green onions for ramps. Thanks for sharing!
Alan Bergo
Thanks Marty. Lots of people have been making it with golden oysters too.
Dan F
Fixed this for dinner tonight (with a chicken breast based in ramp butter) and it was delicious!
Alan Bergo
Nice. I actually had it yesterday too.