A Morel Dream

 

The Mentality of a Mushroom Hunter is one of great anticipation. What will the rain fall be like? How will it affect the mushrooms? Will it be a bounty…..or a bust? From years of experience hunting, I can tell you that it is a mixed bag. Two years ago it was  a horrible year for morels, little rain, lot’s of heat; however it was a wonderful year for chanterelles, I picked almost 60 lbs.

Morel season is getting close. Every other day now I have been checking my primary spot, the honey hole.

Often when I think of things repeatedly, I see them in my dreams. As I work with food day in and day out, I often dream of it. As I work in a restaurant where I design the menu, this affords me a very interesting creative outlet. Many times have I woken up, frantically scraping and searching for a pen to write down the things I’ve seen in my sleep.

Sometimes I succeed in remembering the little bits of inspiration, sometimes they get lost and forgotten. When I catch one, I like to try and create them at the restaurant. To be able to make stuff like this and serve it to customers gives me a spooky feeling, it’s a lot of fun.

Last night, I had a morel dream. I was walking over the hill in southern Minnesota to my patch, buck 102 knife at my hip, freshly run on the stone and so sharp I could shave with it. As I walked to the hill that overlooks the valley where the morels fruit, I heard a sound, a turkey gobble.

It was really foggy, but I turned around and I could see turkeys walking across the rabbit warren where we enter the morel patch. After this I flash forwarded to the kitchen.

I was in the middle of cooking a dish with morels as the centerpiece. I was stuffing the morels with something, I don’t know how, but I know that it was a mousse, or forcemeat made of turkey.

Spring is turkey season here in Minnesota, and sometimes I see them at the same time while we hunt morels in the morning. The turkeys will meander around and look for food, while we look for morels. Looks like I’m going to be stuffing morels with turkey mousse…..I’ll post the recipe soon.