Fresh or dried morels stuffed with crabmeat, baked under a dust of buttered breadcrumbs is a classic appetizer, and a great way to use dried morels in the off-season. Makes about 15 medium to large morels (giant morels are another story). Feel free to scale the recipe to your needs.
Dried or fresh morelsabout 15-20 medium to large size
Crab stuffing
8ozlump crab meat
4tablespoonsbreadcrumbssuch as panko
¼cupmayonnaise
¼cuphigh quality grated parmesan cheese
2Tablespoonschopped fresh herbslike parsley or cilantro, or a combination of parsley, chives and tarragon
½teaspoonOld Bay seasoningoptional, substitute a pinch of cayenne and an extra pinch of salt and pepper and celery seed if you don’t have any, or skip.
¼cupfinely chopped scallions
Kosher salt and fresh ground black pepperto taste
1medium clove garlicgrated on a microplane grater
Fresh grated lemon zestif you can find a meyer lemon, use it to taste
For baking
5tablespoonsmelted butter
1tablespoonbreadcrumbs
1tablespoongrated high quality parmesan cheese
Instructions
Dried morels
If you’re using fresh morels, skip to cutting the morels with a scissors.Soak the dried morels (fresh morels never need soaking, no matter what Grandpaddy said) in room temperature water to cover.
You want to use clean mushrooms here. If, for any reason you suspect your morels are especially sandy, rehydrate them in a larger volume of water so that you can swish them vigorously to remove grit.
When the dried morels are hydrated, squeeze them dry, save the liquid for making a pan sauce or adding to a soup. You can also reduce the liquid to a syrup, and then add the butter to it, just make sure there's no grit.
Trim the ends of the mushrooms to clean them up a bit and make for a pretty presentation (optional).
Cutting the mushrooms
Using a scissors, cut open one side of each morel. Large morels that will be easy to stuff can be left whole, but I prefer to cut them to make stuffing easier. Reserve the cut morels.
Crab stuffing
For the crab filling, combine all the filling ingredients gently, trying to keep some of the crab pieces intact, then taste a spoonful. Adjust the seasoning as needed for salt, lemon zest and herbs until it tastes good to you. Lemon zest is important here as this is a heavy dish--the citrus acts as the high note of a song, lifting it up and lightening it.
Mix the breadcrumbs and parmesan.
Preheat the oven to 450
Take a tablespoon or so of the filling and stuff each morel, then fold them closed. Put the morels, cut side down in a baking dish that will fit them snugly, then press them down a bit to flatten the surface. Note that if the morels aren't fitted snugly in a dish, the breadcrumbs may fall off.
Sprinkle the mushrooms with the breadcrumbs and parmesan, drizzle over the butter and bake for 15-20 minutes or until golden and puffed, then serve. They’re great by themselves, alongside a steak or as a lunch with a green salad.
Notes
Using dried or fresh morels
You can use dried or fresh morels for this recipe. To use fresh mushrooms, saute them quickly until they're wilted to make sure they're cooked thoroughly. Dried mushrooms do not have to be par cooked.