morel, asparagus, and leek pasta: serve it to guests? only if it's jacques pepin
Sunday, May 10, 2009 at 09:21PM 
I'm lucky enough to have a friend who hunts for mushrooms but doesn't eat them. Gretta enjoys the thrill of the hunt. So, for the second year in a row, she has brought me part of her bounty: a tupperware full of beautiful blondish brown morels.
Last year I made morel crepes and broiled morels with chives and parmesan.
This year's recipe, roughly inspired by a Suzanne Goin dish, highlights the flavors of the morels beautifully. They're sauteed in butter, thyme, and salt and pepper and then joined with blanched asparagus and leek. The dish is pure mushroomy goodness with the crunch and zing of asparagus.
As Paul was gobbling down seconds, he asked, 'So would you serve this to guests?' My reply: 'Only if it were Jacques Pepin!'
Morel, Asparagus, and Leek Pasta
1 pound pappardelle
2 medium leeks, trimmed of the green part and quartered lengthwise
2 cups (or more!) or fresh morel mushrooms, halved if large
2 tablespoons fresh thyme leaves
2 tablespoons minced parsley
1 garlic clove, minced
Juice of 1/4 lemon
4 - 5 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons good quality olive oil
salt and pepper
Blanch the asparagus and leeks in heavily salted water for five minutes each.
Cook the pasta as directed on the package in heavily salted water. Drain and then toss with lemon juice, olive oil, parsely, and garlic.
Heat a non-stick pan for two minutes. Add 3 - 4 tablespoons of butter. When it foams, add morels. Cook for another 3 - 4 minutes on high heat. Turn down the heat and add thyme, salt, and pepper.
Cook for another 3 - 4 minutes until the mushrooms are slightly crispy on the outside. Add another tablespoon of butter and the blanched asparagus and leek. Simmer for another two minutes until all the vegetables are hot and coated with butter.
Pour over pasta and serve.
Reader Comments (11)
And we'd only serve it to Jacques if he brought a good wine with him. :)
So hard to find fresh morel, so I always use the dried one. I am sure they taste better when they are fresh. You are so lucky Angela.
Look delicious as always.
Paul: Ha! Yeah, we'd totally shut the door in his face if he showed up with a bad bottle of wine. He'd be outta here. Poof. A gonner. Jacques who??
Elra: Thanks! I know the fresh morels are impossible to find unless you have a great source or a really good mushroom-hunting friend! (Thank you, Gretta!) :)
Oh no. The guests wouldn't get this. Take the morels you can get and keep em for yourself. This sounds divine.
3 of my favorite foods mixed together with pasta..? I look forward to trying this one..thanks for sharing. Figtreeapps
This is exquisite Angela; I am crazy about morels (is your friend crazy for hunting but not eating them???! :)
I think Jacques would be thrilled.
This looks yummy - as the rest of your posts! I left a lovely blog award on my blog for you!
Thanks for the blog award, Julie!
Literally delicious Angela. Lucky Paul, he gets to shut the guests out so he can eat their portions!
--Marc
Looks good! I have been enjoying the asparagus, morol mushroom and leek combo a lot recently.
We are lucky to get lots of fresh wild mushrooms here in the Pacific NW and I am always looking for good recipes to highlight them. This looks delicious!