When the Cats Away, the Mice Will Play. When Jeffs Away, Kate Will Eat Morels!

Last year I bought some morels, and, after eating them, Jeff asked "so what's the difference between this and a regular mushroom?"  Which means this year I'm not sharing!  I got these at the West Allis Farmer's Market.  As I was walking up towards the market I heard some 'Stallis townie say "$42 for one pound of mushrooms?  Who would pay that?"  And I thought... OMG.  They have morels.  I would TOTALLY PAY THAT!  And then I ran to the mushroom booth and happily gave them my money.  I got a 1/2 pound.

I will share some of them with Jeff.  I am not a monster... but not all of them that's for darn sure.  Tonight, he had a gig so I didn't want to make anything too fancy, and I settled on an omelette.  Omelettes are actually something that I eat quite a lot of, that haven't made it to the blog since I figure everyone knows how to make an omelette.  But maybe they don't.  An omelette is easy, quick, and good for you.  And it's a good way to use up whatever it is you have leftover in the fridge.

If you are lucky enough to get morels, you want to make sure to soak them.  If you don't know already, there is a bit of a debate on mushrooms in the food world.  On one hand, you can't wash them because that makes them soggy.  On the other hand (the hand I'm on), mushrooms grow in dirt, and I would prefer not to eat dirt.  Plus, if I didn't pick them, I can't guarantee that whoever did pick them washed their hands first.  Eww.

But regardless of your side, I think everyone is in agreement that morels need to be not only washed, but soaked.  They have a hollow center (if they don't, DON'T eat them.  They're not morels and you will get sick) and bugs like to live in there.  Lots of times I find little maggot type worms in my soaking water.  It's gross.  I try not to think about it.  Once I'm eating them, that's pretty easy to do!

To prep morels, dissolve about 1/2 cup of salt in about a gallon of hot water (reduce if you don't have that many mushrooms).  Cut the morels in half, and soak in salt water for about 30 minutes, stirring gently occasionally.  Remove, and rinse off carefully with cold water, making sure that there are no now dead critters hanging on.  I know this seems really gross, but it is totally worth it.  Morels are only grown in the wild, so that is why it's dirtier than a mushroom that you might buy in a grocery store.  Also, the little holes hold on to stuff.  If this is just too much for you, fine.  Don't eat morels.  I do not have a problem with that at all.  More for me.


On a personal pride note, this is my first 100% local recipe (except for salt and pepper).

Morel Omelette
Serves 1
Active time: 20 minutes
Total time: 25 minutes

• 2 morel mushrooms, soaked and rinsed (L)
• 1 shitake mushroom (L)
• 1 clove garlic, minced (L)
• 1 tbsp butter, divided (L)
• Two large eggs (L)
• 1 tbsp heavy cream (L)
• 1 tbsp crumbled goat cheese (L)
• 1 tbsp minced chives (L*)
• Salt and pepper

Thinly slice mushrooms.   Heat half of butter over medium heat in a small saute pan.  Add mushrooms and garlic, and saute until mushrooms are soft and have released their liquid, about 3-5 minutes, stirring occasionally.  Season with salt and pepper.

While mushrooms are cooking, gently whisk eggs together with cream.  Once mushrooms are done, remove from pan into a small bowl and set aside.  Add remaining butter and allow to melt fully before pouring eggs into pan.

The trick I use when making omelettes is to "poke" them just a little when they start cooking.  Using a spatula, I just make quick little jabs into the bottom.  This helps move just a little bit of the cooked egg up and the raw egg down, so it cooks through more evenly.  I have found this leads to a fluffier omelette and lessens the risk of raw egg juice in the inside of the omelette.  You're not scrambling it, but just breaking it up a little.

Don't do this too long.  If you overcook your omelette, it will be dry and brown on the bottom.  When the eggs are still wet and raw on the top, add the mushrooms, cheese, and chives, and fold the omelette in half.  Turn the heat off, cover, and allow to sit for 5 minutes to finish cooking.

I don't know if that made a lot of sense.  I should try to make an omelette video. 

Was Gibt es dann fur Mittag Essen?

Okay, I have to start out by saying I love looking at the stats for my blog.  It's especially fun to look up the crazy things that people have searched for on Google and ended up on my site.  I hope they weren't disappointed...

One thing that I find very strange, though, is that I regularly have hits from Germany.  It seems like too many to be a worm... so I wonder if there is someone from Germany reading this.  I did take German in High School, but I don't think I know anyone there.  So, I am hoping that, if they are a real person, they will comment on this and let me know who they are.

Here is what I learned in 6 years of Middle and High School German classes (this is a conversation between two people.  Person 1 is in Red, Person 2 is in Blue).  Please forgive my lack of umlauts and terrible German spelling.

Guten Tag.

Guten Tag.

Wie viel uhr ist es?

Shoen zeit fur mittag essen.

Was gibt es dann fur mittag essen?

Wahrscheinliche Bratwursten.

Roughly translated this goes:

Hello.

Hello.

What time is it?

About time for lunch.

What's for lunch?

Probably bratwursts. 

Tax payers money hard at work.

Yesterday at work, my co-worker Ebony said something that really hit a nerve.  She said, "I think it's great that you do all this cooking.  I would love to eat better, but I just don't have time for all that."

I think that people who don't cook don't really realize how much time is involved.  Yes, some/most of the recipes that make it onto the blog are at least slightly fancy.  But that's not what I eat every day!  I am eating locally every day, and every day for lunch (less breakfast... because I like cereal... but I'll work on that).  The boring/quick stuff doesn't make it on to the blog because I assume people don't need a recipe and can figure it out on their own.  I think I assume wrong, though.  I'm lucky.  I like to cook, and I realize that things go together.  I was brought up around real food.  But if you're not that lucky, you may not realize that eating healthy can take only a few minutes more than a long drive through line.  And it's cheaper.  And you feel better.

So, instead of neglecting those recipes that were born out of me throwing together whatever is in my fridge, which I assume no one wants to hear about, I will save them and publish them together in a bigger post.  I will also start to try to include how long things took.

Today's dinner is one of the easy ones:

BEST sandwiches: (Like a BLT only, as the name would imply, better!)
Makes 2 sandwiches.
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Total Time: 25 minutes

• 4-6 slices bacon (L)
• 2 eggs (L)
• 1 bunch spinach, washed (L)
• 1 large tomato (L)
• 4 slices bread (L)
• Mayo

Fry up bacon in a frying pan until crisp.  Cut tomatoes, and remove spinach leaves from stems.  Toast bread lightly, and add mayo to your taste (I added salt, pepper, and chives).  When the bacon is just done, fry up the eggs to your taste (I like scalding hot bacon, and runny eggs, so this needs to be well timed for me.  If you like your eggs well done, or if you don't mind your bacon a little cooler, this will be an easier task).  I personally like my sandwich to go (from bottom to top) bacon, egg, tomato (seasoned with salt and pepper), and spinach.  But I'm not the sandwich police so make it however you want!

Oh, and my intro wasn't complete nonsense.  Another thing I've been asked is what I eat for lunch:  Probably bratwursts.  Well, more likely sausage... Milwaukee is the home of cheese and sausage, so lunch for me tends to be some sort of sausage, some cheese, some bread, and a hard boiled egg.  Or yesterday's dinner leftovers.  But I don't know how to say leftovers in German.

Mystery German friend, can you tell me?