Spring Strozzapreti with Morels
Ingredients
- 2 tbsp unsalted butter (unsalted)
- 1 shallot (diced)
- ½ lb morels (halved)
- 2 cups heavy cream
- 2 tbsp fresh thyme (stripped from sprigs)
- 2 tbsp dry white wine
- juice from 1 lemon
- salt & pepper (to season)
- 1 lb Strozzapreti pasta
- 6 oz sweet snap peas (cut diagonally)
- pea tendrils (to garnish)
Directions
- Over medium heat, bring a pot of salted water to a boil that will be used to cook pasta
- Meanwhile, melt butter in a medium sauce pan over medium-low heat and cook shallots until fragrant. About 5-10 minutes
- Increase the heat to a little over medium and add the morels. Cook for 3-5 minutes, stirring frequently until mushrooms have released water
- Add the heavy cream and thyme and decrease heat to low and allow the cream to bubble and reduce
- Once the cream is hot, add the dry white wine. Cook about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally
- Squeeze in fresh lemon juice (careful to keep lemon seeds out of sauce) and season with salt and pepper
- Allow the sauce to simmer and add pasta to pot of water once it has reached a rolling boil and cook until done
- Reserve about half a cup of pasta water when straining pasta
- Combine morel sauce with pasta in pot and toss in sliced peas. If the pasta sauce is too thick, add as much pasta water as needed to reach desired consistency. If you prefer a thicker sauce, discard the pasta water
- Garnish with pea tendrils and enjoy!
Morels are one of my favorite things about spring in the Inland Northwest. Growing up, whenever we found any during our spring mushroom hunts we would take them home where my Mom would sauté them to perfection with butter in cast-iron. The butter would infuse with the earthy, nutty flavor from the mushrooms and they didn’t last on the plate for more than 30 seconds.
I’m sure there were younger years that I refused to eat the dark, soggy looking things but those memories are lost on me. If you’re in an area where you can hunt for morels, you can view some steps I have on how to clean and store them here.
Morels + pasta = a match made in Heaven
I wanted to find a way to highlight the flavor of morels in an entire dish. My first thought was pasta! I was so eager to cook my morels that I just used what I had on hand. First, I salted a pot of water over high heat to cook the pasta. The next step was to work on the sauce. Starting with some unsalted butter and and a diced shallot. Shallots are sweet and sharp, they’re not as hot as onions and play a great supporting role to morels.
Once the shallot was fragrant and soft, I increased the heat on my skillet and added the morels. Mushrooms will heat quick and I like to cook them until they’ve released their water before adding any more ingredients.
Next, add the cream and thyme. Once the cream is hot, add the wine! Let the cream cook, bubble and reduce. This will allow the fat from the cream to take on the flavor from the morels, thyme and wine. Squeeze in some fresh lemon juice and season with salt and pepper. Once the pasta is done, mix it in with the morel and cream sauce along with sliced sugar snap peas and enjoy!