Tag: morielje

Scallops and Morels

26 February 2026

Combining seafood with mushrooms can be magic. We prepared Cod with Horn of Plenty and Beech Mushrooms with Haddock. Both are delicious combinations.
We went shopping on the market, looking for fresh or dried morels. After having bought them, we saw great looking scallops. Why not combine these two complimentary products?
At home we searched for Coquilles Saint Jacques aux Morilles, assuming we would find lots of suggestions in French. Which we did. It turns out to be a ‘recipe from (grand-) mother’, although we don’t know why because it’s such a refined dish. The scallops are delicate; the sauce rich and the morels have a unique taste. Adding finely chopped morels to the sauce helps bringing the two main ingredients together. 

Wine Pairing

We decided to enjoy a glass of lightly oaked chardonnay with our Scallops with Morels, produced by Doudet-Naudin. The wine is fresh with some acidity. Its aromas are floral with some nuttiness. The freshness is nice with the sauce, and the nuttiness is great with the aroma of the fried morels. In general, we suggest a nicely balanced, pleasant white wine with some oak, fruitiness and freshness.

What You Need
  • 10 grams of dried Morels (or 50 grams of fresh Morels)
  • 6 Scallops
  • 1 small Shallot
  • Parsley
  • Cream
  • Stock (vegetable or chicken)
  • Mustard
  • Black Pepper
  • Butter
  • Olive oil
What You Do
  1. If using dried morels, then soak the morels in warm water, wait for 30 minutes, remove morels from water, check for dirt and pass the morel-water through a fine sieve if necessary
  2. If using fresh morels: check for dirt
  3. Clean the scallops
  4. Warm 2 skillets
  5. Finely chop shallot
  6. Remove the white stem of the morels
  7. Halve 2/3 of the morels lengthwise
  8. Finely chop 1/3 of the morels
  9. Chop the parsley
  10. Gently fry the sliced morels in butter in one skillet, for a few minutes or until a touch golden
  11. Wrap the fried morels in aluminium foil and transfer morels to the oven on 50 °C or 120 °F
  12. Glaze shallot in the same skillet
  13. After a few minutes add chopped morels
  14. After 5 minutes add some chicken stock, some morel-water, cream and black pepper
  15. Add ½ teaspoon of mustard. The mustard will add flavour and help thicken the sauce
  16. Reduce and taste
  17. Have morel-water and/or stock on stand-by in case you need to be thinning the sauce
  18. Add some chopped parsley
  19. Taste the sauce and adjust
  20. Quickly fry the scallops in olive oil until opaque
  21. Time to assemble: the sauce, the scallops and the halved morels on top. Sprinkle with parsley  
Scallops and Morels ©cadwu with a rich creamy morel sauce with chopped shallots, stock, mustard and chopped parsley
Scallops and Morels ©cadwu

Chicken with Morels

1 March 2024

A few weeks ago we bought the first fresh morels of the season. They looked beautiful but unfortunately, they were very bland. Not the typical pancake, buttery taste, not the intriguing aroma. Pity, but worth a try.
This week we bought some great looking dried morels at our favourite epicerie. Dried morels are as tasty as fresh morels, which makes them very different from all other mushrooms. Dried cèpes are such a disappointment. We bought 15 grams and talked about preparing veal with morels and madeira. Monsieur Max, who runs the epicerie, mentioned he preferred to combine them with chicken. Great idea, we said, let’s do that.

The dish relies on the quality of the chicken, the morels and the white wine. Ideally this is Vin Jaune, a wine produced in the Jura in the far east of France and made from Savagnin grapes. This wine is often compared to Fino Sherry, but we think it has more character and length. It also not fortified, so no alcohol was added.
We served the chicken and morels with fried oca. A combination that worked very well, because the oca brought freshness to the dish. Perhaps its oxalic acid?

Wine Pairing

We opened a bottle of Arbois Savagnin 2018. This complex, white wine is made from the same Savagnin grape and is also produced in the Jura. It comes with aromas that will make you think of nuts, curry and even umami. When tasting it, you may think the wine is off, given it is slightly oxidized. In this case it’s a good thing. Enjoy the savoury, nutty taste of the wine in combination with the various flavours in the dish.

What You Need
  • 3 organic Chicken Thighs
  • Butter 
  • 1 Shallot 
  • 15 grams dried Morels
  • 50 ml Arbois Wine
  • 50 ml Double Cream
  • 1 Egg Yolk
What You Do

Check if the morels are clean. If not, use a brush to clean them or rinse with water. Soak the morels in fairly warm water for at least 30 minutes, depending on the quality. In the meantime, finely slice the shallot lengthways. Pat the chicken thighs dry and halve. Fry the thighs in butter until golden brown, perhaps 4 minutes. Set aside and cover with aluminium foil. Fry the shallot in the remaining butter on low heat for a few minutes. Drain the morels, pat dry with kitchen paper and halve lengthways. Keep the soaking water. Add the morels and combine. Leave on low heat for a few minutes. Add the wine and leave to reduce by half. Add some morel juice and reduce. Add cream and allow to warm through and through. Allow to simmer for a few minutes, add the chicken. Leave on low heat until the chicken is done, perhaps 15 minutes. Now it’s time to taste the sauce and see if you have enough. Happy? Beat one egg yolk. Slowly add the mixture from the pan to the egg yolk (this is called ‘marrying the sauce’). Then transfer the mixture to the pan. Warm carefully, otherwise it will split. To serve, place the chicken pieces on a warm plate with some morels on top. Cover with the rich, aromatic sauce.

Chicken with Morels ©cadwu
Fresh Morels © cadwu

Guineafowl with Morels

3 April 2023

Finally, it’s spring! The time of year to buy fresh Morels and White Asparagus. One of our local greengrocers charged 34 euro per 100 grams for the Morels and 29 euro per kilo for the White Asparagus. That’s clearly too much for our budget! Let’s wait for a few weeks and hope for more reasonable prices. In the meantime we will enjoy dried morels. In general dried mushrooms are expensive and not very tasty. Fortunately dried morels are the exception to the rule: they are as tasty as fresh ones. 

Preparing guineafowl can be a bit of a challenge.  Cooking guineafowl requires some liquid (oil, butter, wine, stock) but not too much. Don’t try making Pintade au Vin and don’t spit roast it. Guineafowl is easily overcooked. You must watch the cooking process carefully. 

This dish is about a full and rich taste, with the guineafowl at the heart of it supported by morels, cream and potato.

Wine Pairing

We enjoyed our guineafowl with a glass of Bergerac, Château De La Vaure. This is a full bodied red wine with some oak, dark fruit and great flavours overall. Made from Merlot, Cabernet Franc and Cabernet Sauvignon. In general you’re looking for a full bodied red wine with flavours of ripe fruit and oak and with a lasting taste

What You Need

  • 2 legs of Guineafowl
  • 10 grams of Dried Morels
  • Butter
  • Olive Oil
  • Chicken Stock
  • Mustard
  • Cream
  • Black Pepper
  • Gnocchi

What You Do

Pre-heat the oven to 180 ˚C or 355 ˚F. Add the two legs of guinea fowl to a shallow dish with butter and olive oil. Cook for 10 minutes. In the mean time add the morels to hot water. Soak for 15 minutes. Turn the legs upside down after 10 minutes. Cook for another 10 minutes. Turn them a second time, skin up. Add the morels to the dish, leaving the skin free. In parallel start preparing the sauce using chicken stock and some morel water, but not too much. Taste the water before adding. The legs should be ready after 30 minutes. Add the cooking juices to the sauce, grill the legs quickly if the skin is not yet nicely coloured and keep the morels warm. Add mustard and pepper to the sauce, stir well, add some cream and allow to heat through and through for 5 minutes. Taste the sauce and if necessary add more mustard or morel water. 
Serve with gnocchi.

Guineafowl with Morels ©cadwu
Guineafowl with Morels ©cadwu

Halibut with Morels

12 May 2022

Seasonal eating is such a great idee. Simply buy (locally produced) seasonal fruit, vegetables and mushrooms, enjoy fresher and better tasting ingredients, reduce your carbon footprint and support your local community. And it creates lots of tasty opportunities: celebrate the beginning of the truffle season, the start of the asparagus season, the first red wine from the Beaujolais region – all good fun.

Part of the concept (at least, we think so) is commemorating the end of a season. In the Netherlands the morel-season ends early May. This year was a particularly good year for morels, we had some beautiful, tasty ones, for a reasonable price. But now it’s time to prepare the last morel dish of the season. And the last one with Ramson! A very tasty dish, one that requires a bit of work, but the result is absolutely yummy!

Wine Pairing

The richness of the dish requires a full-bodied white wine, for instance a glass of Chardonnay; one that has a touch of oak and vanilla plus a lightly buttery finish. Our choice would be the Chardonnay of La Cour des Dames. 

What You Need

  • Halibut
    • Halibut (slice with skin and bone preferred)
    • Olive Oil
  • Morels
    • 50 grams of Morels
    • Olive Oil
  • Sauce
    • Shallot
    • Olive Oil
    • Fish Stock
    • Noilly Prat
    • Crème Fraîche
    • Butter
    • White Pepper
  • Ramson (Wild Garlic)

What You Do

Clean and half the morels. Fry these gently in a heavy iron skillet for at least 10 minutes.
In parallel heat a small heavy iron skillet, gently fry the chopped shallot. When soft, add the garlic and one or two ice cubes of fish stock. Add a splash of Noilly Prat. When warm, blender the mixture, pass through a sieve and return to the pan. Add some crème fraiche. Warm through and through.
In parallel fry the halibut in a separate (non-stick) pan. First on the skin side, then turn the fish, remove the skin and turn again. The result should be golden. Whilst still in the pan, remove the bone. This gives you two portions of fish per person.
Slice a few leaves of ramson lengthwise, removing the vein.
When the fish is opaque, it’s time to add a bit of butter to the sauce and a touch of white pepper.
Serve the fish on top of the sauce, add the morels and the leaves.

PS

We served the halibut with morels on plates designed by Walter Gropius and produced by Rosenthal; a classic plate in Bauhaus Style.

Halibut with Morels ©cadwu
Halibut with Morels ©cadwu