Crispy Sauteed Morel Mushrooms Recipe

We’re back to seasonal eating – one of our favourite subjects – with this springtime crispy sauteed morel mushrooms recipe.

Have you ever tried a really expensive and relatively rare food and then wondered what all the fuss was about?

Can a food really be that good that it can command such a high price?

We’re talking about the highly sought after morel mushrooms – also known as morchella.

And, if you’re using the Turkish language, kuzu göbeği.

You know its morel morel season in Fethiye when you start to see and hear this phrase.

Kuzu göbeği means ‘lamb’s stomach’ and, as you can see in the photo above, we assume morels are called this due to their appearance, resembling tripe (stomach lining).

Delicious wild mushrooms grow in abundance (weather conditions allowing) in the southwest area of the country.

In autumn, we have the çıntar (saffron milk cap mushrooms) and, as a fond greeting to the warmer spring weather, we get the wild fresh morels.

In the forested yayla (highlands), locals take to the hillsides after spring rainfall, foraging for morel mushrooms that they know are going to command a hefty price at local markets and that they can also sell to local restaurants around the Fethiye area.

And rather than pay this hefty price tag, we might be tempted to forage for our own were it not for the existence of ‘true morels’ and ‘false morels’ – the latter of which are poisonous.

And, of course, they resemble each other.

So, on the very rare occasion we do eat morel mushrooms, we put our trust in those in the know.

Celebrate With A Morel Festival

That’s what we do in Fethiye.

Every year(ish) in April or May – morel mushroom season – the local village of Yeşilüzümlü becomes the focal point of Fethiye for a few days as we celebrate the arrival of the morel mushroom, the arrival of spring…

And it’s also a perfect excuse to celebrate the village’s local specialist weave, dastar.

The Yeşilüzümlü Morel Mushroom & Dastar Festival sees the village centre lined with stalls selling all sorts of artisan goodies.

And while it might not be up there as one of the the most famous Turkish festivals, it’s certainly well known in these parts.

There’s folk dancing, live music, sometimes homemade local wine (it tastes better as you go along).

And, if the morels have grown, stalls selling grilled morels fresh from the barbecue.

And who wouldn’t want to try a morel-filled gözleme?

How We Cook Morel Mushrooms

Let us tell you that in all the time we’ve lived here, we’ve only bought morel mushrooms a couple of times – so high is their price.

When we first bought them, neither of us had ever had the pleasure of sampling the kuzu göbeği mantarı (morel mushroom) so we were really curious and quite excited.

As it was the first time we’d tried them, we wanted to keep the morel mushrooms recipe really simple so we could (hopefully) appreciate the morel for what it was and see what all the fuss was about.

And a bit of research and the general consensus seemed to be that they are best enjoyed in a crispy coating and sauteed.

So that’s what we’ve done with our sauteed morel mushrooms – with a couple of our own additions.

Make Sure They’re Clean!

But before we get started, here, don’t forget, we’re dealing with a wild fungi.

We need to make sure we’ve cleaned the morels of any lingering bits of forest floor – including any possible live bits of forest floor!

We give them a brushing over with a pastry brush, working into all the little hollows.

And then we soak them in lightly salted water.

This allegedly flushes out any worms and critters.

For what it’s worth, we’ve never come across any living organisms in our mushrooms so don’t let that put you off.

Halve the morels lengthways and then you can check the centre is clear and pat them dry.

Safety Tip: As well as it making life easier for cleaning them, cutting them in half through the middle will also show you if you have a true morel mushroom – real morels are hollow from the tip of the cap to the bottom of the stem.

An Egg Coating

We’re thinking lush weekend breakfast dish with our morel mushrooms recipe.

And what says breakfast / brunch more than eggs?

So, a light egg coating for our prized morel morsels.

Followed by a dousing in galeta unu.

If you haven’t got a Turkish supermarket / grocery store near you, galeta unu is like very fine breadcrumbs and you can make your own by smashing up some breadsticks or crackers until they resemble a coarse flour.

Cook Thoroughly

And now, this is where you need to be a bit patient.

A knob of butter and some finely chopped garlic goes into the pan first and we cook the garlic gently for a few minutes.

Then it’s in with the mushrooms and a light sprinkling of pul biber (chilli flakes or hot red pepper flakes).

Morel mushrooms need to be well-cooked as they contain toxins when raw.

We sautee them for around ten minutes, keeping an eye on the heat so that our coating goes crispy without burning.

We cook on gas and a medium heat, without stirring the morels around too much, does the trick.

Time To Enjoy Your Morel Mushrooms

And now it’s time to tuck in and decide whether or not you are a fan of morels.

We’ll tell you, we love them.

We did this simple recipe so that there wasn’t too much else to take away from their flavour.

As a treat, they’d be a great addition to your Turkish breakfast table. A firm, meaty texture with a distinctive nutty flavour.

And, if you’re lucky enough to live in an area where they grow and where foraging for them is legal, what a great treat!

Tip: Morel mushrooms also dry really well. In the past, we’ve bought dried morel mushroom stems (cheaper) from traders and rehydrated them with boiling water before cooking. Their strong flavour provides a really tasty, flavoursome stock that you can use for cooking. Extra value from your morels!

Our Crispy Sauteed Morel Mushrooms Recipe

Let’s get cooking!

Our crispy sauteed morel mushrooms are a great vegetarian recipe and another addition to our ever growing list of Turkish recipes.

Afiyet Olsun!

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