Bison and Morel Mushrooms

Anyone who lives on the Westcoast knows about the abundance of wild mushrooms, no not the psychedelic type that teenagers and hippies harvest, I’m referring to delicious gourmet mushrooms like chanterelles and morels. While most mushrooms are harvested in the fall, the morel is the exception that shows up in the spring and early summer.

Morels are found in areas affected by forest fires in the previous 1-2 years, and are unmistakable given their sponge-like appearance, ranging in colour from black to yellow-brown and can grow to be 4-6” in height. I was thrilled to find a local mushroom forager at the Metchosin Farmers Market with fresh morels from Quesnel BC. I bought myself 1 pound of mushrooms for $16 and started planning dinner for Sunday and Monday. Tonight we would enjoy an appetizer from our local market!

In addition to the morels I bought some fava beans, DiMaggio onions and a fresh baked baguette. I started by sautéing the onion in some pernod butter, then added a half pound of sliced morels, which were cooked until softened, about 7 minutes (this is important when cooking fresh morels since they can cause an upset stomach if eaten raw). Whipping cream was added and reduced, followed by the prepared fava beans with their brilliant bright green colour.

We grilled slices of baguette, rubbed the toasted crostini with garlic, topped each with the mushroom sauté and finished them with fresh chopped tarragon. What a delightful way to start dinner.

Our Sunday dinner continued with bison striploin and local veggies. The bison striploins were grilled for barely 6 minutes for medium rare, and were dressed with only olive oil, salt and pepper to let the flavor of the young bison shine through. Served alongside were oven braised baby fennel and DiMaggio onions, sautéed rainbow chard and smashed german gold new potatoes. While I was tempted to prepare a sauce for this dinner I decided to let the flavours of the local bounty stand on their own. Now we are ready for a full and busy week of work!