Seafood-stuffed Morel Mushrooms

seafood stuffed morels topped with parmesan cheese in a white baking dish

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Seafood-stuffed Morel Mushrooms

Seafood-stuffed Morel Mushrooms is a traditional American recipe for a classic dish of morels stuffed with seafood, breadcrumbs, mayonnaise, herbs and parmesan that are baked with butter and a crumb topping. The full recipe is presented here and I hope you enjoy this classic American version of: Seafood-stuffed Morel Mushrooms.

prep time

30 minutes

cook time

15 minutes

Total Time:

45 minutes

Serves:

Rating:

Tags : Wild Food Herb Recipes Cheese Recipes Baking Recipes USA Recipes

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I generally prefer a fairly mild seafood when stuffing my morels so the flavour of the meat does not out-compete the flavour of the mushrooms. Crab lump meat is good, as is flaked white fish. Minced freshwater prawns will also work and it's these I'm using as an example here. You can use fresh or dried and reconstituted morels in this recipe. The specific type of morel doesn't matter much either (as long as they're edible) but black morels are typically larger for stuffing.

Ingredients:

Dried or fresh morels, about 15-20 medium to large size

For the seafood stuffing:
225g minced prawn meat, lump crab meat or flaked white fish
4 tbsp breadcrumbs such as panko
4 tbsp mayonnaise
4 tbs high-quality parmesan cheese, finely grated
2 tbsp chopped fresh herbs (eg parsley or coriander, or a combination of parsley, chives and tarragon)
½ tsp Old Bay seasoning optional
4 tbsp spring onions, finely chopped
sea salt and freshly-ground black pepper, to taste
1 medium garlic clove, finely grated
Freshly-grated lemon zest, to taste

For baking:
5 tbsp butter, melted
1 tbsp breadcrumbs
1 tbsp high-quality parmesan cheese, grated

Method:

If using dried morels, place in a bowl then cover with room temperature water and set aside to rehydrate for 30 minutes. After this time swish the bowl to dislodge any dirt from the mushrooms. Remove the mushrooms and set aside. Let the liquid settle then pour off the upper mushroom-flavoured layer and leave the sediment behind. Use the soaking liquid as the base for stock. Squeeze the redydrated morels to remove any excess liquid. You can also reduce the liquid to a syrup then whisk in some butter and serve as a sauce.

If using fresh morels, take a pair of scissors and cut open one side of each morel. Either prise open and leave the two halves attached or cut into two separate halves. Brush the morels clean then wash under running water.

For the seafood stuffing. If using raw prawns, chop finely then fry in a little butter until pink. Turn onto a plate and set aside to cool. Turn your choice of seafood into a bowl, break up with a fork then carefully fold in the remainder of the stuffing ingredients. Use about a tablespoon of the resultant mixture to stuff each morel.

Pack the resultant stuffed mushrooms into a baking dish that will hold them all fairly snugly. Press down on the tops to flatten the surface then sprinkle over the breadcrumbs and Parmesan cheese. Drizzle over the melted butter then transfer to the centre of an oven pre-heated to 180C. Bake for 15–20 minutes or umtil golden and puffed.

Serve as a starter or use as an accompaniment alongside steak or roast chicken. They also make an excellent light supper served with a crisp salad.