Dried morel mushrooms are available year round, but there’s nothing like the splendor of fresh morels—one of the most flavorful mushrooms, earthy and woodsy.

A perennial favorite of French chefs for the depth of flavor they give to almost any savory dish, morels grow wild in the woods from April through July. They are available in dried and canned forms year-round.

Morels have an unmistakable, honeycombed, hollow, cone-shaped cap which can be blonde, dark brown, grey or tan. The stems are white. The mushrooms range in size from two to four inches high.

One of the simplest recipes: Clean and soak the morels, cut them in half, then dip them into beaten eggs and then into seasoned flour (salt and pepper). Fry them for two minutes on each side, then drain. You can also freeze them this way.

Should you end up with more morels than you can use (what a luxury!), here’s a simpler way to freeze them, courtesy of TheGreatMorel.com.
 
After washing and soaking, dust with flour, place on a cookie sheet and freeze solid; then transfer to a in freezer bag. The flour keeps the mushrooms from sticking together in the bag.

[1] Instead of Caesar dressing with a raw egg yolk, try a poached egg. This variation also uses a long strip of Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese‡ as a form to contain the salad and a dotted garnish of Parmigiano cream sauce. Beautiful! (photo © Payard).

[2] Bibimbap. The egg yolk is broken and mixed in with the other ingredients—vegetables and meat (photo © Minche11 | Pexels).

[3] Classic Caesar Salad (photo © Safe Eggs).

[4] A different take on Caesar. Hearts of romaine are cut in half, not torn. The recipe is below (photo © Parma Ham Consortium).

It borrows its key idea from bibimbap, the signature Korean dish (photo #3).

Bibimbap (BEE-bim-baahp) means “mixed rice.”

 
Chef François Payard adapted the bibimbap concept to a poached egg atop a Caesar salad, creating a delicious riff that also allays concerns of eating the raw egg yolk* in classic Caesar dressing.†

So gather your romaine, grated or shaved Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese, croutons and anchovies.

 
> National Caesar Salad Day is July 4th. The date was chosen because this popular salad was first served on July 4th, 1924.

> The history of the Caesar Salad.

> Here’s the original Caesar Salad recipe. Leave out the raw egg yolk and top with the poached egg instead (or a hard-boiled, soft-boiled, or deviled egg if you prefer.

> The history of Parmigiano-Reggiano Cheese.

> The other Italian grating cheeses (not authentic Caesar ingredients, but just as tasty).
 
 
 
 
_____________

*If you’re not comfortable eating raw eggs, get Safe Eggs, which are pasteurized raw eggs.

†The original recipe used only lemon and olive oil to dress the salad. Anchovies, Worcestershire Sauce and creamy Caesar dressing were later additions. Here’s the original Caesar salad recipe.

‡Use a vegetable peeler on unaged Parmigiano-Reggiano.

CHECK OUT WHAT’S HAPPENING ON OUR HOME PAGE, THENIBBLE.COM.

There is no data, but our guess is a fraction of a percent.

Pasta Mamas’s aims to change that. The artisan pasta maker produces 26 flavors of pasta, plus plain and whole wheat.

Available in linguine, fettuccine and papardelle, the flavors include vegetables (beets, blue corn, zucchini), spices (jalapeño, tarragon-mustard) and even sweet flavors, made without sweetener, that can be used for main courses/sides or desserts (apple spice, chocolate, cinnamon nutmeg, Irish cream).

Pasta Mama’s also makes matching sauce mixes. So enjoy broccoli pasta with creamy broccoli sauce, garnished with steamed broccoli florets. Or sesame-ginger pasta with a stir fry.

At $5.75 for 12 ounces of dry pasta, and another $5.75 for a packet of sauce mix, Pasta Mama’s is a delicious gift, as well as a treat for you and your family.
The line is certified kosher. Read the full review.

Check out our Pasta Glossary and make some new discoveries.
  

Frankly, we’re surprised by the number of people we meet who cook at home, yet have never made pasta sauce from scratch.

A basic pasta sauce couldn’t be easier. All you need is a lidded sauce pan and a wooden or silicone spoon. The ingredients are found in the kitchen of every person who cooks: a box of strained tomatoes (like Pomi; we spend extra for the superior flavor of San Marzano tomatoes), olive oil, garlic, salt and pepper.

Most recipes recommend strained tomatoes (purée); but you can use chopped tomatoes for a chunky sauce, or purée them in your food processor.

The only thing you may need to pick up is fresh basil and optional fresh parsley; but you can always fall back on oregano from your spice shelf.

You can get more elaborate with subsequent batches, adding browned, chopped sausage or chopped meat; sautéed onions, mushrooms and/or bell peppers; chopped artichokes or sundried tomatoes.

And then, let your creative sauces flow, adding whatever appeals to you to the basic pasta sauce. Anchovy paste? Blue cheese? Chipotles or jalapeños? Cream? Currants and slivered almonds with cardamom or curry? Lemon or orange zest? Pistachio nuts? Truffle oil (added at the end, not as cooking oil)? Vodka or tequila (stir in at the end)?

The sky’s the limit. And as an extra piece of heaven, your homemade sauce won’t contain preservatives, added sugar or high fructose corn syrup—the sweeteners added to compensate for inferior tomatoes. Premium ripe tomatoes have plenty of natural sugars and require no added refined sugar.

Use your homemade sauce on pasta, pizza, chicken or eggplant parmesan, grilled fish or seafood, meatball sandwiches, omelets, polenta and steamed veggies.

Make a triple batch and freeze it in portion-sized containers so you can microwave-defrost it in minutes or bring it as a last-minute gift.

But the goal is to make that first batch. Once you do, you’ll never go back to relying on supermarket pasta sauce.

Love pasta? Check out the recipes and tips in our Pasta Section.

Simply set out toothpicks and let family and guests enjoy a succulent cherry or grape tomato with a dip of flavorful salt.

Choose salts with contrasting colors, flavors and textures (crunchier coarse salt versus fine grain). Here we’ve used:

 
There are many other wonderful choices, from pink Himalayan sea salt to crunchy smoked Maldon sea salt from England, which has unique, pyramid-shaped crystals.