Mmm Morels

Heaven takes many forms. On Monday night, it involved our first meal on the patio of the season and morel mushrooms. Yum.

The mushrooms came courtesy of Conservative Dad who, after hunting for them on Sunday, divvied them up among all of us after Conservative Family Dinner on Sunday night.

Now I've had morels before and enjoyed every tasty bite of them, but I'd never actually cooked them before. So, while C.B. fired up the grill to cook some brats on Monday evening, I rolled up my sleeves (figuratively speaking, of course—it's finally in the 70s here!) and set to work on the morels.

Cooking them is very easy, actually. Especially when your honey brings home a box of panko breadcrumbs.

After soaking the mushrooms in salt water overnight, all I did was:

1. Melt butter in a hot pan. Be generous with the butter, but maybe not quite as generous as I was. I instantly clogged our arteries. Then again, as I always say, everything's better with Butter.
   
   
   Er ... butter. Sorry. I hate it when those random photos sneak in. I swear I have nothing to do with it.
   
   
2. Slice the mushrooms into strips length-wise.
   
   
3. Beat eggs in a bowl.
   
   
4. Dust the mushrooms with flour.
   
   
5. Dip the mushrooms in the egg.
   
   
6. Coat the mushrooms with panko bread crumbs.
   
   
7. Cook the mushrooms in the butter until nice and brown.
   
   
   
   
   
8. Eat immediately. Try not to eat them all. OK. Go ahead and eat them all. And don't feel the least bit guilty. These babies only come around for a short time every year, so it's OK to indulge.

(I'm such an enabler, aren't I?)