EVERY YEAR AROUND this time I start to get restless in anticipation of spring. One of my favorite rites of the season is the morel hunt, but for now all I can do is stare at the dried mushrooms from previous seasons in their glass mason jars—and then grab a handful to rehydrate for Steak and Morel Sauce…
Steak with Morel Sauce
After making this sauce a couple times you’ll realize all it takes is a little improvisation in the kitchen to whip together an elegant and very tasty sauce every time, no matter what ingredients you have lying around.
For this one I used dried morels reconstituted in water, a splash of red wine not exceeding half a cup, beef stock, and just a touch of cream, but you could use white wine instead, or sherry, chicken or veggie stock, and other herbs (fresh tarragon pairs well with morels). Soy sauce is a nice touch. Always make sure to keep the liquid used to rehydrate morels as it’s a flavorful stock in its own right.
Most recipes will have you sauté the onion or garlic before adding the mushrooms, but this often leads to scorching the aromatics to an unpleasant bitterness. Mushrooms—and morels especially—take time to properly brown, so I add the shallots (or onions , garlic, etc.) after the morels have had some time in the pan.
2 steaks
2 oz dried morels (about 2 dozen) 
1 shallot, finely diced
2-3 tbsp butter
1/2 cup red wine
1 cup beef stock
1 tsp fresh thyme, chopped
2 oz heavy cream
salt and pepper
1. Rehydrate morels in warm water, just enough to cover, and set aside for 20 minutes. Salt and pepper steaks and allow to come to room temperature.
2. Pre-heat oven to 250 degrees. Melt 2 tablespoons butter in skillet over medium-high eat and cook steaks, a few minutes per side according to preference. Remove to a plate and keep warm in oven. Strain rehydrated morels, reserving liquid. Pat mushrooms dry on paper towel.
3. In same skillet over medium heat, add morels and another tablespoon of butter if necessary. Sauté a few minutes until morels begin to brown lightly on edges, then add diced shallots and cook together for another minute or two. De-glaze with red wine.
4. When wine is mostly evaporated, add some of both the beef stock and the mushroom stock, the fresh herbs, and a little heavy cream. Sauce should remain dark. Reduce and add more of both stocks and cream if necessary. When sauce reaches desired consistency, remove plate with steaks from oven and pour off accumulated juices into sauce, stirring. Spoon sauce and morels over steaks.
I’m splitting a quarter local grass-fed beef with a friend, to be delivered this Sunday. I can’t wait!!! I can already tell it’s going to be the highlight of my weekend 🙂
If we could get NY strips here for $7.99, we’d eat steak every night! The only two places to get grass-fed beef close to me charge $14.99 normally. $12.99 on sale. As such, we stick to the “cheaper” cuts (although still flavorful) and save the more luxurious cuts for special occasions. Sigh.
I can’t believe you ate beef so quickly again. I haven’t touched red meat since. 😉
Looks delish with the mushrooms.
YUM – I am so bummed I missed this event.
I think the cooking time difference is down to the composition of the fat – grass fed has more O3s, which makes it cook faster (or something like that.. Skagit River Ranch was telling me a while ago).
Lovely looking sauce BTW.
A morel sauce is just the thing for the shack-nasties. I serve it with venison whenever I have either morels or venison…Too bad you live where it actually gets cold enough to have them. I am heading out looking for mushrooms manana…
I absolutely love morels, this looks awesome!
Darlene- I did a quarter steer a couple years ago. Get yer meat cookbooks out! It’s a long haul. Hope you have the freezer space.
Peabody – I’m a glutton for punishment!
Matt – That makes total sense. We talked about the O3s and O6s from a health standpoint. Now I know what to expect from a kitchen perspective.
Hank – Good luck out there! Should still be some winter chanties, hedgehogs, and black trumpets down your way.
Brilynn – Thanks for stopping by. You’re at the right place–morel lovers need this recipe tattooed on their brainpans.
One, “shack nasties” is now in my vocabulary of snappy sayings, and two, I am completely jealous of your jars of dried morels–mine were gone ages ago. Looking forward to being a more prolific picker this year.
I absolutely LOVE your blog.
Is this the same sauce you made for Carolyn and I last summer? It was yummy and now I can make this myself once I get some morels. I enjoy beef, but am concerned with the sustainability of it, it is nice to see people coming up with humane and sustainable ways to provide it.