Farro with Morels and Spring Vegetables

Those of you who know us are aware that DD’s been an avid mushroom forager for a couple of years now.  Through our friend Brian, DD became the proud owner of the seminal Mushrooms Demystified, Mycologist David Arora’s 976-page tome on possibly everything you may want or wish to know about mushrooms in the U.S.A., with a focus on the West Coast.  DD also has Arora’s pocket-book-sized version, All the Rain Promises and More, and has liked it so much as an introduction to mushroom study that he’s given it as a gift on several occasions.  Over the past 2.5 years, my husband has lovingly and obsessively pored over these now dog-eared books, and is pretty much able to identify many fungi based on observed characteristics (cap colour, kinds of gills, whether it stains when bruised, smell, etc.).  DD has successfully foraged for our favourites – Porcini, Chanterelles, black trumpet mushrooms, even Matsutake and many other not-so-prized specimens in-between.  Morels have been his white whale, and until this past weekend, efforts to find them have proved sorely unfruitful.  But, thanks to Hank Shaw of Hunter Angler Gardener Cook, DD finally struck morel gold on Saturday. Continue reading →