Morels and asparagus

We found them! So here a recipe.

Morels, Morchella, an unmistakable sponge-like mushroom, have a meaty, delicious taste, that reminds me of the Chanterelles (Cantarellus cibarius) I used to hunt on the Alps, back in Italy.

According to the holy cooking texts, you are not supposed to wash fresh wild mushrooms, not to spoil their bouquet. You should rather brush them delicately, to remove all the soil.
Still, I refuse to eat something with soil on it without properly washing it. Besides, the peculiar shape of morels makes particularly tricky to clean them thoroughly and any eventual residual of soil would creak unpleasantly under your teeth!

Morels with asparagus and taleggio pie
(Spugnole con tortino di asparagi e taleggio)

Ingredients for two persons
10 fresh morels
6 asparagus
polenta (pre-made organic from Trader Joe's works great)
couple of slices of Taleggio (or Gruyere if you cannot find it)
butter

Preparation
Start by cleaning the morels: cut them in halves top-bottom and double check for 'guests' who can be inside (little black bugs, typically). Rinse them carefully under running water. Let the mushrooms stay for half an hour in cold water with salt, to be sure to get rid of all the bugs.

Meanwhile, grease a frying pan with butter and roast on both sides two slices of polenta about 1/2 inch thick. The surface of the polenta should be golden and crispy.

Boil in salted water the tips of the asparagus (you may want to keep the stems for a soup) for about 10 minutes.

Melt two table spoons of salted butter in a frying pan and add the morels. Cook them for about 15 minutes, until all the water they will release is gone.

Arrange the slices of polenta in an oven pan. Put three asparagus tips on the top of each polenta's slice, cover with the cheese, and broil until the cheese starts to melt, no more than that. Sprinkle with black pepper.

Set each dish with the polenta pie and the mushrooms and serve with Pinot noir.