A delicious savory orzo recipe made with morel mushrooms and other seasonal produce.
Prep ingredients: Grate parmesan. Juice and zest Meyer lemon. Dice shallots. Prep morels with a light cleaning/rinsing in cold water if necessary, then cut into roughly 1" pieces. Or if you're using smaller tulip morels, you can just cut them in half. Sometimes, there can be creepy crawlies in the interior cavity of morels, so you want to find those in prep, not in your meal (e.g. don't use whole morels).
Put large skillet over medium heat. Add shallots + 2 tbsp butter. Cook for about 10 minutes until shallots are just starting to brown. Scrape shallots to one side of pan and add morel mushrooms + 2 more tbsp butter. Stir morels and pile of shallots every 1-2 minutes as they cook.
Once morels start cooking, bring SALTED water to boil (for orzo) in separate pot, ~2 tsp salt per 1/2 gallon water. You want the cooked orzo to have some salt flavor to it. Note the cook time on your brand of orzo so that you don't completely cook it. You want it slightly under-cooked when you strain it. Example: If cook time is 8 minutes, strain at 6 minutes. When straining orzo, set aside about 1/3 cup of the water. This will be added back into morel pan.
Once orzo is strained, set it aside momentarily. Then deglaze morel/shallot pan with white wine. Add cream, pasta water, and chicken bouillon. Then put orzo into pan and stir in. Add peas and stir. Let ingredients cook down for another ~10 minutes over medium low heat, stirring as needed to prevent scalding.
Remove from heat then stir in grated parmesan cheese and fresh lemon juice. Taste and add more salt if needed. Garnish in serving dish or on individual plates as desired.
Serve immediately!
Morel mushroom orzo https://www.tyrantfarms.com/recipe-morel-mushroom-orzo/