The word on the street is it's been an incredible year for morels. When we finally made it to our sacred hunting grounds over the Memorial Day weekend, we walked past a man with a sack brimming with the goodies.

Our fingers trembled in anticipation. We, however, didn't quite collect the motherlode we'd been anticipating, but a couple of dozen beauties were good enough for a few dishes.

It's generally our friends Jack and Judy who find all the mushrooms, but this season it was my competitive husband who found every last one of them. I found tons of "false" morels (the ones with the detached heads) — some real monsters — but, alas, none we wanted to eat.

Certainly you may substitute any mushroom that is convenient to your life; supermarket domestics are yummy in the recipe as well.

Last year I blogged extensively about Michigan's woodland jewels; I made a recipe with morels and chicken and used Al Dente's Wild Mushroom Pasta — it was exceptional.

In France they use pigs to hunt down truffles. Unfortunately Yaller, the dog in the photos, is not a morel-hunting dog — but he's a lover-boy, that's for sure. I wonder if any morel-hunting animals exists?

(Note: It takes about the same amount of time to grill asparagus as steak.)

Steak with Morels

Yield: 2 big steaks
Resting time for steak: About an hour
Active Time: 15 minutes

Ingredients
2 T-bone steaks (about 1 pound each
1/2 garlic clove plus 1 teaspoon minced garlic
Olive oil
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
1 1/2 cups fresh morels or other mushrooms, cleaned and halved
1 teaspoon finely chopped fresh rosemary

Directions

1. If time allows, let steaks come to room temperature. Rub steaks with cut side of a garlic clove and brush both sides of steak with olive oil. Liberally season both sides with kosher salt and freshly ground pepper.

2. Melt butter in large saute pan over medium-low heat. Saute mushrooms with garlic and rosemary until mushrooms are just tender; about 2-3 minutes.

3. Meanwhile, prepare one side of charcoal or gas grill to highest possible heat; prepare the other side of grill to medium-high heat.

4. Oil grill grates. Place steaks on the hottest side of grill and sear for 1 1/2-2 minutes on each side. (To create a diamond pattern on the meat, rotate 45 degrees after 1 minute.) After searing meat, move steaks to the cooler side of the grill and cook to desired level of doneness. (For medium rare, about 3-4 additional minutes per side.)

5. Let steaks rest 5-10 minutes then serve with mushroom sauce.