We were looking for trunks with a washboard-size sheen. “Recently dead,” I told my wife. “Morels sprout from their decaying roots.”

This season was our first as morel hunters in Minnesota. Two weeks earlier, we spent an afternoon in Kinnickinnic State Park, spitting out gnats and stepping through bramble, futilely searching.

Last Sunday afternoon, after hiking for a few miles, we had seen nothing, and I could sense my wife’s waning confidence. Nothing curbs a husband’s pride quite like a wife’s distrust in his ability to sniff out fungus.

“I swear I know what I’m doing,” I told her.

It didn’t matter — the search had become a one-man job, as my wife kept to the trail while I ducked in and inspected potential sites. After three hours, I also had more or less given up faith, though I still stopped and stooped when I spied bark sheds, if only out of stubbornness.

I had just finished surveying another prime spot, I thought — dead elm, moss and bark on ground. No morels. Then on my way back to the trail, in 6 inches of dry grass, there it stood: a pristine morel half the size of my fist.

I yelled for my wife. My tone and volume could mean only one thing — we got one!

We found three more nearby, same size. On our way back to the car, we snipped a few handfuls of dandelion leaves. The afternoon was complete.

Such a rare and unique treat, the taste of morels should never get covered up in any dish. A simple vodka-reduction and tomato mix, this pizza sauce recipe serves as a great compliment to morel mushrooms. Fried garlic helps highlight the earthy, nutty flavor of the morels, while still providing the flare of authentic Italian pizza.

For more morel storage and cooking tips, plus a white pizza sauce recipe, visit my blog.

MOREL AND DANDELION PIZZA

One 12-inch pizza serves two.

Red sauce ingredients:

1 pound on-vine tomatoes, destemmed and roasted

1 cup vodka, reduced to half

2 large cloves fresh garlic, fried

1 teaspoon kosher salt

1 teaspoon black pepper

1 tablespoon sugar

Canola oil for frying garlic

1 tablespoon olive oil

Pizza ingredients per pizza:

1 14-ounce, 12-inch Boboli original crust

3 ounces morel mushrooms, cleaned and sliced

Half ounce of dandelion leaves or arugula, cleaned

Sauce to lightly cover pizza

4 ounces Italian cheese blend (mozzarella, provolone, romano, asiago and parmesan)

To clean and prepare morels: cut in half, soak in a salt-water solution for 1 hour to clean out bugs and dirt. Sliced into strips once cleaned.

To prepare red sauce: Heat half-inch of canola oil in pot to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Peel garlic and place in oil, turning until brown. Remove and set aside. Use paring knife to remove stems from tomatoes. Spray or rub tomatoes with canola oil and place in baking dish and slide into oven. Roast for 20 minutes or until tomatoes are soft and skin peeled back. Remove from oven, peel off skin. Add tomatoes, garlic, olive oil, sugar, salt and pepper to food processor. Blend thoroughly. In medium pot, heat vodka on low until it reduces to half. Add tomato sauce mix. Simmer for half hour.

To assemble and cook pizza: Keep oven preheated at 450 degrees. Cover base of pizza crust with light amount of sauce. Sprinkle morels and dandelion (or arugula) leaves over pizza then cover with cheese. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes or until crust is golden brown. Consider turning broiler on high to finish off browning cheese. Let sit for 1 minute before cutting.