Stuffed morels are a springtime stunner

"They're little packets  of goodness," said Miami chef Jeff McInnis. "It's an eyes-rolling-back-in-the-head kind of bite," said Atlanta chef Linton Hopkins. If you had to guess the food that inspires such rhapsody among chefs who have pretty much seen it all, stuffed mushrooms probably wouldn't come to mind.

But they're not talking about the "Mad Men"-era Velveeta-and-bacon-bits version. They're talking about something far more refined: the morel, that spring darling, with its earthy flavor and distinctively honeycombed head, filled with things like scallop mousse, fava beans and crawfish, and foie gras. Stuffing morels, it turns out, is a favorite springtime strategy among chefs—and one that adapts easily for home kitchens.

"It's just natural," said Mr. Hopkins. "Here's this great device for holding things. What should we put in there?" At his Restaurant Eugene, in Atlanta, the answer is a velvety filling of chicken and sweetbreads, which Mr. Hopkins tucks into the mushrooms before glazing them with Armagnac. At Marea, in New York, chef Michael White stuffs morels with a shrimp and lardo purée reminiscent of the filling in Chinese har gow dumplings. "It's the perfect bite, very dumpling-esque," Mr. White said. He says that morels work particularly well because of their spongy texture: They soak up and amplify the flavors of whatever goes in them. Mr. McInnis, who has served foie-gras-stuffed morels at Miami's Yardbird, agrees: "The fattiness melts into the mushroom from the inside out."

Peak season is usually around mid-May, and the best place to find morels is generally the farmers' market, though Whole Foods and other specialty grocers carry them, too. You can also order them online from sources such as Earthy Delights . For stuffing, choose firm, fairly large morels. Grit can get trapped in the mushrooms' nooks and crannies, so give them a swish in a bowl of cold water, then repeat with fresh water until the water runs clean and let them air dry in a single layer on kitchen towels.

At Hearth, in New York, Marco Canora makes a loose lamb sausage, stuffs it into morels and then roasts them. The flavorful lamb juices saturate the mushrooms from within, while their craggy outsides crisp and caramelize. "Done well," said Mr. Canora, "it's the most amazing thing ever."