Nettle recipes- Food from the wild.

Sharra

I drank nettle tea last year for hayfever - I only got one gulp down before rushing to the sink to spit it out
I could imagine they would be good to eat tho.

Aril

The soup is really nice if you add a good pinch of nutmeg to it and a dollop of creme fraiche at the end. I also add in a big handful of wild garlic although it's flowering now and I've been told it's too late to use then. Can't vouch for that bit I'm afraid.
Aril

Bargain_Rzl

Sorry, dumb question (not that I have much of a chance of picking nettles here in inner-city London)...

Are we talking stinging nettles? Are dead-nettles edible too?

tiff

Yes, stinging nettles. You have to pick the young shoots. I made some nettle soup a couple of weeks ago and didnt like it. Picked some wild garlic today and will have that in an omelette tomorrow with some mushrooms.

HariboJunkie

tiff wrote: »

Yes, stinging nettles. You have to pick the young shoots. I made some nettle soup a couple of weeks ago and didnt like it. Picked some wild garlic today and will have that in an omelette tomorrow with some mushrooms.

After a long walk down a very nettlely lane last week I have pots of nettle soup in the freezer. We love it. I also serve them just steamed with butter as a veg dish.

I have wild garlic in the garden which needs picking. I like it just stirred thrugh pasta with olive oil and black pepper. :drool:

count_rostov

A very MSE recipe I came up with at the weekend!
Nettle and Chickpea Soup
Feeds 4
Cooking the nettles removes the sting - they're very tasty, a bit like spinach but less slimy and everso slightly peppery. They're best in the spring time when they're young and tender.
Wearing Rubber gloves, pick the tips and leaves of the nettles, enough to almost fill a normal sized colander ( I didn't think to weigh anything until I realised how tasty this was!). Still wearing gloves, wash thoroughly and remove any of the thicker stalks. Finely chop 1 onion, 4 cloves of garlic and two sticks of celery. Sweat gently in some butter/oil. Add the nettles and a drained can of chickpeas. Add some salt and pepper, stir to coat everything. Add 2 pint water and a teaspoon of Swiss Boullion or whatever stock you use. Good chicken stock would be delish. Bring to boil and simmer for half an hour. Whizz half of the soup. It should be a slightly sloppy, chunkt, stewy texture.

We had this on Sunday, after enjoying freshly-picked mussels on Saturday (in a tomato and white wine sauce - amazing). This got me thinking, does anyone else like to cook 'free' food? We're lucky to live by a very clean part of the coastline so mussles/cockles/mackerel etc are plentiful. However, things like winkles, razorfish etc I only know how to cook according to my granny's recipe for ALL fish which was boil fast for twenty minutes. Disgusting!
Does any one else have any ideas - for mushrooms, fish, herbs, greenery...?

squeaky

In all sorts of different ways...

free food threads here on MoneySaving Old Style

tiff

Uses for wild garlic which is in season at the moment in abundance. Found loads at the weekend, on a bank near the river.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/wiltshire/content/articles/2006/05/06/fresh_food_wildgarlic_feature.shtml

Kaz2904

Anyone got any tried and tested recipes?
Where do I get fresh yeast from- I have dried allinsons stuff that says it can be used for home brewing but how much do I use? I've seen a recipe that says to spread it on toast but when I start up my yeast I never have anything of a consistency which I could spread.

Help?:D
Then maybe I'll get some :beer:

morwenna

Kaz2904 wrote: »

Anyone got any tried and tested recipes?
Where do I get fresh yeast from- I have dried allinsons stuff that says it can be used for home brewing but how much do I use? I've seen a recipe that says to spread it on toast but when I start up my yeast I never have anything of a consistency which I could spread.

Help?:D
Then maybe I'll get some :beer:

Fresh yeast is spreadable on toast - try the major supermarkets (or your local bakery if you are lucky enough!!) Morrisons sell fresh yeast in the chiller cabinets around here (for pence) I have seen some posters say their supermarket gives fresh yeast for free.