Nettle recipes- Food from the wild.

julieq

Having found a clump of nettles in what has been named the forbidden zone of the garden, and knowing as everyone knows that nettles are supposed to be edible, I decided to have a go to see what I could do with them.

I did bite back the temptation to serve a simple nettle salad to a couple of rather mid-Easter holiday surly children, and instead decided on soup as the first attempt.

I've previously tried nettle soup, years ago, but it was very disappointing. Looking back this was probably because I tried to make the nettles carry the whole soup, which they're not up to, and (probably out of squeamishness) I liquidised the whole thing so that even the shock factor of finding nettle leaves in the soup was rather spoiled. It was all very non-descript.

So this time, I decided that the soup would be a decent soup without the nettles, and the nettles would just provide a bit of green and vitamin C, they are apparently very high in vitamin C, that was one of the attractions.

I used a duck carcass left over from Christmas and made (over a couple of weeks of boiling up off and on in the stockpot - this isn't so much a culinary technique as forgetting it in the fridge and feeling that boiling it again would probably reduce the risk of poisoning the family) a very rich stock as a basis.

The basis for the soup was half an onion chopped finely and cooked gently in butter, I then added some sliced jerusalem artichoke, and then the nettles, a good handful (well, gloveful), chopped with extreme care, which wilted down gently, like spinach. All of that was then added to a casserole, the stock added, a dash or two of worcester sauce and seasoning, and I left it to simmer for 20 minutes. I confess I didn't explain to the children what was in it before giving them a spoonful to try, but they liked it enough to ask for it for lunch, and after half a bowl I let the secret out, which they met with a rather disappointing indifference and loud slurping noises.

You start out being a little worried about residual stings, but it doesn't happen, it ends up being a leaf vegetable. It was really very nice, rather like spinach but with just a slightly coarser texture, not quite as slimy. No great flavour, but it did contribute to a very nice brothy soup.

Encouraged by that success I decided to try using it with some seafood pasta tonight. This was basically a freezer challenge, I happened to have some Tesco "seafood" cocktail, which is a mix of prawns, squid, mussels and a few other bits and pieces I think.

I cooked some spaghetti and dressed it in a little olive oil and seasoning for starters. I melted a couple of ounces of butter (lots of butter) on a medium heat in my trusty large cast iron frying pan, added a couple of cloves of crushed chopped garlic, a couple of handfuls of the seafood, cooked for a couple of minutes, then added a couple of handfuls of chopped nettles and a few leaves of basil which I sweated down again. Added a squeeze of lemon, a dessert spoon of clotted cream (left over from a cream tea), stirred round and added the spaghetti back in and folded in the seafood.

Really very tasty, and the nettles worked very well in it. I'd been quite careful to cut out the stalks, but it turned out that the stalks I'd left in there were quite nice, a little crunchy.

All very encouraging as an experiment. There may well now be some competition for the nettles though as my OH has discovered they make excellent nitrogen rich fertiliser when rotted in a bucket of water.

This is the kind of foraging I like, 30 yards down the garden past the vegetable plot, and nettles are far less trouble than actual veg. Definitely one to try.

buxtonrabbitgreen

I thought I had dug up all the nettles when I was preparing my little veg plot. but I see there are some more coming up. I might try your recipe with the pasta instead of puttig them in the green bin. this time I will put gloves on to do it though. I had a very painful hand for 2 days.

Obukit

I tried using nettles tonight and, after apprehensively trying a bit to see how edible they were it turns out they're... delicious! Sort of like spinach, only sweeter, less slimy and with more texture.

All I did was cut off the stalks, wash thoroughly and then microwave a reasonable sized bowl of them for 3 minutes until wilted and dark green. I then served them with rice, mashed kidney beans, mushrooms, a dollop of yoghurt and a little fried onion, garlic, chilli and herbs.

It looked very attractive (the nettles go dark green and colour the rice), and was very filling, delicious, nutritious and for about 20p a portion! Will definitely be trying again (after we finish the leftovers tomorrow).

Patrick20

I'm going to try the recipe thanks OP for bringing this to Attention.

clutterydrawer

does anyone have any recipes using nettles?

I went and gathered some today to make risotto and stew, but i wondered if anyone had any other ideas. Free veg, after all!

Bongedone

There is a nettle thread somewhere. Try the search function.

Here is is:

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=871967&highlight=nettle

clutterydrawer

ahh i tried that but searched "nettleS" so didn't find it! thankyou x

kate83

Have a look on here - nettle juice, he seems to think it's nice, I've not tried it yet

http://feralkevin.com/?p=161

Basically, wash a handful of nettle tops, whizz in the blender with about half a cup of water then strain, drink the juice. Solids can then be used in soup or whatever.

edited to say - tried this today, although mine came out more of a browny green rather than the lovely bright green he got. Tasted quite nice actually, no hint of a sting, just very fresh tasting and refreshing.

weezl74

I usually do a google search for interesting sounding dishes with spinach and then swap for nettles. Found a nice Jamie one with chick peas and chorizo and doctored it.:o:D

nomnomnomnom


HTH

Weezl x

clutterydrawer

ta everyone

i just made my risotto and it was sooooo good