I have just made my first nettle soup of the season, using a slightly modified recipe..
I had to act fast as the Wife has started her anual attack on all the good stuff (wild) in the garden in favour of the good stuff (cultivated) that are her choice!
I used
1/2 lb of fresh young nettle tops - just the very tenderest of the top leaves (1/2 pound saw off all of the nettles in our garden and I had to use some from my favourite woodland spot as well...think about a 2 litre ice cream tub full and compressed a fair bit...
A few handfuls of Jack by the Hedge AKA Garlic-Mustard/Hedge Garlic - I did not weigh this....just picked the first young tender tops until I had what looked enough....
1 large onion
2 large spuds
A gob of Garlic puree
A splurt or two of Olive oil
2 pints of stock (I used beef - as it was handy)
A non PC helping of salt and a fair bit of black pepper
About 1/2 pint of Supermarket cheap cider
Method
I sweated off the sliced onions and garlic and diced spuds for about 5 mins (actually - to the end of my chapter in the book I am reading...they looked about ready..) then added the washed and shredded nettles - use a glove or tongs! (how many recipes recommend the use of protective clothing?) - and the Jack by the Hedge. Then I added the stock and boiled it until I had read another chapter and the spuds were soft.
The whole lot then was Zizzed (or beaten with a birch twig/ pushed through a sieve) to a fire puree and the salt, pepper and cider added to taste and to a thickness that seemed right...
Tasted great!
This makes enough for about four to five helpings.
Best served with a swirl of single cream and bacon fried croutons or in a Crusader mug and with a lungful of woodsmoke.
Although the "sting" of the nettles is destroyed by the heat I find that I have a mild "curry tingle" from Nettle Soup. I have been told this is a reaction to the histamines in the nettles and some folks can have a bad reaction - SO BEWARE!
Me - I enjoy the tingle...
I had to act fast as the Wife has started her anual attack on all the good stuff (wild) in the garden in favour of the good stuff (cultivated) that are her choice!
I used
1/2 lb of fresh young nettle tops - just the very tenderest of the top leaves (1/2 pound saw off all of the nettles in our garden and I had to use some from my favourite woodland spot as well...think about a 2 litre ice cream tub full and compressed a fair bit...
A few handfuls of Jack by the Hedge AKA Garlic-Mustard/Hedge Garlic - I did not weigh this....just picked the first young tender tops until I had what looked enough....
1 large onion
2 large spuds
A gob of Garlic puree
A splurt or two of Olive oil
2 pints of stock (I used beef - as it was handy)
A non PC helping of salt and a fair bit of black pepper
About 1/2 pint of Supermarket cheap cider
Method
I sweated off the sliced onions and garlic and diced spuds for about 5 mins (actually - to the end of my chapter in the book I am reading...they looked about ready..) then added the washed and shredded nettles - use a glove or tongs! (how many recipes recommend the use of protective clothing?) - and the Jack by the Hedge. Then I added the stock and boiled it until I had read another chapter and the spuds were soft.
The whole lot then was Zizzed (or beaten with a birch twig/ pushed through a sieve) to a fire puree and the salt, pepper and cider added to taste and to a thickness that seemed right...
Tasted great!
This makes enough for about four to five helpings.
Best served with a swirl of single cream and bacon fried croutons or in a Crusader mug and with a lungful of woodsmoke.
Although the "sting" of the nettles is destroyed by the heat I find that I have a mild "curry tingle" from Nettle Soup. I have been told this is a reaction to the histamines in the nettles and some folks can have a bad reaction - SO BEWARE!
Me - I enjoy the tingle...
