Spring Greens.

[KIMBOKO]

I have always thought that there are loads of plants that you can eat as greens but that they are not particularly interesting.
However, over this winter I have read and made the Italian Greens recipe in Jamie Olivers` Italian cook book. Using cabbage,salad leaves, spinach, herbs in a garlic flavoured olive oil and seasoned with salt pepper and lemon juice.
It is a delicious way of eating greens and yesterday I made a spring wild greens version.
Recipe.
Collect locally available leaves. For me they were nettles, hawthorn, mallow, dandelions, chickweed, yarrow, plantain, goosegrass. At the moment there are also ramsons, alexanders, hogweed, purslane, sorrel, sea beet, ransomes but they were not within a stones throw of the house so were not collected. I also used a small amount of (par boiled)cabbage and mixed salad leaves that were best used up.
Put a slug of olive oil in a pan with some finely sliced garlic when the garlic starts to brown, add the washed leaves and cabbage. Stir until wilted or cooked to your preference (you may want to partially or fully cover for a few minutes) finally add any herbs, cook for a few seconds more then season with salt pepper and lemon juice. Serve.

 

[g4ghb]

sounds good! - do you choose the 'flowered' non stinging nettles or boil them to render the sting 'safe'?

 

[jdlenton]

umm sounds great going to have to give this a try

James

 

[Don Redondo]

sounds good! - do you choose the 'flowered' non stinging nettles or boil them to render the sting 'safe'?

you only need to blanch young nettles [dont bother with the old leaves] then serve them up like spinach or made into packoras or nettle soup.

 

[KIMBOKO]

sounds good! - do you choose the 'flowered' non stinging nettles or boil them to render the sting 'safe'?

I pick them, wash them and the cooking makes them "sting safe" if you are worried then add a bit of water and steam for a few minutes with the lid on as suggested.