cream of nettle soup

[Heidi]

(they are up and I love nettles)

this is a pinch and toss recipe and I have no source since this was passed to me

fill a grocery bag with nettles (pick with gloves on and a pair of scissors snip the tender tops off into your bag

fill it up

wash well (with gloves on)

drizzle a couple of tbles of extra virgin olive oil in the bottom of a soup pot with few cloves crushed garlic ..or to remain seasonally appropriate use minced chives about 1/4 cup ..sizzled in ..not browned just sizzled

toss in the nettles along with 1 diced potato pour 2 -3 quarts of chicken or vegetable stock on top (depending on how many nettles you have)
simmer nettles until tender scoop them out and put them in the blender with the potato ..and blend with some stock until smooth paste
pour back into the stock ..stirr and add a couple of cups of heavy cream

salt and pepper to taste this should be a medium thick creamy soup ..

this is really nice soup and supposidly nettles are good for pollen allergies?

I dont know I just love this soup

enjoy!

[TheLorax]

Must the nettles be used fresh for the soup?

[Heidi]

Originally Posted by TheLorax

Must the nettles be used fresh for the soup?

I would think so but maybe someone else can answer?

however if you do not have nettles any green will do in this soup ..in fact you can use this recipe to cream any vegetable actually ..
so you would never run out of options and probably never need to worry about having fresh nettles

hope this helps? "yes" to the fresh nettles.. Unless someone says something else ..then I would humble because really I have not tried it any other way and do not know!

this soup is also good with New Mexican chile or a bit of good Madras curry in it

[Equilibrium]

We should be able to freeze the nettles don't you think. They're just going to be creamed anyway. I don't normally do soups again until fall. I am totally into cooking any weed that's semi-edible. I read we could make a tea out of Urtica dioica. I have no idea what a tea from a plant that zaps your skin would taste like but I'm game if you know anything about how to make the tea. The soup I'll try. Lord knows I've got enough stinging nettles zapping me around here. I guess we'll find out if they freeze well or not. Hey, did you know there's a guy out there who has videos on eating weeds? Check this out,

YouTube - EatTheWeeds: Episode 01: Why Learn About Wild Foods

YouTube - EatTheWeeds: Episode 01: Why Learn About Wild Foods

. What a trip, eh? This guy cracks me up.

[Heidi]

the zaps disapear as soon as you cook them ..I adore greens they are my favorite vegetables so nettles are right up there ..since I mostly eat what is in season and greens grow all year here I would not freeze them but I hope someone tries and lets us know!

you can also make a nice calzone out of nettles just chop them up (with gloves on) saute in olive oil and garlic ..add good parmesan salt and pepper and chopped calamata cool .taste for seasonings and stuff into single servings of your favorite pizza dough rolled in circles and fold over ..bake until golden brown (about 30 min size dependent at 425F) serve at room temp ...

(again I can not site this because I just make them)


PS the tea is just made from hanging the nettles to dry and then you take a handful and pour a quart of boiling water over it ..let it steep for at least ten min and drink either hot or iced..this is really supposed to be excellent for allergies so I make my husband eat nettles every spring

[Equilibrium]

There's no shortage of nettles by me. I'll be the guinea pig and try freezing them. I do a lot of soups once the leaves start swirling to the ground.... not at all this time of year. Tea I can try too.

[Heidi]

I bet if you made the soup left off the cream and froze it in soup you could heat it up from the freezer add the cream later and have some wonderful soup ..nettles have a different texture so I think freezing them alone or blanching and freezing ..you would loose the flavor and would be kind of blech ..but if you whirled them up with the potato in the stock (I use chicken but any stock is good) that would be perfect! let me know how it goes!

we eat soup all year I love fresh vegetable soups in the summer ..soup is good food!

yes that guy is funny in the video ..we get a LOT of the sorrel here and it does taste like green apples/rhubarb combo to me ..my kids used to dig into it when they were little ...they still do come to think of it and are now teaching their kids ..yay!!!

we were did a lot of "free activities" out of need and choice when they were little
I took a book and we would take hikes in the woods around our house and ID native edibles ...we all loved the nettles and wood sorral or oxalis the best

another way to try the nettles and the most simple is to chop them up and saute them in butter or olive oil and a little garlic like spinach

or just cook them like spinach!

just use the tender tops the stalks get stringy tasting

enjoy your nettles they are loaded with vits and minerals!

[Heidi]

we are very quickly getting to the point of the nettles being too big and too hempy to eat ..well for me they are and it is time to move on to the next green anyway ..garden escarole and chicory
right now are starting to be just perfect (second flush)

it is cold here and we are still eating soups ..so after our forray ...where btw I also found a nice spring harvest of oyster mushrooms!!! (happy dancing they are for dinner tonight!)

we are having nettle soup again for lunch

this is todays rendition and it is so good I just wanted to share what I did before I forgot !

you could make a completely vegetarian recipe out of this ..but I really like bacon and we cure our own so this is a wonderful way to highlight both the flavors of nettles...our local cheddar and some home alder/apple smoked bacon
this is soo good

we can call it
cheddar bacon nettle yam soup?

1 pound of nettles washed and cut up (wear gloves!)
1 quart of chicken or vegetable stock
1 big fat piece of good smoked bacon (or not if you do not eat meat use something smoky you like ..maybe use a smoked cheddar when you add the cheese instead of regular cheddar?)
simmer nettles until done in the stock ..take off the stove pull out about half the nettles and puree them with a cooked yam or sweet potato about 6 by 3 inches
add back the puree to the soup ...then add 2 cups of cheddar cheese (if you do not use bacon above use a good smoked gouda or cheddar) salt and pepper to taste ..Cheyenne pepper small couple of dashes of Worcestershire

heat well and simmer a few min ..taste adjust and then add a cup of heavy cream

top with dollop of sour cream and lots of crispy cooked bacon crumbled over and..fresh minched chives

diet food

I want to eat more and work less but I can't ..gluttony never works in my favor that is for sure! ..the sun is sort of shining here finally!!!

[TheLorax]

I did not know nettles were able to be cooked like spinache.

Yes, the soup can be called Cheddar Bacon Nettle Yam soup (giggle) however Cheddar Nettle Soup has a certain appeal also. Thanks for adding the reminder to wear gloves when chopping the nettles.

[Heidi]

ok so how about a nettle calzone?
Lorax nettles are really good eats! such a waste they just grow all over people think they are a pest and they are absolutely loaded with nutrition ...do a search for the counts they are high in minerals for sure! I did a search for nettle recipes as well and omg there are so many!

So this is it for me..the end of the season! ..(but I keep saying that and there are still some fresh tops out there ready to be picked!) ..The problem for s they grown so thick and woody that I get more stung than usual diving for the tender tops when the nettles get big
this week however I think making some of these and freezing them for easy lunches ..is a good idea ..so here you go ..very easy recipe (you can use absolutely any green for this) ..but you have to be able to make your own pizza dough ..or if you are lucky enough to have a bakery near by that sells fresh dough ..go for it! I just use water flour salt and yeast make a sponge then make my dough the second day ..it is a process but if you have an easier way go for it!



in a medium hot skillet put a few tbl olive oil
diced yellow onion saute until translucent
then add
3 smashed cloves of garlic saute just a few seconds before adding
1lb of chopped nettles
1 tbl of dried oregano
1 tsp of crushed red pepper
salt and pepper to taste (go easy on the salt the cheese and olives will make up for it)
saute all until the nettles are tender
add 1/2 cup white wine of choice cook until the wine is evaporated and the filling is fairly dry

pour filling into a bowl add 2 cups grated mozzarella
1/2 cup good parmesan (I use a cup but it is to taste)
1/3 cup diced calamata olives

mix together well ..you can also add smashed hard boiled eggs to this if you like ..

punch down your pizza dough and make balls the size of your desired calzones ..tiny ones make great appetizers

one large pizza crust recipe makes about 6 large calzones for us or 8 smaller ones

fill the calzones (just make a tuinover and squish the edges together)

place a piece of parchment on a baking sheet ..spread olive oil out on the sheet then sprinkle with corn meal put the calzones on the sheet snip air holes with scissors

let rise while you preheat the oven to 400F

bake for 25-30 min

best served at room temp

enjoy your nettles now they are out there free for the picking ..just make sure the area you pick is not contaminated or prohibited!