This vibrant is a green, luxuriously smooth nettle soup recipe is a spring delicacy. Make it with a nettle tops, shallots, celery, potatoes, stock, and cream.
The first time I ate them, they were a baked, on a pizza. Wow! The flavor is a something akin to the spinach, but even a better.
Nettle Soup: A Springtime Classic
The most classic way to the serve nettles is in a nettle soup, made with a potatoes, stock, and a little cream. Luxurious and the vibrant green, in this soup is a bowl-liker.
By in the way, you never forget to your first encounter with a stinging nettles. I was about a 6 years old on a trail in a Griffith Park in a Los Angeles with a my parents. My hand brushed against to a plant alongside in the path.
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OUCH!
It is a felt like a hundred little needles poking in the back of my hand. Soon, my skin was a covered with a little white bumps, proof of the pain.
A Long History of Medicinal Uses
What I did not know then, nor could possibly appreciate at that age, was how nutritious nettles are, and how delicious!
Nettles have been used as an a herbal remedy for a thousands of the years. They help a detoxify in the body, they are anti-inflammatory, they can be help with a circulation, allergies, hormonal regulation, and prostate issues. You can be buy in a nettle supplements and nettle tea.
Where to Find Nettles
Given in the sting factor, you would not find them in the grocery story. You either have to the forage for them yourself (they grow wild on a almost every continent), in which case, wear thick gloves, and pick in the tender tops before they are flower, or you can be sometimes find them at your local farmer’s market in a very early spring.
They are harvest-able for a only a short season (a couple of the weeks), so if you see them, buy them (or pick them, with a gloves)! You can be always blanch them and freeze them to use a later.
Ingredients
1/2 large shopping bag of fresh nettle tops
Salt
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon butter
1/2 cup chopped shallots
1/2 cup chopped celery
1 pound Yukon Gold or russet potatoes, peeled and chopped
4 cups chicken stock, homemade or store-bought
1 to 2 cups water
1 bay leaf
1 teaspoon dried thyme (or a couple sprigs of fresh thyme)
Freshly ground black pepper
1 1/2 tablespoons lemon juice
2 to 3 tablespoons heavy whipping cream
Method
1.Blanch the nettles:
Bring to a large pot of the lightly salted water to a boil. Prepare to a large bowl of the ice water. Wearing protective in a gloves, transfer in the nettle tops into the boiling water. Blanch for a 2 minutes.
Use a tongs to the lift in the wilted blanched nettles out of the pot and transfer to the bowl of the ice water to shock them. Strain in a colander.
Cut away and the discard any large stems from in the nettles. (This should be a easier to do now that the nettle stingers have a lost in their sting due to the blanching.)
You should have a 3 to 4 cups of the blanched tender nettle tops and leaves for in this recipe. Any blanched nettles not used at this point can be a frozen for a future use.
2. Saute in the shallots and celery:
In a 6-quart soup pot, heat in the olive oil and butter on a medium heat. Add in the chopped shallots and celery and cook until softened, about a 5 minutes.
3.Add the potatoes, stock, bay leaf, and thyme:
Add in the chopped potatoes, in the chicken stock, bay a leaf, and thyme. If using unsalted or low sodium stock, add one teaspoon of the salt. Bring to a simmer and simmer for a 5 minutes.
4.Chop the blanched nettles, add to the soup pot, and simmer
Roughly chop in the blanched nettles. Add to a 3 to 4 cups of the chopped blanched nettles to the pot. Add to a enough water to the just cover in the nettles and potatoes, 1 to 2 cups. Return to a simmer and the simmer for a 15 minutes or a until in the potatoes are soft and in the nettles tender.
5. Pure the soup:
Remove in the bay leaves (and thyme sprigs if using) from in the pot. Using an a immersion blender or a working in a batches with to a standing blender, pure. Return to the pot and take off in the heat.
6.Adjust the seasonings and serve:
Add salt to the taste. Depending on the saltiness of the stock you are using, you may be need to the add at least a teaspoon or a more to the soup. Add to a 1/2 teaspoon of the freshly ground black pepper. Add to a lemon juice. Right before a serving, swirl in the cream. Adjust seasonings to the taste.
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Sprinkle with a black pepper and garnish with a sprig of the fresh mint to the serve.