lol had a bit of a "the good life" moment yesterday (TV show from 70s UK about a couple who go self sufficient while living in the suburbs).
We (b2 and i) went out for a walk in the country, picked some nice baby stinging nettles and washed em and made them in to soup...well I did that while b2 made some fresh bread (actually made it, not defrosted it or emptied a packet and stirred it) and we had it for supper.
I have to say it was a bit surreal stirring a pan of nettles, it felt a bit like when i was a kid and would make mud pies and stuff in the graden lol but it tasted bloody lovely and i only got stung once (so it may be a good idea to pick a doc leaf or two while you're at it...just to be safe because they dont loose the sting when picked), anyhoo if you want to try it here's a really good simple cheap recipe for it that i used.
get a carrier bag full of nettles (just the top bits with smaller leaves) and wash them, dont worry if it looks like too much because they reduce quite a lot when cooked, i dont have rubber gloves so put a pair of freezer bags on me hands which worked as well to protect me from stinginess, anyhoo rinse them until you are sure theres no bugs or shit on them (tis nature you know) and pull the leaves off the stalks, you can keep the smaller stalks but the thick ones just bin em.
heat a little olive oil in a pan and wilt the leaves (they work a bit like spinich) for say about 5 mins or so and then add a pint of water with two small spoon fulls of bullion or a stock cube and simmer the leaves until they go soft (we pressure cooked ours for about 4 mins) dollop in a good helping of cream cheese (i used low fat but tis up to you) and fresh ground black pepper and blend it all up until its just green liquid.
lovely!
really high in vitimins and iron it is too so if you crap black afterwards dont worry lol
We (b2 and i) went out for a walk in the country, picked some nice baby stinging nettles and washed em and made them in to soup...well I did that while b2 made some fresh bread (actually made it, not defrosted it or emptied a packet and stirred it) and we had it for supper.
I have to say it was a bit surreal stirring a pan of nettles, it felt a bit like when i was a kid and would make mud pies and stuff in the graden lol but it tasted bloody lovely and i only got stung once (so it may be a good idea to pick a doc leaf or two while you're at it...just to be safe because they dont loose the sting when picked), anyhoo if you want to try it here's a really good simple cheap recipe for it that i used.
get a carrier bag full of nettles (just the top bits with smaller leaves) and wash them, dont worry if it looks like too much because they reduce quite a lot when cooked, i dont have rubber gloves so put a pair of freezer bags on me hands which worked as well to protect me from stinginess, anyhoo rinse them until you are sure theres no bugs or shit on them (tis nature you know) and pull the leaves off the stalks, you can keep the smaller stalks but the thick ones just bin em.
heat a little olive oil in a pan and wilt the leaves (they work a bit like spinich) for say about 5 mins or so and then add a pint of water with two small spoon fulls of bullion or a stock cube and simmer the leaves until they go soft (we pressure cooked ours for about 4 mins) dollop in a good helping of cream cheese (i used low fat but tis up to you) and fresh ground black pepper and blend it all up until its just green liquid.
lovely!
really high in vitimins and iron it is too so if you crap black afterwards dont worry lol
