Nettle soup is the earliest meal known to be consumed in Britain, due to a discovery of Bronze Age crockery, which suggests that the weed has been cooked on the island for at least 3,000 years. Today, the nettle soup is a staple on Swedish Easter tables, where it is appreciated for its nutritious properties.
So, if like Gretel you are a lover of garden weeds and the three lockdowns had you hankering for the great outdoors, why not go out this weekend to forage some nettles and cook into a refreshing green soup.
Time: 60 min
Cost: ££
Serves: 3-4
Difficulty: Moderate
Equipment
- Garden gloves
- Scissors
- Blender
- Strainer
- Pot
- Frying pan
- Knife
- Chopping board
Ingredients
- About a shopping bag of stinging nettles
- 400g of shallots
- Garlic clove
- A bunch of chive
- Leek
- 2 celery sticks
- A potato
- 2 table spoons of greek yoghurt
- Olive oil/butter
Method
- Forage your nettles, you need about one plastic shopping bag
- Remove the leaves from the stalk, get rid of anything you don’t like the look of. Watch out for spiders and bugs.
- Wash the leaves in a strainer, make sure you get it all nice and clean.
- Boil the washed leaves in a 2 litres of water for about 40 min.
- While the nettles are boiling, chop the shallots and garlic and stick on a frying pan with some olive oil or butter on medium low heat.
- When the shallots turn glossy and diced celery, leek, and potato.
- Once the vegetables are soft add the boiled nettle with a glass of nettle water and let boil until most water evaporates.
- Blend.
- Add two table spoons of Greek youghurt and mix together.
- Serve hot
Gretel’s tip: add a cheeky splash of dry white wine to make it fancy.