Eating the wild – nettle soup

I finally found nettles that were tall enough to harvest.  It’s only June but hey, what of it.  We had to turn the heat back on the other day; this was after getting the air conditioning looked at last week when it was 35 with the humidity.  I harvested the top 4-5 inches of the plants.  Any leaves that look especially ragged or bug eaten I give a pass to.

I love nettles.  The shade of green.  The fact that they demand mindfulness.  If I brush up against another goldenrod plant while harvesting goldenrod – nothing happens.  If I fail to pay attention while I harvest nettle I will be rewarded with an arm or leg of fire.  I spent the day I harvested with a prickly thumb just from the harvesting.

Nettle is a triple threat.  We can use the leaves, the root, and the seed.  Each part is ideal for different conditions.  Nettle leaves are a great nutritive – full of minerals.  The root is particularly good for the prostrate and for conditions of the urinary tract.  The seeds act almost as an adaptogen, although they can be on the stimulating side.  I like to mix the leaves and the seeds with sea salt to make an herbal finishing salt that I can use every day.  I had aspirations to make this nettle ravioli but in the end I was too lazy.

Nettle Soup

butter

2 onions

1 carrot

3 ribs celery

1 potato

garlic

vegetable broth

fresh nettle leaves

Play it by ear.

This is a feel it out recipe.  I might have used olive oil if we hadn’t had any butter.  If the onions had been larger, I might have used 1.  If the carrots had been smaller, I might have used more than 1.  I started with 4 cups of vegetable broth but then I added some more.  If I am being straightforward, I would say I am not sure how many cups of broth I ended up using.

Melt the butter in a large pot.  Chop the onions and the garlic and sauté til the onion turns translucent.  Add carrots, celery, and potato.  Sauté for about 8 minutes.  Add broth and simmer until carrots and potato are soft.  I had a colander full of nettle leaves and I just added them by the handful.  I wanted nettle soup – not a veggie broth with some nettle.  In the end I used all the leaves in the colander.

I’d harvested the nettle the day before I made the soup and kept the leaves in a paper bag in the fridge.  They had wilted a bit which had the benefit of making them easier to handle as they no longer had any sting.  I stirred the leaves into the broth and let them simmer for about 10 minutes.  Then I removed the soup from the heat and let it rest for another 10 minutes.  I wanted to run it through the blender and blending hot soup can be a problem.  No one wants hot soup spinning out of the blender.

After the soup was smooth, I put it back in the pot and returned it to the heat.  Warmed it back up, added some salt and pepper and then enjoyed as part of my lunch.  Due to our crazy weather pattern of late we still have violets – their vibrant purple was the perfect accent to the soup.  What’s the saying – we eat with our eyes?  I’ll freeze some of the soup and then save the rest for lunch tomorrow.