Nettle Soup

For many, the concept of using Nettle as food seems strange due to the sting you can get when your skin touches the hairs and bristles on the stems and leaves but truly, nettle once cooked is an incredible dish.

The plant is a perennial plant growing in temperate and tropical areas around the world. It grows 2 to 4 meters high. Nettle soup was quite common in Europe and, per what my grandmother told me, was cooked a lot during World War II for obvious reasons; it was easy to find, cheap and nutritious.

My recipe is quite simple and the result is delicious! Here it is:

You need:

Couple of spoon of Olive Oil

1 big onion, chopped2 potatoes - I cut the potatoes in several pieces

Nettle leaves - I chop them out in tiny pieces. Usually takes around 1/3 of the pot - maybe 12 Oz when chopped up but you can use more.

Around 2 1/2 cups of water

2 garlic cloves shopped up very thin too and I add another one at the end of the cooking (see below)

salt and pepper to taste

Italian herbs or “Herbes de Provence”

First I cook the onion with Olive Oil. I don’t make them brown. When they are cooked, I add the water, chopped potatoes, herbs, 2 cloves of garlic. Let the water go to a soft boil.

Wearing protective gloves, strip the nettle leaves from their stems and wash.

Place the nettle leaves in the water and let it cook for quite a while. I usually cook it for 2-3hrs and sometimes more. The delicious smell usually start to come up after 30 mins of cooking. You’ll probably have to add water from time to time.

Add salt but be careful with the pepper, add the pepper at the end of the cooking, sometimes, the folic acid already in the nettle makes it quite “peppery” already.

Puree the soup if you want (I usually don’t do it). 20 mins before the end of the cooking, I usually add another clove of garlic (or 2).

Do a final taste test and add herbs if you think it’s necessary.

Enjoy!!!!!!!!!!!!

You can also do a large quantity of soup and freeze it.