First meal of the year from the allotment - Nettle Soup!

JustinFun · Post: # 90779Post **JustinFun** » Thu Mar 20, 2008 3:28 pm

I've been meaning to try this for ages, and as a patch of nettles at the far end of our allotment was looking particularly succulent last weekend I took the plunge.

I used the recipe from 'Food for Free' (basically onion, a few handfulls of nettles, couple of potatoes, veg stock and some grated nutmeg) and after simmering for 20 mins I liquidised the result.

I was blown away - absolutely delicious. More of a starter dish than a main meal I think - the flavour is quite strong - I'm definitely going to serve it up to my friends. It tasted like something from a classy restaurant!

I made loads and put a lot in the freezer - it should freeze OK (I hope).

ina · Post: # 90780Post **ina** » Thu Mar 20, 2008 3:41 pm

Hiya Justin Fun - welcome to the Ishers!

Your nettle soup sounds delicious - but where on earth are you? Nettles are only just peeping out of the ground here...

red · Post: # 90795Post **red** » Thu Mar 20, 2008 4:07 pm

plenty of nettles down here

welcome to ish

JustinFun · Post: # 90806Post **JustinFun** » Thu Mar 20, 2008 4:56 pm

ina wrote:Hiya Justin Fun - welcome to the Ishers!

Your nettle soup sounds delicious - but where on earth are you? Nettles are only just peeping out of the ground here...

Thanks! I think I'm going to like it here.

We're in Gillingham, Kent - nettles are about a foot high.

Everything seems early this year - 'our' collared doves which nest in a tree just outside our back door have already raised one chick to plump adulthood - that can't be right, can it?

Mainer in Exile · Thu Mar 20, 2008 4:58 pm

The nettles here are only a couple of inches high, and the collared doves are just starting to build thier nests.

Green Rosie · Thu Mar 20, 2008 7:06 pm

JustinFun wrote: We're in Gillingham, Kent - nettles are about a foot high.

Hi JustinFun and welcome - you are in sort of my old neck of the woods - I was in Dartford before escaping to France last summer

Been thinking about making nettle soup too - it's yummy, so cheap and just what's needed when Easter looks like being colder than Christmas

farmerdrea · Thu Mar 20, 2008 7:16 pm

Thanks for that - saves me hunting for a recipe. Our autumn crop of nettles is just getting going, and I want to be able to use them this time. Up to now, we've only been feeding them to the goats and chooks, but we have SO SO SO many of them!

Welcome to the site, JustinFun.

Cheers
Andrea
NZ

ina · Post: # 90884Post **ina** » Fri Mar 21, 2008 7:35 am

Whatever green we had peeping out so far is covered under snow today. And it looks like it might stay white for a while. Ah well - at least the days are getting longer...

mrsflibble · Fri Mar 21, 2008 2:51 pm

Love nettle soup but it makes my throat swell up. I'm not just allergic to the venom aparently