Nettles a great wild food

Nettles

On the subject of wild foods, one of the most abundant and easy to collect is the nettle. The common nettle or Urtica dioica is a superb, versatile and tasty green vegetable. Nettles although common for a large part of the year are at their best in the spring, with the best nettles of all for the pot being the tops of the young shoots. In fact a dish of nettle was once used to mark the coming of spring. As the majority of us painfully know the nettle has a nasty sting which is composed of formic acid and this leads to the requirement of a good pair of work gloves for harvesting. However the sting is rendered impotent on cooking and should not discourage you trying nettles. Indeed the nettle is reputed to be a particularly healthy green vegetable with high concentrations of a large amount of vitamins and minerals.
From a culinary perspective the nettle is similar in many ways to spinach and can be used to good effect as an accompanient to seafood or as flavouring to a potato champ. At Oscars I have even made a flavourful ice-cream out of young nettle shoots. Although possibly the most common use for nettles is in soup, and indeed when nettle soup is made well it is a true culinary treat, bright and vivid green with a hint of spring onion and wild garlic. The nettle is well worth gathering during spring and even into early summer.

Nettle soup

1 kg of nettles with the stalks removed and well washed
25 gram butter
1 large onion peeled and chopped
50 gram wild garlic leafs (optional)
1 litre vegetable or chicken stock

I like to blanch and refresh my nettles in boiling water before making this soup to allow for a more vivid colour in addition to gaining a fresher flavour. Simply bring a large pot of water to the boil, plunge in the nettles for 30 seconds, then remove the nettles from the water and cool quickly under cold running water.

1. Place the butter and onion into a thick based pot and gently cook the onion without colour until soft.
2. Add the nettles and wild garlic and cook with the onion for about five minutes.
3. Add the stock and allow come to a gentle simmer.
4. Simmer for 5 minutes then blend the soup, season and serve.

By Michael O’Meara Oscars bistro Galway city www.oscarsbistro.ie