Simple Nettle Soup
Recipe originally from a recent Mariquita Farms newsletter. Thanks Andy & Julia!
½ lb fresh nettles
approximately 4 cups water (for boiling nettles)
4 cups chicken broth (or substitute rich vegetable stock for a vegetarian version)
1 T. butter
2 hard boiled eggs, chopped
Croutons (optional)Wearing gloves or using tongs (nettles sting until they’ve been cooked), rinse nettles in cold water. Remove any brown stems.
Combine water and nettles in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Boil for about 8-10 minutes, until the nettles have softened. Drain nettles from water and puree*(see note below) using a food processor or the medium disc of a food mill.
Heat the broth until almost boiling. Add pureed nettle mixture, and stir in butter until it melts. Ladle soup into bowls and garnish with egg and croutons (if using).
*Note: It is absolutely necessary to puree the nettles before adding them to the soup. The first time I made this soup I added the whole nettles to the chicken broth and used a hand-held immersion blender to puree the soup. This left long, hair-like nettle filaments in the soup. So — moral of the story — puree or finely chop before adding to the broth.
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Update 4/4/08 : This post was submitted to the brand new ‘Farmer’s Market Fare’ blog carnival hosted at Eat.Drink.Better. Check it out!
Let me guess, you’ve never cooked with nettle before? Well, NOW (early spring) is the time to try it! Nettles seem to resist mass cultivation, and only grow wild or semi-wild, and only during a short period of the year. In the words of Julia from Mariquita Farms, ‘once they’re gone, they’re gone [for the year]’.
I had nettles on the brain when I visited the Palo Alto farmer’s market last weekend. I picked up my regulars — cooking greens, lettuce, eggs, onions, whatever fruit is in season (citrus right now), some meat, tofu, bread, and some in-season vegetables (yeah, I know, my farmer’s market rocks). All the while I kept my eyes open for nettles, which I had little confidence in finding. As I was about to give up and head home, I ended up at a stand, Four Sisters Farms, that specializes in artisan greens. I love simply looking at this stand because they have beautiful big wicker baskets filled with tasty greens — watercress, arugula, sorrel, baby spinach, baby cooking greens, lettuce, salad mix, etc — the presentation is lovely. In the back corner apart from the other baskets I saw a bin of wild nettle! I promptly bought a pound, and feeling very pleased, headed home.
Once home, I used a half pound to make two quarts of nettle tisane — fresh herb tea. The other half pound I made into an extremely simple nettle soup, which I believe is Swedish in origin — a celebration of spring, if you will.
The soup, with just three ingredients, is amazingly complex and delicious. Nettle has a very distinct taste, which I can only describe as a loose cross between cactus, grass (in a good way), and fresh basil. It’s intensely herb-y, and definitely unlike anything I’d ever tasted before. The color of the soup was shocking too — BRIGHT (and inviting) green.
If you’re so inclined, you can even gather wild nettle yourself. Be careful though, as 1) raw nettle stings human flesh, and 2) it is sometimes considered a weed and hence may have been sprayed with pesticides. Gathering your own food can be intensely rewarding, but do take proper precautions. Whether gathered or purchased, nettle is a unique and delicious food to add to your culinary repertoire! I encourage you to give it a try!
Update: I ate dinner at Slow Club in SF last night, and they had a nettle, caramelized onion, ricotta, and mozzarella flat bread that was to die for. If you want to make something like this at home, just imagine a white pizza with ricotta, mozzarella, caramelized onions, and sauteed nettle and go from there… yum…..
Still Hungry? Try one of these:
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This entry was posted on Thursday, March 20th, 2008 at 8:03 am and is filed under Nettle, Veritable Vegetables. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
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Wow. Your farmers’ market does ROCK! I’ve never seen nettles at mine, but perhaps I can talk the local co-op into getting some in. This soup sounds so perfect for spring!
And the tea sounds intriguing too. Do you make tea with any other spring greens?
Deborah - typically with nettles, you do have to ask. Even if a grower has them, they often aren’t put out on display with everything else since they sting…
As for other greens for tea, I use fresh mint all the time. I’ve not tried other fresh herbs, but bet that lemon verbena, sweet basil, or lemon thyme could be good… sorrel too, perhaps, but whenever I get my hands on it, I typically want to use it for a recipe
As for non-greens that might be good steeped for tea, I’m thinking orange or lemon peels, cucumbers… maybe melon slices?
Geez, I’ve got to try some of these out!
yum. it seems to be a literary thing–I feel like it is something eaten in British Literature. I wonder if there are people who sell it here in Cleveland? I will try to ask at the market this weekend.
Thanks for the introduction to this green. I’ll keep my eyes open at the farmer’s market this weekend and maybe I’ll get lucky too.
That is such a vibrant green!
Wow, I want to try this! I wonder when nettles are in season in Ohio?
Valereee - nettle season depends a lot on where you are and the temperatures; for instance, here in northern CA, it’s nettle season right now. However, I spent a summer in Alaska a few years back, and nettle season up there was mid June through early August!
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Ahh yes, I’m Swedish and ic an confirm that nettle soup is definitely Swedish. It’s called nässelsoppa over here if anyone cares to know. It’s definitely a treat of spring. For me, it’s actually synonymous with spring!
I had quite a few portions of it last weekend during easter. it was wonderful.
The traditional way of eating it is just to cut a hard boiled egg in half and put the halves in the soup.
It’s really one of my favourites in Swedish cuisine. Unfortunately, it seems to be virtually unknown elsewhere in the world. Too many IKEA-meatballs, probably… And even when I found a recipe in English on google, it was unlike any nettle soup recipe I’ve ever seen. It used garlic and a lot of other things. The best thing about this soup is the taste of the nettle! And they go and ruin it with garlic and other spices. This dish represents, to me, cooking at it’s best. Simple, healthy, seasonal, traditional and marvelous! I’m glad you got the right recipe and that you enjoyed it so much you decided to tell the world, outside Sweden, about it :). Thanks for making my day!
Erika — thanks for your comment! I totally agree that you shouldn’t add all sorts of extras to the soup — garlic, spices, etc — nettles have such a unique and vibrant taste that why would you want to hide them? I am curious, is asparagus popular up in sweden? I am living in Germany now, and white asparagus is everywhere… I am at a bit of a loss as to what to do with it all
[…] Jen: Erika — thanks for your comment! I totally agree that you shouldn’t add all sorts of extras to the… […]
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Hey Jen,
Thanks for this recipe. I came across it today after I found a patch of nettles growing along Morses Pond in Wellesley. Only after making the soup and enjoying it did I read further on your blog and discover you are a Wellesley College alum. Happy little synchronicity.
Lauren — Wellesley is so lovely this time of year. I used to love walking around the arboretum back when I was a student. Do you teach yoga there?
Hi Jen,
I teach at Babson and in the city and in Arlington and Cambridge. I’d love to teach yoga at Wellesley College, but I hear that job’s taken… I actually live in Arlington now, but grew up in Wellesley and my mom worked at the infirmary at the College, so we used to get to sleep there at night if we were sick (she worked nights, long time ago). These days I’m hanging out in Wellesley for a respite from higher population density.
Thanks for such a cool blog!
I’m Swedish and I gotta say I strongly object to the chicken broth. No broth should be added, you want the taste of nettle, not chicken broth. And on the picture the soup looks way too watery, the consistency of the soup should be thicker than that. Also a little bit of chives and cicely or chervil is traditionally a part of the recipe and gives the soup that little extra something. Other than that, fantastic that you’re doing a Swedish recipe on your site! And yeah, nettle soup, or nässelsoppa in Swedish, is definitely a celebration of spring. It’s a very seasonal food, as all food should be.