This nettle soup has SUCH a rich interesting flavor and inexplicably creamy texture, despite having so few ingredients and no flavorings.
If you’re stuck at home and restless during lockdown, making nettle soup might be just the adventure you need.
Wild Nettle Soup Recipe
Step 1 – Find Nettles and Pick
Stinging Nettles grow wild in my yard and in every untended strip of land in Israeli cities all through the winter. They sting but I get around this simply by wearing gardening gloves. If you don’t have gardening gloves, a thick plastic bag or oven mits work too.
Step 2 – Dry them to Remove Stingers
After they are picked, if you leave them to dry for a few hours, the stingers lose all potency.
People say that boiling them has the same effect, but since I want to check them for bugs before I put them in a pot, I prefer the drying method.
Step 3 – Sort the Leaves
Pick the Nicest Leaves off the Stems, Avoiding any that look Infested or Spoiled, then wash in a Colander, to removed dirt.
Since we will be blending the soup, a cursory inspection for bugs is sufficient.
Step 4 – Sauté Your Soup
Ingredients:
The ingredients list is very flexible. I used:
- 1 TBSP Butter
- 1 large onion, diced
- 2 Jerusalem Artichokes, peeled and thinly sliced
- 1/4 tsp salt
But really you can use whatever winter vegetables you have on hand – cabbage, kohlrabi, leeks, or just extra onions.
Step 5 – Simmer
Add two cups of water and then simmer until everything’s mushy.
Vegetable stock would probably be even tastier, but I don’t have any.
Step 6 – Add Nettle Leaves
Add 1-3 cups of cleaned nettle leaves, simmer 10 mins, then blend with an immersion blender.
That’s it. The soup has a delectable forest green color that sings a song called “Let me bring sunshine to your cloudy lockdown day.”
And the flavor is something truly unique and gourmet.
Enjoy!
PS. Thanks to Elly W, who follows the Bloomah’s City Farm Facebook Page, for sharing this pic of her own soup she made with this recipe – using carrots!
