glittyknittykitty

« Celeriac and blue cheese soup | Main | Zodiac Mindwarp »

March 11, 2007

Stinger Soup

Nettles, hmmm, stingy

So, as promised, I spent 45 minutes wandering the Cornish lanes yesterday morning with a yellow marigold glove on one hand and a plastic bag clutched in the other, picking out the tops of the spring nettles. The lanes around our village are typical Devon/Cornish, high sided, built up on raised banks and filled with flora and fauna, with badger and fox tracks running up and down the vegetation. When I go for a run in the early morning, I often find spiders' webs spanning the road, covered in sparkling dew to bar the way. Yesterday was a perfect spring morning, with primroses and hawthorn flowering, bright china blue sky and the air filled with overexcited bird song. Sometimes, if lucky, you can see hares in the freshly ploughed terracota fields.

So, pretty much, the perfect place and time in the world to go and pick nettle tops for the following soup, a personal alteration of a Hugh Fernley-Whittingstall recipe: Hugh didn't include bacon, but we have a quarter of Gracie the pig in our freezer, including bacon, so it seems an ideal opportunity to use some of her. Thanks Gracie!

Nettle, White Bean and Bacon Soup
A chunky, stew-style soup. Cheap too. But you will get some odd looks from the lady who lives next door and asks what you are doing with all those nettles.

1 medium onion, finely chopped
2 tbsps olive oil
2 garlic cloves, crushed and chopped
200g fresh spring nettle tops
6 rashers of bacon, chopped (or pancetta will work too)
2 tins of some sort of white bean- I used cannellini beans- flagolet would work too as would chickpeas
approx. 200ml vegetable stock

First, pick the nettles- chose, if possible, nettles that grow above knee level, to avoid picking ones that have been pissed on by passing dogs or other animals.... ideally, you want to pick the very new growth at the tip of the plant- the top 6 or so leaves will do. Make sure you wear a glove! Get the nettles home and give them a good wash in several changes of cold water (still wearing your glove). Ideally, chose a bright spring morning, have a good cup of coffee on hand, a nice Radio 4 programme on and the possibility of an outing by the sea for the afternoon.

Drain the nettles (don't be too thorough) and put them in a pan over a medium heat. Let them wilt, then cool. Press any excess water out and chop, removing any tough stalks.

Sweat the onion and garlic in the olive oil until translucent. Add the bacon or pancetta and sweat for a little longer. Add beans and stock and simmer for 5 minutes or so. Add chopped nettles and season with salt and pepper. Eat.

It is good. Really, really good.

Posted by scumkitten at March 11, 2007 11:05 AM

Comments

Mmmm yummy! I may have to go scavenging round these parts to give it a go!

Posted by: glittrgirl at March 11, 2007 12:15 PM

Mmmm, this sounds good! I've had mashed potato with chopped nettles in, and Northumbrian cheese with nettles, and both were very good. I like the earthy taste the nettles give. Almost spinachy.

Will have to try this soup.

Posted by: Lisa at March 11, 2007 12:18 PM

Skitten, thank you for that beautiful description of spring. Here in Millbank, we are only just now getting our first breath of air that's above freezing -- we're still covered in a half-metre of slushy grainy snow most places, although we did see tiny bits of crocus foliage starting to poke up from a bare patch in one of the flower beds this afternoon. I for one am pretty sick of winter, and the picture you just painted really perked me up!

Posted by: Lisa (42MainSt) at March 12, 2007 12:55 AM

Great post! Sounds yummy.....

Posted by: nell at March 12, 2007 10:28 AM