Foraging for Purest Green (Nettles)

Percy: "Oh, Edmund! Can it be true? That I hold here, in my mortal hands, a nugget of purest green!"
Edmund: "Yes, well, it's more of a splat, isn't it?"
Blackadder Series 2

In my quest for 'green' and our eagerness to enjoy our first bowl of nettle soup of the Spring, we were actually rather premature in our foraging. Over the last few days I have spotted a promising number of young nettles on the edges of pathways  but when we arrived at the Orchard on Mothering Sunday (armed with gloves and carrier bags) they were in surprisingly short array.

The girls were as keen as I to be tucking into nettle soup on 'soup night', so I set them the task of scouring the ground for signs of green. Positive sightings led to a bit of a 'whoop' and me running in from the side in my yellow marigolds (necessary nettling attire) armed with a carrier bag to fill. 

It was fun, and despite my initial misgivings, we did manage to collect a fair amount. Although, as the nettles were very young and the tip so close to the root, they tended to come up 'root and all' so there was a fair amoubt of sorting needed. After washing and sorting we have ended up with around 300g. Just enough for soup but another foraging trip will be required if we are to make the nettle gnocchi and nettle bread that we also have planned for our 'green week'

And so to the soup! Once the nettles were washed and sorted they were kept to the side until the last minute (adding them too early can render your, 'green', a more murky brown). The carrot, onion, garlic, potato and celery were left to sweat in (an un-healthy amount of) butter and then simmered in stock until soft. 

The soup base was blended until smooth before piling in the nettles.
NB.Either use tongs or pop your 'marigolds' back on! This may sound obvious but in the midst of all this culinary excitement, it is actually quite east to forget that, stinging nettles, sting

Turn off the heat and blend again, until the wonderful, buttery, yellow soup base, becomes, 'green'! A generous grating of nutmeg and perhaps, some salt and pepper and you are done.

Stinging nettles are incredibly high in vitamins C, D, iron, potassium, manganese, and calcium. They are also unusually high in protein for a green plant. As we were eating this as our main meal of the day (and I hadn't snuck any lentils or pulses in anywhere!) I topped it off with a poached egg for an extra protein boost.

Nettle Soup (clean plates 5/5)

250g Prepared Nettles (tops or young leaves)

55g Butter

2 Onions

1 Carrot

2 Celery Sticks

1 Garlic clove

1 Medium Potato

1.5 Litres Chicken/Vegetable Stock

Nutmeg

Finely chop the onions, garlic and celery. Grate the carrot and potato. 

Gently melt the butter in a large saucepan, tip in the vegetables and gently sweat for around ten minutes.

Add the stock and bring to the boil. Reduce the heat and allow to simmer until the vegetables are completely soft (about 20 minutes). Blend the soup base until smooth.

Pile in the nettles, simmer for another 2 minutes, until the nettles are tender and then blend the soup until smooth.

Season with salt, pepper and nutmeg and enjoy! 

To make it more of a meal, serve with a poached egg floating on top.