STINGING NETTLE PESTO..

Stinging nettles

“Stinging Nettles?”

“Are you joking? Why can’t we just have normal basil pesto?”

That was the reaction I received when I produced this rather bright green looking pesto the other day. I must admit it isn’t something I've made before however, this doesn’t usually deter me from trying something new.

Recently there have been lots of articles in the paper and magazines about gathering your own food for free, maybe it’s the recession or just that spring is in the air. Who knows, however when I saw a huge patch of nettles at the back of the house I thought, Why not!

Nettles

The actual making of the pesto was really easy. The hardest part was trying to gather enough nettles to make a substantial quantity of pesto for the four of us.

nettle detail

It sounds stupid but it's amazing how light the leaves are. Fine if you live in the country side with abundant lanes and hedge rows, however in the city, they are harder to come by. It goes without saying you do need to wear thick gloves and have scissors and a tray or bag to put them in as you need bundles of the things.

I’m pleased to say I managed the whole thing without getting stung...but still had to answer the question

"Why eat nettles?" 

After a quick bit of research I found out that they are rich in vitamins A, C, D, K and many other minerals including iron and can often be used as a substitute for spinach. I won't put them in my salad like spinach, but cooked in a pesto, they are great.


 The colour alone is worth making it for, it's such a bright, intense green.

Intense green homemade nettle pesto

It is certainly different and served with homemade tagliatelle it's lovely, AND was a real hit with everyone.... 

 So if you have run out of basil pesto and have a patch of stingers nearby give it a go.

Spring shoots

STINGING NETTLE PESTO

Serves 4-6

Preparation time 5 minutes

Cooking time 5 minutes

INGREDIENTS:

 3 slugs of olive oil

2 cloves of garlic

1 Tbsp pistachio nuts

4 Tbsp Walnut oil

60g  stinging nettles

20g Parmesan

 Salt and pepper to taste

Nettle pesto with half a ladle full of the pasta water

WHAT TO DO:

1.     First wash the nettles in boiling water, then place in salted boiling water and boil for 5 minutes.

2.     2. Meanwhile chop a clove of garlic put it in a food blender, I used a hand held one, add the pistachio nuts, and when drained, the nettle mush and oils and blend.

3.     If you are serving straight away then add the cheese if not, refrigerate and add the cheese when you need.

Cook your pasta as needed and then add half a ladle of the pasta water to the pesto in a pan and heat gently before adding the cooked pasta into the pesto.

Really simple!! The hardest thing is not getting stung when you pick them!!

Nettle pesto pasta served in a Richard Bramble bowl.

A FLORENTINE PICK ME UP

Florentines in the spring sunshine

Apologies to all the kind people who have been asking why I haven't been posting on the blog and saying how they miss it. I’m sorry. I have missed not having the time over the past few months to write. I have been in a tunnel of work, which is slowing thankfully, however it has left me feeling like a mole emerging from the dark after the long dark winter.

Luckily signs of spring are everywhere and I am enjoying the sunshine, the time to think about life, to watch the birds and butterflies busy about amongst the blossom.

There were so many moments that I had wanted to share over the past few months but time got the better of me. Autumn, winter, Christmas...where did they go?

There have been a couple of significant changes in our household.

Firstly Teen V is fully recovered and back on with her life, and more significantly, eating meat again. This is rather funny as the whole reason I started the blog was to share the recipes and ideas that I, a non veggie but keen foodie, with a veggie teenager, discovered. The good news is I am still cooking lots of vegetarian food and constantly developing new recipes despite her wanting spaghetti bolognaise or roast chicken now.

The other significant addition to our household was, according to Teen Foodie 
"the best Birthday present ever" beating the sparkly sequin dress, the pasta maker that she received from her godmother for her birthday. (Thank you A!)

I must say Teen Foodie has quickly become excellent at making fresh tagliatelle, lasagne to name but a few. 

Flowers and chocolate

There have been several debates about my first post after such a long time.

 “It has to be a pasta recipe” was Teen Foodies input.

“No a tart with the fresh rhubarb” Teen V suggested. 

However the thing that I have enjoyed most recently and is one of the first treats I have cooked for a while, Florentines. I had some at a friend’s the other day and just couldn’t get the sweet little nutty treats out of my head.

They are a real pick me up, just what I needed.

As always I have tried a few recipes and adapted them to suit my mood and tastes.

So here is my recipe for pick me up Florentines, with a little help from Nigella and inspiration from WHAT KATIE ATE.

Florentine with a drizzle of dark chocolate 

FLORENTINES

Makes about 20

Preparation time 10 minutes

Cooking time 8-10 minutes

INGREDIENTS:

80g whole almonds

20g hazelnuts

90g of Italian mixed peel

40g of glace cherries

25 g unsalted butter

90g caster sugar

15g plain flour

150ml double cream

½ a bar about 50g of chocolate melted to drizzle over the cooked Florentines

WHAT TO DO:

1.     Pre heat the oven to 190 degrees. Line two baking sheets with baking paper.

2.     Roughly smash the nuts up in a bag and roughly chop the cherries.

3.     Put the butter and sugar in a saucepan and melt them gently so they don’t burn.

4.     When melted add the flour and stir to make a thick dough like paste then take off the heat and add the cream, making sure you whisk in quickly until it is smooth. At this stage it tastes slightly fudgey..be careful it is very hot though if you are sampling it!

5.     Now stir in all the lovely fruit and nuts.

6.     Using a teaspoon make blobs of mixture that you spread evenly on the baking sheet. Beware they do spread a lot so do leave 5cm between each blob.

7.     Put them in the oven for about 8-10 minutes until they are golden brown.

8.     Remove them from the oven and leave on the baking sheet to harden. You can easily remould them at this stage if they have blended into one big mass.

9.     When they are hardened slide them off the baking paper and leave to cool on a wire rack.

10.                        Melt the chocolate carefully so as not to scald it. You can use a microwave or the old fashioned bowl over a saucepan; either way, make sure you do it slowly. Then, drizzle the melted chocolate with a spoon over the crunchy Florentines in artistic patterns!

You can totally cover one side with chocolate but I just found that too much.. the drizzles looks good and makes them slightly less heavy.

Florentines and camellia's