The Stinging Nettle Challenge

A little while ago I mentioned that I found stinging nettle in my back yard. I found this out the hard way, my hands were stinging for days!

Anyhoo, after doing some research on what was hurting my hands so much, I found out that I was indeed dealing with stinging nettle and amazingly, it can be eaten (even apparently a "super food").

Never one to shy away from a challenge and more importantly, not one to waste anything I decided to eat those nasty nettles.

Firstly I washed them and picked off all the baby leaves (no stalks).

I decided to cook them into a potato and leek soup. Baby spuds were from the garden and leeks from the local deli.

Here is the recipe for my potato and leek soup which you can have with or without the addition of nettles:

50g Butter (or 25g butter and 25g olive oil)
2 Leeks
5 Good Sized Potatoes (dutch cream or any other floury type potato)
1/2 Cup Milk
1/4 tsp Ground Pepper
750ml Vegetable Stock
Optional extra: two good handfuls of washed stinging nettles

1 - Chop up whites of the leeks and peel n chop potatoes.
2 - In a saucepan, melt the butter and add leeks. Simmer until softened and then add potatoes (and nettles if you are putting them into the mix).
3 - After a few minutes, add vegetable stock and cook until potato is soft.
4 - Blend soup until smooth. Take soup off the heat. Mix in milk and pepper.
Note: If you like a bit more flavour, add a tsp dijon mustard and a bit of parmesan cheese.

My thoughts; I'm a bit indifferent. The nettles made my soup taste a little like grass but not in an overpowering gross way. However, I did feel a little more 'super" after eating them....and getting my own back at the pesky little weeds!