From ravioli to risotto, nettles are a delicious addition many a favourite recipe, finds Alex Rushmer
Next to where I live is a large plot of land. It used to be the home of an overgrown orchard, the branches of the trees bending under the weight of the sour apples that would fruit in the late summer. All that has gone and soon it will be houses. For now, nature remains defiant and dominant. Once we are beyond high summer, a thick fog of brambles will yield plump blackberries that would have been a fitting partner to the apples that used to grow there, but it is a cosy blanket of nettles that offer the most immediate sustenance.
At this time of year the nettles are tender, young and fresh. They still require careful handling, but their verdant tops are a welcome addition to the springtime menu. They are an abundant, free and versatile ingredient that adds a delicious talking point to the dinner table.
The easiest way to approach cooking with nettles is to think of them as an alternative to spinach. They have a similar grassy flavour but with an added the zip and pizzazz, the sort of freshness that you’d expect from a wild ingredient, especially one that is at its best when all the warmest days of summer are still ahead of us.
“Nettles are an abundant, free and versatile ingredient”
When picking them, be sure to don a pair of rubber gloves and choose only the top shoots where the youngest leaves are. Those further down the plant can be too coarsely textured and give the resulting dishes an unpleasant graininess. Wash them well and then plunge into rapidly boiling salted water for 30 seconds before refreshing immediately in cold water. The cooking process should stop almost immediately to retain the vivid green colour.
Once the nettles have been picked and blanched they are ready to use as you see fit. Blended with hazelnuts, rapeseed oil and some grated Cornish yarg cheese, they make a wonderfully English version of pesto, ideal for scooping up with a few breadsticks. As an addition to soup, too, nettles work brilliantly. Use onions and celery for flavour, potato for texture and plenty of nettles alongside some locally grown watercress for a truly local Fenland lunch.
As an ingredient in Italian dishes, nettles really shine. They provide a gentle bitterness, beloved in Italy, but also the necessary vivacity of other famed ingredients. In the past I’ve made nettle risotto, a depth of flavour coming from a mellow mushroom stock and the whole thing finished with a generous grating of hard cheese, a sauté of wild mushrooms and a drizzle of truffle oil.
My most recent experiment though, proved to be a firm favourite: generously filled ravioli where the nettles replaced the spinach in a classic combination alongside ricotta, nutmeg and black pepper. These wonderful little dumplings were finished with a sauce made from nothing more than a little butter, a spoonful of the cooking water from the pasta pot and some salty Pecorino that melted through the whole dish. Suddenly a few little stings seemed like a small price to pay.
