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watercress

Spring Recipe: Nettles

April 18, 2017 By Persephone

Now is the time to forage (carefully!) for nettles or find them at the farmers market. Thanks to Marcia Newlands for bringing this spring recipe to our attention!

Nettle Risotto

(Serves 2 as a main, 4 as an appetizer)

Blanched, nettles will keep their emerald loveliness even after a good 15 minutes of cooking, which makes this risotto visually stunning. The dish itself is pretty simple: Risotto rice, cooked nettles, butter, shallot, garlic, a little pecorino cheese and beef stock. The basic structure of this risotto holds with all sorts of variations. You could use a different grated cheese, such as parmigiano or a Greek mizithra.

Note: Depending what variety your nettles are, you will need four or five big tongs-fulls of fresh nettles to get your cup of cooked nettles. Regular nettles (urtica dioica) are more substantial than their daintier cousins, the dwarf nettle (urtica urens) and retain more of their volume when cooked. I say tongs-full because you do not want to pick up fresh nettles, as they will sting you. Thus the name.

1 cup risotto rice

1 cup cooked, drained nettles or spinach (see note above)

2-3 tablespoons unsalted butter

2-3 tablespoons grated pecorino cheese

1 large shallot, minced

3 minced garlic cloves

4 cups chicken, vegetable, or beef stock

Salt

Get a large pot of water boiling and add a handful of salt.  Add the nettles. Stir and boil for 1-2 minutes for dwarf nettles, about 5 minutes for regular nettles. When done cooking, dump them into a big bowl with ice water in it. Once they are cool, put them in a colander to drain. Put the nettles in a clean tea towel and twist to squeeze out as much moisture as you can. Chop the nettles finely (a food processor will turn them mushy). The finer you chop, the smoother your risotto will be. Remove any stray stems.

To make the risotto, heat 2 tablespoons of butter in a large heavy pot set on medium-high. Wait until the butter stops frothing and add the shallot. Cook for 2-3 minutes, stirring often. Add the garlic and rice and stir to combine. Stirring constantly, cook for a minute or so or until all the rice is well coated with butter. Add 1 teaspoon of salt and the first cup of stock. Turn the heat to high and stir in the rice. When it starts boiling strongly, turn the heat down to medium and stir often, at least every minute or so, until the rice absorbs the stock. Repeat with a second cup of stock. When the second cup is absorbed, add the nettles and the third cup of stock. Stir well to combine. Keep stirring constantly to develop the creaminess in the risotto. Taste the risotto, and add salt if needed. It may need the remaining cup of stock, as you want the dish to be loose.  Add the butter and cheese and cook for an additional 4-5 minutes, stirring often. Serve at once.

recipe by Marcia Newlands, The Savory Gourmet

Filed Under: Recipes Tagged With: arugula, chickweed, nettles, ramps, risotto, watercress

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This Sunday! Come help us celebrate another summer This Sunday! Come help us celebrate another summer come and gone with games, friends, and flowers. And of course music by @thepurpleshadowsdanceband and Tide Flat Four!
🥶 Yesterday morning we opened the fridge to fin 🥶 Yesterday morning we opened the fridge to find that it had decided it would rather be a freezer. This affected not only our CSA harvest, but our restaurant, Kitsap Fresh, and food bank orders as well. This amounts to a lot of food and labor hours in the compost. We tried to salvage or replace what we could, but of course, if you received something damaged that we missed, please reach out!

We are so grateful to our subscribers and community members for being so understanding in the face of a hard situation. And of course, we are grateful for each other- our amazing team was able to still have a pretty successful day in the face of it all. #walkinblues #farmlife #earlyfrost
It’s a wedding weekend for sure! It’s so fun a It’s a wedding weekend for sure! It’s so fun and gratifying to see these diy buckets drive away 🥲 can’t wait to see what y’all make with them! #rainbowwedding ! We have some bucket slots available for next weekend if you’re feeling creative 💐🌻🌼 #diywedding #diyweddingflowers #farmerflorist #slowflowers #localflowers #localwedding #washington #pnwwedding
Come see us at the market today! It’s important Come see us at the market today! It’s important to us to keep our food affordable, accessible, and long-lasting. Washington has a few options to make the market worth your while, and we take donations all year long to get our produce to local food banks. Good, local food is for everyone! #farmtofoodbank #eatlocal #farmersmarket #washington #pnw #slowfood #foodforall
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