If there was a way to capture the spirit and nutrition of spring in a bowl, I have found it tonight. We just finished dinner and the meal was so delicious, comforting and divine that I just had to get it posted.
If you have been following me for a while, you know I am a firm believer that everyone should learn to embrace wild foods and the eating of “weeds”. Not only are most of these foods abundant, they are incredibly nutrient dense. In fact, one of the main ingredients of this recipe boasts almost ten times the nutritional benefit of spinach. Yes you did read that correctly, Popeye would have been far better off eating wild spring greens than that nasty canned spinach.
The Nutritional Benefits of Nettles
Many folks will shy away from this wild edible because of it’s rather famous “sting”, but if you can learn to look past the challenging exterior you will find one of the most amazing plants on the planet. If the only thing holding you back is the sting, than may I suggest a nice pair or rubber tipped gloves? This plant is well worth the effort of having to wear just a few layers of protective clothing to harvest.
Stinging nettle (Urtica dioica) boasts impressive amounts of:
- Iron
- Calcium
- Potassium
- Vitamin A
- Vitamin D
- Vitamin K
- Silica
In fact, one cup of cooked stinging nettle leaves (which is equivalent to two cups fresh) easily contains 10% of your daily iron and 35% of your daily calcium. As mentioned above, they impressive levels of vitamin A (three times the recommended daily serving), B complex, vitamin K1 and vitamin C. All of these vitamins combined actually aid in the absorption of iron and other minerals from the plant. I just love how intuitive nature is; of course a plant contains all the vitamins you need to readily absorb it’s minerals.
What is lovely about working with nettles is that once it is cooked, steamed, sautéed, exposed to alcohol or vinegar, they lose their patented sting.
A Note About Young vs. Mature Nettles
As the nettle plant matures, the silica content in the plant increases. This is one of the main reason we want to harvest Urtica for medicine after it has flowered. These silica levels, in therapeutic dosing in tinctures, provide excellent support for the urinary tract and kidneys. However, when consuming large amounts (like in this soup), you want to ensure you get young spring nettles as the high silica content can be irritating to the kidneys when consumed in large quantities.
Wild Leeks
This recipe also calls for another tasty spring treat found here in the forests of southern Ontario and those are wild leeks, also known as ramps. If you do not have an abundant and ethical source of wild leeks, you can easily substitute a regular leek. It is important to mention that wild leeks are endangered or on the watch list in many areas of Canada. Please do your homework and ensure that you are not inadvertently putting this precious food source at risk by your harvesting. It is also completely unnecessary to kill the plant by harvesting the bulb as the leaves themselves are delicious and very flavourful.
A lovely addition to this recipe is the use of wild leek butter which I made a few weeks ago. You can find my YouTube video on that right here:
- 4 cloves garlic, pressed/crushed
- 18-20 leaves wild leek, chopped or one cup of chopped leeks
- 2 tbsp wild leek butter or regular butter
- 453 grams potatoes, Yukon Gold or something similiar (approximately 1 lb)
- 3.5 cups broth of choice
- 70 grams fresh stinging nettle leaves approximately 10-11 cups
- 1 can coconut milk, full fat cream can be substituted
- salt and pepper to taste
- Using a large soup pot, melt your butter. Add in your garlic and once it becomes fragrant, add in your chopped wild leeks. If you are using regular leeks they will take longer to cook so start with them first and then add in the garlic a few minutes later.
- Add in your chopped potatoes (I leave the peels on) and broth. Bring to a boil and then reduce to a simmer and cover your pot with the lid. Simmer until they are almost tender and break apart with a fork.
- Add in your nettle leaves, pushing them down with your wooden spoon. Continue to simmer for 5 more minutes until the potatoes are completely soft and the nettles are wilted.
- Using an immersion blender puree the soup until smooth. Add in your can of fat coconut milk and continue to blend until smooth.
- Add salt and pepper to taste, stirring well to incorporate the flavours. Enjoy!
I hope you enjoy this recipe as much as we did! Folks with kids, my 8 year old son gobbled it up and said it was absolutely delicious, so this recipe is also kid-approved.
Wishing you an abundant and healthful spring,
Regular Readers/Watchers
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