Nettle Pesto Recipe & ITB May

Before you read this recipe please note that it is also time for our Seasonal Food Blogging challenge, “In The Bag“.  Basically you cook a dish using pre-selected seasonal ingredients, – this time Broccoli and Blue Cheese – blog about it, then send me an email with the link, photograph, and name of the recipe. Please send entries to scott [at] realepicurean [dot] com before 31st May 2009 for inclusion in the roundup.  You can read here for a previous edition which outlines the rules in full.  Read last months here.

I’ve had my eye on the stinging nettles near where I take the dog for a walk for a while now; nettles are one of natures great freebies and I really needed to grab some before it was too late (fresh young leaves are the best, so March / April are the best times).  I’ve tried Nettle Soup before, which is fantastic, but never ventured further than that; now I can happily report that Nettle Pesto is delicious too.

Luckily the weather this weekend has been superb. We ventured off the beaten track a little bit to try and grab nettles that were less likely to have been marinated in dog pee; Gosia (who is now 8 months pregnant) typically took over the majority of the picking duties.

“I used to pick nettles for my Auntie to feed to the ducks”, she said, before giving me a lesson in how to pick them without getting stung.  Grabbing them by the stem instead of the leaf seems to be the key – it apparently worked for Gosia but no such luck for me as I stung my hand on the first attempt and then again on the second.  In the end I gave up and resorted to the tried and tested rubber glove tactic.

Try the pesto mixed with your favourite pasta, or spooned over a freshly cooked lamb steak.  I’m sure you’ll like it!

Once you’ve checked out this recipe perhaps you’d like to check out a couple of articles elsewhere which gave me the inspiration to try it; River Cottage’s “What’s Good Now” for March, Egg But No Bacon’s Nettle Pesto and delicious:day’s Radish Leaf Pesto Recipe.

Nettle Pesto Recipe – Ingredients

1/3 of a Carrier Bag full of Nettle tips.
6 Garden Mint leaves
1 Clove garlic
75g Pine Nuts
100g Parmesan
75ml Extra Virgin Rape Seed Oil (This works really well with the nettles.  More about this in a future post!)
Salt and Pepper, to taste

Nettle Pesto Recipe – Ingredients

First start out by picking your nettle leaves from the stems – it’s best to use rubber gloves to do this.  You’ll then need to rinse the nettles in a colander to remove any dirt, insects etc.
Bring a pan of water to the boil and place your nettles inside for one minute – this will remove the sting.  Drain well and squeeze out any excess moisture.
Place all dry ingredients in a food processor and pulse until chopped up.  Slowly add the oil whilst blending until the desired consistency is reached (mine needed about 75ml).
Taste and season as required.  It can be used straight away or stored in sterilised jars for around a month in the fridge.

One last note.  I poured away the water which I used to cook the nettles but this bright green liquid would make a fantastic tea or base for a soup.

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