Thanks to my generous friend I have been able to keep us well-supplied in nettle this spring while I wait for ours to start to grow up here. We've had nettle in all sorts of things and, after two dinners of nettle/chickpea canneloni in a row and countless smoothies, the boys (including S) were getting a little worried that I'd gone a little more overboard than usual and was now going to be putting nettle in Every Single Thing we ate.
Friday afternoon came on quickly this week and I decided to cap off our busy week with our favourite Dutch Apple Pie. Just before the pie came out of the oven they all looked at me (a little anxiously, I think) and asked, "Is there nettle in the apple pie?" Poor things. I'd almost feel sorry for them except...
a visit to my lovely friend yesterday had me coming home with a huge amount of fresh nettle. And, as is my tendency, I may have overdone it just a bit; I've got plenty to eat fresh this week and after filling one table cloth full to dry I had to get a queen size sheet out and set it up on the floor to dry more. This should give me a good start on my year's supply of dried nettle for my infusion (a photo of the gorgeous green infusion on that link).
The Dutch apple pie? No, it didn't have any nettle in it. This is the recipe I use (with just a little less sugar) and it is delicious.
And really, as someone living in an apple growing region, I feel it is...my duty, really, to make apple pie with local apples on a regular basis, it is so important to support our local apple growers and I'm willing to do my part. ;-) I hope you'll give this recipe a try with some local apples too. If you do, let me know how you like it.
I'm doing this with purple sprouting broccoli leaves. I have this tasty garlic-stir-fry thing happening, which everyone but me and R dislikes.
ReplyDelete"Can I have them raw?" says D tentatively.
"Do I have to eat them at all?" FDPG says, lip trembling.
"Uh, whatever, give me more noodles though," says the Teenager.
Sigh.
beautiful!
ReplyDeleteexcept i don't think you can count yourself as an apple orchardist supporter when you get your apples for free ;o)
I'm going to try this to dry some nettle, too. I'm not sure where the sheet will end up; it'll be a surprise with a clearly marked sign, "DON'T step on these-they're NETTLE!" If I can clear some floor-space of the toy flotsam, I'm good to go ;-)
ReplyDeleteDid you harvest the stems fairly long? It looks as though you might have...
Mary-Sue those free apples we picked are loooong gone, they all went into all that applesauce and the loads of dried apples I did back in October. These apples actually were purchases from our local fruit packers co-operative. See? I am supporting our local growers...and I think I'm craving to do a little more of it next weekend. ;-)
ReplyDeleteHello Erin, I do hope you will dry some. There is a big difference in taste (to me) from the infusion made with your own picked nettle. I would say the stems are about six to eight inches long. I just dry the whole thing and then use it all. I'm going to run it through my food processor when it is dry this time (Mary-Sue told this idea) instead of just scrunching it up a bit before storing it in a jar. That way I can add the "used" nettle from my infusion to soups and such and it is already chopped small.
Ha, ha, Shelia. I know what you mean and I bet this bit - "Uh, whatever, give me more noodles though," says the Teenager - was said while hunched over a plate shovelling in noodles as fast as humanly (that's teenage humanly, mind) possible? ;-)
ReplyDeletewhat a lovely blog. thank you for the inspiration!
ReplyDeleteYum! Heather you are amazing!
ReplyDelete