I could never be a food blogger because I hate following recipes. I just can’t do it! Even when I want to, or there’s reason to, I can’t. I like to get the general idea of what I’m going for, and then leave myself open to the ingredients. So, I looked up the basic process for making nettle pesto and spanikopita last night, and then I picked a buttload of nettles and went to work!
For the nettle pesto: I washed, wilted the nettles in a pan first and then squeezed most of the water out. Toasted pine nuts and sunflower seeds (because pine nuts are friggin’ expensive!), parmesan, garlic, garlic chives, lemon juice & rind, olive oil in the food processor (supposed to be the mortar and pestle– “Pesto” means to pound– but when making things from scratch it’s okay to take some shortcuts!). 
It turned out great! The nettle flavour is noticeable so I put just the right amount of garlic and other flavours. It definitely has more of a “green” taste than basil pesto, and I enjoy that. Can’t wait to eat this atop pasta, fish, chicken, and likely everything until it’s all gone!
The nettle “spanikopita” I also made in the food processor. I like using the stems of the nettles and so the processor is good and chopping up that fiber. I combined blanched nettles, parmesan, feta, nutmeg, and then mixed in an egg. The freezer revealed puff pastry instead of phyllo pastry, so I went with it. Turned out great! These little pillows of nettle love have better flavour than boring spinach. And then it was all so good I ate it and forgot to take a photo of the finished meal!
So, don’t be afraid of nettles! All that handling, and even absent-mindedly reaching into to sink with bare hands didn’t result in any stings, but it DID result in some really tasty seasonal food in our bellies! Substitute them in any recipe where cooked greens are used, throw them in your smoothies, celebrate local seasonal produce!
Brown Sugar Produce 
You must be logged in to post a comment.