Cream of Nettle Soup with Creme Fraichse and Lemon

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Cream of Nettle Soup with crème fraiche and lemon

Ingredients

1 large potato (peeled, washed and diced into 1cm cubes)

1 stick of celery (washed and chopped into 1cm pieces)

1 leek (first outer skin removed, split lengthwise washed well and chopped into 1cm dice)

1 medium white onion or 2 large shallots (peeled and cut into small dice)

2 cloves of garlic (peeled and crushed)

75g nettles (pick only the tender tips of common nettles, use gloves when picking)

1 blade of mace or a good pinch of dried powdered mace

750ml of good vegetable stock or 750ml of water made up with stock cubes

100g Baby spinach (washed well and drained)

1 unwaxed lemon (zest finely grated and juiced)

25g unsalted butter

2 tablespoons of good quality olive or grapeseed oil

1 bayleaf

Pinch of dried thyme

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

50g crème fraiche or for those not watching the calories double cream.

Method

Warm a large saucepan over a moderate heat and add oil and butter.
Once the butter is melted add the potato, celery, leek and garlic, sweat gently until soft.
Add the mace, thyme and bayleaf and continue to sweat over a low heat stirring occasionally but do not colour the vegetables.
Prepare the nettles by washing well in plenty of water, place nettle leaves in a bowl and scald with boiling water and a pinch of salt. When handling nettles always wear suitable gloves. (Marigolds work for me).
Once the vegetables are softened pour over the vegetable stock, keep some back in reserve to adjust consistency later if needed.
Simmer under a lid until the vegetables are soft and break easily when pressed against the side of the pan.
Add the spinach and the grated lemon zest. Allow to cool slightly off the heat.
Liquidise well at high speed until smooth and glossy, press liquidised soup through a fine sieve to remove any fibres with the back of a ladle.
Place back in the pan and bring to the boil and turn off the heat ,whisk in the crème fraiche and season to taste with salt and freshly ground pepper adding the fresh lemon juice as you are about to serve.
Serve in deep bowls with a swirl of crème fraiche floated on top of the soup, a few snipped chives and some croutons.

Nettles add a wonderful zesty tang to this simple to make soup, try it chilled from the fridge with a drizzle of finest olive oil and serve with thin slices of bread brushed with oil, sprinkled with rubbed thyme leaves and baked in a medium oven until crisp and golden.

For those conscious of calories the butter can be omitted just add another tablespoon of olive oil to the recipe above. Cooking the soup under a lid retains more of the water soluble vitamins that would normally be lost as the water evaporates.

This soup freezes well but do not add the crème fraiche if intending to freeze.

More Seasonal recipes to follow next month plus a market view of what’s in season locally.

Last Updated on Thursday, 06 August 2009 21:35