With it's toothed leaves and tiny myriad hairlike fibers that contain an acid which irritates your skin on contact … nettles need to be cooked! Cooking destroys their stinging effect. Young shoots and leaf tops are the edible parts of nettles which are tough in texture when mature.
(sauted nettles with rhubarb pickles and jumbo asparagus)
Nettle Hunting in Lederhosen
I still remember a horrific trip when I was a leatherhosen wearing young boy in Austria and fell head-over in a rather big nettle bush.
My father and older brother bathed my crying self in a mountain brook to subdue the pain.
(me in Tyrolean leatherhosen)
(nettle humus with arugula flowers and fennel flat bread)
Silk Glove Treatment
When picking neetles I highly advise you to wear gloves (rubber cloves will do) othervise you'll get familiar with stinging and swelling from skin contact. To clean nettles put them in a bowl filled with luke-warm water so dirt will come off then cook them for 60 seconds or so in boiling salted water. Transfer the nettles into an ice water bath to stop the cooking process - at this point the color will be a very dark green, almost black.
(maybe not silk gloves - but still good enought against stinging nettles)
(nettle risotto with pea shoots and zucchini blossoms)
Nettle Risotto
(recipe for four portions)
1 cup risotto rice such as Vialone Nano
1 small onion
2 cloves garlic, peeeled
2 tablespoons vegetable oil such as canola
1 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves
1 cup red wine such as Chianti
Sea salt (to taste) such as Baline
Cayenne (to taste)
2 cups tiny shrimp (steamed) 40-50 pieces
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
Black pepper grindings (to taste)
1. Peel onions and garlic then cut (1/8-inch cubes or so).
2. In a pot (2-quart) sized heat vegetable oil on medium heat setting then cook cut onions and garlic (3-4 minutes) stirring every once in a while with a wooden spoon.
3. Combine cooked onion and garlic mixture with thyme leaves and red wine then season with salt and cayenne.
4. Cook rice continuously stirring and adding water as needed (18-25 minutes - at this point the texture of the rice should be soft, if not cook for a bit longer).
5. Combine shrimp and olive oil continuously stirring into cooked rice mixture and continue to cook (2 minutes or until hot throughout).
Chef's note: It takes patience to cook risotto rice properly - the continuous stirring releases the natural rice starch from the center of the rice grain and gives it a creamy texture
.
Chef's tip: I prefer to stir risotto with a wooden spoon or one of those pastry plastic spatulas versus a metal mixing spoon (witch rough edges) so that the individual rice grain does not get smushed or cut which will would othervise result in a soupy, unplesant risotto texture.
A Less Stinging Memory of Nettles
The last time I visited my family in Austria I experienced a lovely lunch. I was served a local river fish on a bed of nettle risotto in a simple, local restaurant garden overlooking the Danube with boats drifting by every so often. I enjoyed the nettle risotto among the hills where grapes are grown for Austrias excellent rieslings and grueners. I could not have wanted more at this point.
