Three recipes with nettles - outdoor cooking with Elles Utemat

Who doesn’t love a great meal out in the wild? This episode of the Tentipiblog feature“Elle”Elena Nikishkova, owner of the the oh-so popular ambulating Swedish outdoor food truck www.ellesutemat.se. She’s a professional outdoor cook who draw inspiration from the New Nordic Food Manifesto, working only with sustainable, ecological and locally produced ingredients. She’s totally passionate about wild mushrooms, forests, and an expert on cooking over open fire. Her pink retro camper van and Zirkonflex Tentipi Nordic tipi “kitchen tent” seem to pop up at about every outdoor festival in Sweden the last couple of years and we hope to see her more! Here’s Elle:

Seasonal outdoor cooking

Spring has finally arrived and with it, a range of edible plants that can be foraged in our forests. Wild garlic, dandelions, sorrels and of course the green and plenty stinging nettles. Most of us might see them as disturbing weeds, irritating and painful to bare feet and legs during a forest walk. However, nettles have been used for a variety of different purposes by our ancestors or back in time when people were still reliant on edibles in the wild for survival.

Not only are nettles tasty, with a nutty flavour that reminds of spinach, they are also rich in vitamins A, C, iron, potassium, manganese and calcium. And don’t worry; you don’t have to put up with an internal burning sensation when consuming this plant. Soaking or cooking the nettles in water will remove the stinging chemicals and make them easy to handle.

So bring a basket, a pair of scissors and gloves and make your way into the woods. Cut off the entire plant and put it in your basket. Once you got your harvest, soak the nettles in a bucket of water for 10 minutes and you’re ready to go.

Bellow you can find three easy recipes that can be used in order to turn this magic plant into beautiful wild meals and snacks.

Nettle crisps

A wonderful crunchy snack with only three ingredients – oil, nettles and salt.

Ingredients:

A bunch of nettles

Oil for frying

Salt

Instructions:

Once you have soaked the nettles, let them rest on a piece of paper towel to dry off the water. You can either use the entire plant or cut off and use the leaves only.

Fill your pan with a couple of inches of oil and heat it up over an open fire or gas. I use locally produced rapeseed oil, but whatever oil works fine. Once the oil is hot, use a tweezers and place the nettles in the hot oil. Start with a couple of leaves or one plant to figure out how hot the oil is and how long time it will take to cook it. If the oil is hot enough it usually takes around 10 seconds for the nettles to become crispy. Keep in mind that the leaves are thin, you don’t want to burn them, but you want to cook them in oil hot enough in order to make them crispy and not soggy.

Use the tong to pick up the nettles and let the excess oil runoff on a piece of paper towel. Sprinkle some salt on top and enjoy your tasty wilderness snack!

Creamy Nettle Soup

Pick you nettles and make a creamy, warming nettle soup for you and your friends.

Ingredients (4 ppl)

A bunch of chopped nettles leaves

1 medium sized onion

2 cloves of garlic

1 litre of water

Vegetable stock or dried herbs of your liking

1 cup of heavy cream

½ cup chopped fresh dill and parsley (other herbs can be used)

Salt and pepper

Oli for frying

Instructions:

Finely chop the onion and garlic. Fry the onions in a pan and add the garlic just before you add the water and the stock. Bring the soup to a boil and add the nettles and the cream. Simmer the soup for a couple of minutes and lastly add fresh dill and parsley along with salt and pepper. Enjoy this heart-warming broth in a beautiful spot! Add potatoes or any grain of your choice if you want to make this soup more filling.

Green Hash Browns

Fancy a salty and crispy hash brown with extra vitamins and flavour? In that case this is the recipe for you!

Ingredients (4 ppl)

A bunch of chopped nettles leaves

2 cups of grated potatoes

½ cup of grated onions

2 cloves of garlic, crushed and chopped

A couple of spoons of wheat flour

1 Large egg

Dried herbs of your liking

Salt and pepper

Oil for frying

Dressing:

1 cup Turkish yogurt

A pinch of chili flakes

A pinch of oregano

Juice from ½ lime

Salt and pepper

Instructions:

Make the dressing by mixing all the ingredients. Mix all the hash brown ingredients in a bowl. Make sure that the mix is solid enough to fry, if it’s too loose, add more flour. Fry the hash browns in a pan over an open fire or gas. Top the crispy patties off with the yoghurt dressing and serve!