Luscious Wild Garlic And Nettle Soup
"Wild garlic and nettles soup is a must make delicious green spring dish. Stinging nettles are spring's most foraged wild edibles. I always make the most of these while in season and I certainly cannot get enough of them. Stinging nettle and wild garlic soup is an amazing nutritious soup with amazing properties and can be eaten as an appetizer or served as a dinner, together with bread. You can also freeze the soup and save it for later. "
Serves4
Preparation Time10 min
Cooking Time20 min
Cooking MethodCasserole
Ingredients
- 400 g young nettles (14.11 oz) stinging nettles (fresh or frozen)*
- 200 g wild garlic leaves ( 7 oz) freshly foraged or frozen
- 2 medium onions chopped
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 large leek diced roughly
- 2 sticks celery roughly sliced
- 1 medium carrot roughly diced
- 1.5 litre vegetable stock I have used homemade unsalted
- 1 medium potato optional
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 pinch black pepper freshly ground
- 3 sprigs thyme fresh from my garden
- 1 tablespoon butter optional *
- 4 tbsp double cream optional but delicious add if usedAdd a drizzle of single or heavy cream. Season with salt and pepper to taste and serve while nice and hot. This is however a fantastic option for a cold soup on a hot, torrid day!
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Prepare the nettles and if these aren't super young, remove the nettle stems using gloves or cut them off using scissors.
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Wash the nettles thoroughly in a super large bowl or container. I sometimes use the sink to wash them. Most of the time just a rinse is not enough. Do the same with the wild garlic leaves.
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In a soup pot, heat up olive oil and butter if using, add the chopped onion, leek, carrot, diced celery sticks and cubed potatoes. Cook for a good 10 minutes.
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Pour in the stock and thyme. Bring all to a boil. Allow it to simmer for 10 minutes.
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Add the nettle leaves and boil for a further 2 minutes. Fish out the thyme sprigs from the soup. Add the roughly chopped garlic leaves and simmer for 2 more minutes.
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Blend all the ingredients with a hand blender so it becomes a smooth soup.
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Add a drizzle of single or heavy cream. Season with salt and pepper to taste and serve while nice and hot. This is however a fantastic option for a cold soup on a hot, torrid day!