Prep time 10 mins. Cook approximate 25mins. Serve 6 good portions as a main dish.
Ingredients
Half a carrier bag of stinging nettle tops, or fresh-looking larger leaves (easy to find in May)
- 50g butter
- 2 large onions
- 3 branches of celery
- 1 leek
- 1½ litres of vegetable or chicken stock
- 3 large potato peeled and small diced
- Sea salt ½ tsp
- ½ pint of double cream
- Fresh mint and freshly ground pepper to garnish.
Method
Wearing rubber gloves, sort through the nettles, discarding anything you don't like the look of and any thick stalks. Wash the nettles and drain in a colander.
Melt the butter in a large saucepan, add the onion, celery, leek and salt, cook gently for 5-7 minutes until softened and translucent.
Add the stock and potatoes, bring to a simmer and cook gently until the potato is soft (about 12 minutes-ish), add the double cream and bring to boil, then add the nettles, bringing the heat up to boil for another 5 minutes until the nettles are soft.
Remove from the heat, using a stick blender or a liquid processor, blitz the soup and then season to taste and garnish with mint and freshly ground pepper.
Served with a crusty loaf of bread and salted butter and enjoy.