Wild Things: Nettle Kraut

Gather nettles. A lot.  This recipe yielded one quart, and I had about 4 -6 cups of chopped nettle leaves.

Chop your nettles coarsely, and put into a large bowl with 1 tbsp salt.  Chop 1/2 cabbage head finely.  Add to the bowl of chopped nettles with another tbsp of salt.  Slice 1/2 red onion finely.  Add to the bowl.

Massage the nettles and cabbage and salt with your hands for 5-10 minutes, until they begin to release their juices.  If you are concerned about getting stung, you can beat the cabbage & nettles with a mallet, clean jar or other tool, but I used my hands, and didn't have any problems with getting stung.

Stuff into a jar, and press firmly until the juices flow over the top of the kraut.  Top with a grape leaf to keep it crunchy.  Cap firmly- after ensuring the liquid completely covers the kraut (if not, add brine (salt water) to cover.)  Set aside on a dish to catch any overflow, for a week, minimum.  Longer makes a more  sauer kraut

YUM!

Wild Things: Nettles for Breakfast!

Oooops. It was so delicious I forgot to take a picture before I ate it all up.
June is Nettles month for the Wild Things round-up.  

My favorite combination is nettles with preserved lemons.  Here's a handy, tasty breakfast recipe.  Switch the eggs up for chicken, or sausage for a lunch or supper.


Nettles with Preserved Lemon & Garlic

2 cups chopped fresh nettles (use frozen if you don't have fresh.)
1-2 cloves garlic
2 tbsp butter
1/4 cup chopped fresh tomato
1 preserved lemon, chopped 
salt and pepper to taste
2 eggs per person ( or more if you like)

add butter and garlic to a hot pan and sautee for 2 min.  Add nettles, tomatoes, and preserved lemon, plus salt and pepper to taste.  Sautee gently until the nettles and tomatoes are soft and the garlic is cooked to your liking.  ( I prefer mine a bit undercooked.)

When cooked plate out. 
In some extra butter, fry two eggs per person.  Or scramble them, or poach them.  Whatever old way you like your eggs.  Plate on top of the nettles.  Top with kim chi, sauerkraut, pickled carrots or beets or what have you.

Serve immediately!  YUM!
This serves one.  Pick more nettles if you are feeding a family.  A lot more. Bagfuls and bagfuls!  There are never enough nettles!

Wild Things:Dandelion Walnut Pesto

Dandelion Walnut Pesto
2 good handfuls of fresh dandelion greens (washed)
1 c olive oil
2 tbsp lemon juice
3 cloves of garlic
1/2 c toasted walnuts
salt and pepper to taste

blend in a food processor, serve! YUMMY!

Wild Things: Spruce Steamed Baby Artichokes and Spruce Mayonnaise

Rebecca at Crockpots and Cauldrons has a blog round-up or blog party on WILD THINGs each month. This month was devoted to spruce tips.....
So I was all stoked to take part, then i realized, spruce tips are a ways off...so I did spruce needles instead.  I think the tips work better tho.  The needles are poky and stiff even when cooked or blended up.   But nonetheless, the taste is fresh, citrusy and suprisingly delightful! 
Spring is coming soon...and I found baby artichokes at the market. 

So I steamed them with spruce twigs in the water.  It gently flavored the tender baby chokes with a fresh flavor.

Then I used some more spruce needles stripped from the branches to add to a luscious bacon fat based mayonnaise. 

The steamed chokes topped with a creamy fresh mayonnaise were a perfect spring lunch!  Recipe below.



8 Baby artichokes, cleaned and trimmed.
3 Palm sized spruce twigs

Toss the cleaned and trimmed chokes in a steamer basket, and add spruce twigs to the bottom of the pan, with just enough water to cover the twigs.  Turn on medium heat and cover chokes and spruce and water and steam for 20 min.

For the Mayonnaise:
1 c bacon fat, warmed to liquid
1/2 c spruce needles or spruce tips
1-2 slices of preserved lemon
1 whole egg and 1 egg yolk
salt to taste

Whip the eggs,salt, lemon and spruce in a blender, and slowly add in bacon grease, blend until creamy.
Serve over warmed or chilled baby artichokes.

But