Market Weekend

I’m not one for getting up early on the weekend, but when I woke up Sunday I nearly jumped out of bed, having decided that I was going to trek down to the Ballard farmers market. I have to admit that I was a little disappointed. The Ballard market is definitely not the type of farmers market I was hoping for, where you can walk away with a grocery bag over-flowing with fresh produce for under ten dollars. As my cash on hand was exactly ten dollars, I came away lighter than hoped, but still excited about my purchases; wild nettles, green garlic, and dandelion greens. I’ve been tempted to yank up a few of the dandelions in my yard, but I was a bit nervous. Until I do a bit more research, I’m sticking with the cultivated leaves. The nettles were by far the most exciting purchase, and the first on the stove. They are the subject of may weekend failure and weekday redemption.

Nettles are a curious vegetable, the kind that makes you wonder “who the hell thought of eating this?” The bag of leaves came bundled up in a plastic bag, tightly tied. These are after all the same little buggers that leave you with a nice red and stinging rash. So how on earth are you supposed to eat them? More importantly, who wrote the Wikipedia entry on Nettle:
“Nettle is the common name for any faggot with abnormally large ears who attends West Forsyth High School. It is hated by all man kind and if you see this creature look away or you will go blind at the sight of the uglyness, after wash eyes for 10 to 15 minutes. you are recomended to run and contact authorities immediately if this zoo animal is spotted. If you see its girlfriend well im sorry because you are already blind beacuse this creature, commonly known as jacque brown, is even more hideous than a nettle. A nettle is a noob at halo, the biggest ass hole in the world, has no friends, and yet he still shows up uninvited to places. The extermination of every nettle will begin tommorrow and will be called the nettlecaust.”



Yes kids, that’s the beauty and bane of open source. Unfortunately it did not explain why cooking leaves them harmless, but I gather it has something to do with the acids.
For this foray I decided to make a Wild Nettle and Chive soup, based on a recipe in Jerry Traunfeld’s The Herbfarm Cookbook. I began by blanching the nettles for two or three minutes, then draining and squeezing out as much moisture as possible. From that point on they can be treated just like spinach. I made most of the soup at home, but held of on adding the nettle and chive until just before serving, at my friend Jeff’s. the recipe says to puree it in a blender, but Jeff doesn’t have one, and I figured why bother lugging a blender around, I have my little stick blender, I’m sure it can do the trick….no, no it can’t. The little guy just wasn’t up to the task of cutting through the fibrous vegetables, and the end result was a stringy, albeit bright, almost grassy springtime soup. Taste=great, texture=frightening, like some sort of alien gruel. I’m sure the bright green color didn’t help dispel the idea that this was something out of Star Trek.


Not surprisingly, I had plenty of leftovers to cart home, so tonight I decided to set things right, and break out the Osterizer. It made short work of the pulp, and after adding a bit more vegetable broth (remember, according to Alton Brown, if it doesn’t have bones, it just isn’t stock) it hit the perfect pureed soup texture. I sautéed a piece of salmon with some of the green garlic and a Hawaiian butter sauce (it had papaya! Not sure how it came to be in the fridge, or which former housemate put it there, but it had clearly been neglected). The end result was a qualified success. I felt redeemed that the soup turned out as it should, or close enough given a few ingredient additions and substitutions.
I think next time I will leave the soup rustic, adding a few potatoes and not blending it at all. Also a bit of roasted garlic or a woodsy mushroom (rather than the white buttons that the recipe called for) would add a bit of earth to the grassy nettle flavor.
Next weekend I’m going back to the market for the fiddlehead ferns!!!



Wild Nettle and Chive Soup
-adapted from Spring Sorrel and Chive Soup in The Herbfarm Cookbook by Jerry Traunfeld

2 tbls unsalted butter
1 medium onion, chopped
4 cups vegetable broth ( I added another cup on attempt two)
8 oz white button mushrooms, chopped
2 tblsp long grain white rice (I used Jasmine)
large bunch Nettle (don't touch until cooked!)
1 cup snipped chives
pepper
Quark (the recipe called for Creme Fraiche, but I've been experimenting with the European cheese Quark, similar to Ricotta in texture, but a bit tangier)

Sautee the onions, add broth, mushrooms, rice. Bring to a boil, then simmer 30 minutes. During this time bring a large pot of salkted water to a boil, then use tongs, gloves, or just dump the nettle into the water and blanch for 2-3 minutes, stirring. Drain then squeeze out as much moisture as possible and set aside. Puree half the nettle and chive with half the soup, empty to another saucepan and puree the remaining (unless you have a jumbo sized industrial blender, or one of those crazy professional stick blenders the size of a Vespa). Bring the soup back to a simmer, serve and enjoy (adding a dollop or two of Quark or Creme Fraiche- fancy french sour cream)

As I said, I would substitute a woodsier mushroom and perhaps add a bit of roasted garlic.