The Nourishing Gourmet

Nourishing. Satisfying. Gourmet.

Nettles

Spring-is-Here Asparagus Egg Drop Soup

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Bright red peppers, soft spinach, and delicious, in season asparagus float in a rich chicken broth, doted with “egg drops”. This soup was inspired by some beautiful local asparagus I found at the produce market. I feel this soup speaks “Spring” with every bite. So simple, yet so satisfying!

Speaking of simple, don’t forgot about our Simple and Nourishing Carnival coming up next week. It will be lovely to get some new simple but nourishing meal ideas from you. I love to hear how other people keep it simple!

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Nourishing Nettle Soup

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ng_nettlesoupQuick note: For those of you with questions about the “A Nourished Start“Breakfast Carnival that I will be hosting not this Friday but the next, I’ve updated the page to answer your questions.

Once you have harvested wild nettles, you have to do something with them! I decided to make the classic nettle soup. A simple soup made from potatoes,  broth, onion and garlic, and, of course, nettles combine into a creamy soup with a subtle nettle overtone. Simple, nourishing and delicious too!

What do nettles taste like? It’s hard to say! I am sure that it can vary , but the ones we just picked were very mild. In this soup, though I packed a lot of nettles in, we felt it was pretty subtle. My husband said you never felt like you could fully taste the flavor. Right when you thought you could fully experience the flavor, it would elude you. I would say that this soup would taste very similar if made with spinach, but that nettles add their own tang to it. It almost tasted like the soup had a sprinkle of lemon juice added to it.

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Harvesting Wild Nettles

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One of my goals in recent years has been to better learn how to “forage” the wild food around me. Not only is it free, but they are often very good for you as well. Nutrient rich nettles are perfect for picking right now in my area, as they are young and tender. I need to say from the beginning that I am just a beginner at this and if you would like to do the same I encourage you to get expert advice on what to pick and what not to pick.

But I figured that nettles were not only very easy to identify (if in doubt, touch it and you will soon found out!), but I also thought they would be a great choice to gather since they are so nutritious.   Think, like spinach, but better. High in iron, calcium, vitamin C, and a plethora of other nutrients, it has been used fresh and dried for many nutritional or medical uses over many years.
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