Nettles are packed full of healthiness, they grow everywhere (you could say like weeds…) and yet I’ve still not managed to get into cooking them myself despite being told years ago how good they are and how easy they are to cook with. This recipe looks really simple, so I’m thinking it must be a good one for anyone looking for an introduction to wild food.

It is the best time for nettles in the UK right NOW. For the best nettles pick the young fresh green tips of the plant. Be careful not to pick from anywhere that is likely to have been sprayed with chemicals and pick as far from paths as possible (to avoid dog pee). I’m slightly gutted I can’t do this myself this year, so can someone please make it for me and let me know how it is?…

Nettle Pesto

Nettles
Mint (if you’ve got it, or other herbs, or none)
Garlic
Wholemeal bread
Cheddar
Oil

Pick a colander full of young nettle tops (you’ll need gloves). Rinse them, then plunge them into boiling water for one minute to blanch them and take the sting out of them. As soon as the minute’s up, tip them back into the colander (keep the water, it’s full of goodness and can be drunk like a tisane) and run under the cold tap to stop them cooking. When they’re cold, squeeze out the water.

Put a slice of wholemeal bread into the food processor. Add a chunk of cheese, a peeled clove of garlic and the nettles and a little mint. Blitz, then add oil in a stream. I used rapeseed oil. Keep tasting, adjusting the amounts. Hard to say how much oil, as it depends on what you are going to do with the sauce.

Sounds good doesn’t it? There’s so many other things they could be used in too. Generally you cook them in the same way as, and they taste like, spinach. So I’m thinking anything which is good with spinach must be good with nettles – quiche, pasta, omelettes, pies, on pizza, or just cooked simply with garlic. Mmm. You’ve got to give it a go! For more adventurous ’superfood’ addicts  go for a banana and nettle smoothie, the raw hit will give you maximum vitamin goodness.

Despite it’s fairly long list of ingredients, it’s really easy to make, and incredibly tasty. I saw the book in the shops yesterday and I have to say it looks pretty tasty too. I wanted to hug it (erm is that it bit strange?). It’s one of those big chunky books with unfinished paper, loads of beautiful retro illustrations and quirky pages with bits and pieces that you can take out. None of this really has anything to do with food and it being a cookbook I suppose you’d probably prefer to know whether or not the recipes are any good before you’d decide to go buy it. All I can say is that if this recipe is anything to go by then it definitely will be. I was too busy stroking the pages and drooling over the quirky design to actually read any of the other recipes it contained. Oops.

Leon Gobi (serves 6)

• 1 medium onion, halved and thickly sliced
• 1 carrot, thickly sliced
• 2 tbsp sunflower or peanut oil
• 1 red chilli
• 2 thumb-sized pieces of root ginger, washed but not peeled
• 5 cloves garlic, peeled
• 1 large tsp Madras curry powder
• 1 tsp turmeric
• 1 tsp black onion seeds
• 1 medium sweet potato, washed and cut into 2.5cm dice
• 4 heaped tbsp ground almonds
• A good handful of sultanas
• ½ a small cauliflower, broken into florets
• 1 x 400ml tin of coconut milk
• 150g frozen peas
• Juice of ½ a lemon
• A really big handful of coriander, roughly chopped
• Salt
• 2 heaped tbsp desiccated coconut, to serve

1. In a large saucepan, cook the onion and carrot over a medium to low heat in the oil for 15-20 minutes with the lid on, stirring occasionally. Season with salt.
2. Blitz the chilli, ginger and garlic to a paste in a food processor. Stir the paste into the onions once they have begun to soften, along with the spices (including the onion seeds). After another five minutes, season with salt, add the sweet potato chunks and the almonds and mix well so that everything is well coated.
3. Turn the heat up a bit and stir in 500ml of water and the sultanas. Bring to a simmer and leave it to bubble gently for 10-15 minutes with the lid off, stirring occasionally.
4. Add the cauliflower florets and the coconut milk and simmer for a further 10-15 minutes, covered. Check that the sweet potato and cauliflower are both cooked, turn the heat off and stir in the peas.
5. When you are ready to serve add a little salt, the lemon juice and the chopped coriander, stir and leave for a minute. Serve with rice, or naan (or both!) with a sprinkling of dried coconut on top.

Click here for more curry recipes

Click here for naan bread recipe

It really is so easy to make and far, far tastier than the gloopy gunk that comes in tins. Years ago when I was working I used to eat tinned soup quite often and Marzena, a Polish girl who came to work with us was astounded that you could actually buy soup in tins. “Soup comes in tins?… Really?… I can’t believe it…. but why?”. At the time I thought she was bonkers, now I feel exactly the same (about the soup/tin thing, not her being bonkers. Although actually she is a bit).

Most simple soups follow the same basic idea, cook your onions off in a a little oil, or butter (nicer), add the chopped vegetables, cover to sweat for ten minutes or so, then cover with stock and leave to simmer until all veg are soft and then blitz it, maybe add a bit of cream. Lovely jubbly.

While I’m on my soup frenzy I’ll put the recipe up for anything I make that turns out to be of particular yumminess, starting with these two, sweetcorn chowder and onion soup. Sweetcorn chowder was given 9 out of 10 no less. A pretty impressive score as the critic has said he never gives a ten.

Sweetcorn Chowder

• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 medium onion, finely chopped
• 1 clove of garlic, finely chopped
• 2 sticks of celery, sliced
• 8oz of potatoes, 1/2 chopped, 1/2 small cubes
• 1 large carrot, small cubes (1/2 cm or so)
• 1 x 340g tin sweetcorn
• 1 red chili, finely chopped (or to taste)
• 1 1/4 pints of water
• 1 red pepper finely chopped
• 1 green pepper finely chopped
• 75ml double cream
• S+P

• fresh coriander to garnish

1. Heat the oil and cook the onion and garlic over a low heat until golden (approx 15 mins).
2. Add the celery, half the carrot, the chopped potatoes,  half the sweetcorn, the chili, cook for two minutes then add the water and bring to boil.
3. Cover and simmer for about 15 minutes, then zuzz.
4. Add the chopped peppers, cubed carrot, potatoes and the rest of the sweetcorn. Simmer for 10 more minutes.
5. Stir in the double cream, add seasoning and serve garnished with chopped coriander.

Onion Soup

• 4 tbsp olive oil
• 700g red onions, finely sliced
• 400g shallots, finely sliced
• 1 heaped tbsp plain flour
• 2 tsp mustard
• 2 pints veg stock
• 4 sprigs of fresh thyme
• 3 tbsp greek yoghurt
• S+P

• grated cheddar to garnish

1. Heat the oil and gently fry the red onions and shallots over a really low heat for about 40 minutes until golden and caramelised. Do not cook too quickly, or let burn. The sweetness will come out better the as these turn golden after slow cooking.
2. Stir in the flour and mustard and cook for a further 2 minutes before adding the stock and thyme.
3. Bring to the boil and simmer for at least 30 minutes. Pick out the thyme and allow to cool just a little before adding the yoghurt and seasoning.
4. Serve with a little cheddar grated over.

I’m going to really miss the chickens. They’re so funny. The way they walk is ridiculous, and the way they run even more ridiculous. It’s as though their head is attached to their legs by a string through their body and it wobbles backwards and forwards faster the faster they go. They hear you coming out of the back door and if they’re not already there by the time you have got outside they’ll come racing across the yard sliding to a stop by your feet. Bwoooooooaaak! Can’t wait until I have some of my own.

Despite their cheeky bean eating behaviour I’ll also miss the cats. In fact I’d rather they were eating beans than their habit of bringing various animals in for us. They seem to have been brought up with great manners and like to eat them at the table. The sound of the cat eating my beans was much more enjoyable than the sound of it crunching through a mouse’s skull. Still they are very cute and seem to like hanging out with us on an evening, which is nice.

I think we’ll both be sad to leave tomorrow. We’ve had a great time, what a lovely place, and what lovely people for trusting us to look after it despite the fact the really don’t know us at all, very grateful to them we are. I couldn’t imagine that kind of thing having happened in Manchester. Anybody else in need of a friendly pair of house sitters feel free to contact us. This is my kind of job. Just pottering around doing very little for a week. Nice.

Here’s the recipe for the quiche I made last night. I was worried after an attempt some years ago that it would go horribly wrong somehow, but it was really easy and incredibly tasty. Andy was making some very strange faces and noises while he was eating it.

Broccoli and Blue Cheese Quiche

For the pastry:
6oz plain flour
3 oz butter
pinch of salt

For the filling:
1 small head broccoli
8 eggs
1/2 pint milk
100g blue cheese
150g mature cheddar
black pepper

Mix all pastry the ingredients together, rubbing the flour into the butter until it is like fine breadcrumbs. Then add a tablespoon of water and mix it together. Add a tiny amount more water if necessary to bring it together. Not too much or it will go sticky. Put this in the fridge for about 30 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 190.

Line 25cm quiche dish with pastry. Line the pastry with silver foil and fill with baking beans. Bake for 20 minutes covered up , then remove the foil and bake for another 5 minutes.

Lower the oven to 150

Put the broccoli into boiling water for 3 minutes, drain and put in the pastry case.

Mix together the eggs crumbled or grated cheese, milk and pepper and pour them into the case with the broccoli.

Bake on the bottom shelf of the oven for 35 minutes until golden brown. The quiche will begin to rise up a little and should feel fairly solid to the middle. Well not like rock hard, just not sloppy eggs.