Nettle Risotto
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Foraging is the ultimate form of zero waste shopping, completely packaging free and you only take what you need. Recently inspired by Erin Lovell Verinders new book Plants for the People we’ve been out foraging for nettles. Nettles are full of goodness and offer great nourishment after the winter months. We came across a recipe by Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall that we’ve altered slightly!
You’ll need to go foraging for nettles, best time is spring- march/april, pick the top leaves using gloves!
Serves 2
Ingredients (when in italics available from the van)
100g nettle leaves
2 garlic cloves
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 teaspoon veg bouillon (approx 14p)
175g arborio rice (56p) or you could use our short grain brown rice too
4 tablespoons nutritional yeast (approx 40p)
salt and pepper to taste
Total cost from Incredible Bulk approx £1.29 / 0.65 pp
Method:
First sort through nettles and remove thick stalks and thoroughly wash leaves - first with cold water and then with boiling water.
Bring around 1 litre of salted water to the boil and throw in the nettles, bring back to a boil and blanch for a couple of minutes.
Then drain, squeezing nettles to remove water - keeping water to use for stock. Add veg bouillon to nettle water and stir.
When nettles cool enough to handle chop finely.
In a large, heavy-based pan, add olive oil over a medium-low heat. Add the finely chopped garlic cloves cook for 8 to 10 minutes. Add the rice, stir to coat the grains, pour in a third of the stock and bring to a gentle simmer. Cook, stirring, until almost all the stock has been absorbed, then add the chopped nettles and a little more stock. Keep adding stock a bit at a time, making a new addition when the previous one has been absorbed, until the rice is nicely al dente (you may not need all the stock) – around 20 minutes in all – and the texture is loose and creamy.
Season to taste. Drizzle extra olive oil over the risotto and sprinkle on the nutritional yeast. Cover, leave for a few minutes, then stir in.
Serve straight away, nice with vegan parmesan cheese.
Zero Waste Tips
Only take the amount of nettles needed when foraging - its roughly a small bag full.