tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-78084050730000839332024-03-13T13:27:44.956+00:00Hello we're Lisa & Ellie - aka Happy Kitchen :)A blog all about our happy food adventures...
Positive actions towards a low carbon futureHappy Kitchen Lisa & Elliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00667324670041369824noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7808405073000083933.post-63390651763191706942010-04-05T10:52:00.006+01:002010-04-05T12:07:09.176+01:00Weekend of walking, nettles, wild garlic & EATING!Well, the weekend has been quite mixed in terms of weather with lots of rain on Saturday & luckily enough a glorious day on Sunday. I walked 5 miles with my housemates across muddy fields with the sun in our eyes ... I even took my jacket off & walked in a t-shirt! Spring has officially arrived in my book. The bluebells will be out in a few weeks & the leaves are densely coating the floor of the woods already ... it's going to be quite a wonderful sight. I can't wait. We made lots of nettle soup this weekend - soooo yummie & great for iron (I'm always in need!) We picked 3 bags full from a nice dog-free spot near my part-time home in beautiful Sussex.<br />
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Here's our recipe:<br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;">Nettle Soup</span><br />
1 bag of stinging nettles (pick with gloves or have numb fingers for 2 days!)<br />
Wash. Bring to boil big pot of water. Add & cook for 3 mins.<br />
Drain out. Keep the water & drink it - super tasty & super nutrient rich!<br />
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1 White onion finely chopped<br />
2 garlic cloves finely chopped<br />
Glug of olive oil<br />
Saute all together till soft.<br />
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Add wilted nettles.<br />
Add approx 100ml cream*<br />
*I make my cream from kentish cobnuts in Autumn & freeze in pots ready for use. You can use oatcream, soya cream or normal dairy cream. My housemates used double cream from our nearby farm Plaw Hatch Community Farm. http://www.tablehurstandplawhatch.co.uk/phdairy.html<br />
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I'll post the cobnut cream recipe on another post!<br />
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We also picked some wild garlic and added some<br />
washed leaves at the end finely chopped - was BEAUTIFUL! Wild garlic can be found anywhere near water - usually up the banks next to streams as you can see in this photo above.<br />
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We ate the rest as part of a fresh locally-picked salad of mizuna, rocket, chevril, baby spinach, mustard.... dressed with this tasty recipe:<br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;">Mustard, honey & smoked rapeseed oil dressing</span><br />
1 tsp wholegrain mustard<br />
1 tsp local honey<br />
1 good glug of oil (I used smoked rapeseed but could use olive oil or anything you have in)<br />
Splash of apple cider vinegar (will post my recipe soon)<br />
Pinch Salt<br />
...& lots pepper!<br />
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We were also lucky enough to get a HUGE box of organic tomatoes that were headed for the bin as a few of them were broken & squishy... many thanks for these to lovely 'Dave in the woods' aka Harvest Supplies, Chuck Hatch. Added these to salad and made the rest into passata. Yum.<br />
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Right, off out to tap some birch trees for sap - that'll be my next post! Going to make wine & also reduce the sap down to make a syrup for cake baking!<br />
Lisa xHappy Kitchen Lisa & Elliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00667324670041369824noreply@blogger.com0