Soul-satisfying and comforting - Scalloped Potatoes With Nettles and Cheese!
Nettles - yes the stinging kind - are one of the Spring greens I enjoy at this time of year in soups, stews, pickled, brewed into tea...or, to make into a healing tincture or use as an ingredient in a calcium-rich vinegar.
Cooked or dried, nettles lose their infamous sting!
I use them as a super-nutritious, tasty substitute in place of spinach as they're ready two to three weeks before early-planted spinach.
Nettles, as are dandelions, are rich in silica, calcium, and potassium...far richer in these and other nutrients than most domestic greens.
Kale and collards - parsley - come closest to nutrient-dense nettles and dandelions.
Broccoli, while good for you, pales in comparison to Nature's Spring-green, wild, powerhouses - dandelion, nettles, and lamb's quarters!
Gather nettles before they flower while they're still tender and luscious!
Gather several, or many, 10- to 12-inch long sprigs of nettles. Wear gloves! The leaves may be gingerly handled without gloves, but the stem is packed with "stingers". The undersides of the leaves have minor stingers, too.
Snip the leaves from the stem into a bowl until you have three- to-four cups worth for this recipe. Any overage may be dried, or used fresh to make a tasty cup of herbal tea.
Fill the nettle-containing bowl with enough water to cover the leaves and swirl with a spoon or tongs to wash off any debris.
Rinse the nettles of dust, insects, etc.
Spin the nettles dry, or pat dry with a clean towel. Set aside.
Recipe: Scalloped Potatoes With Nettles and Cheese (serves 6 to 8)
Preheat the oven to 350-degrees.
3 to 4 cups fresh nettle leaves, rinsed and spun, or patted dry
Salt
1/2 onion halved, sliced, and each slice halved
Halve and onion. Slice thinly. Then cut the half-slices in half, as well.
Cheese Sauce:
3 TBS butter or oil, or a combination
2 TBS flour
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp mustard powder
1/4 tsp ground black pepper
3 cups milk, any variety (whole, skim, canned, powdered, nut, soy)
3/4 cup medium or sharp cheddar (omit for a vegan option)
2 TBS fresh, shipped parsley (curly or flat-leaf).
1/2 tsp paprika
To enhance a cheese sauce a little mustard powder enhanced flavor while allowing for a reduction in the amount of cheese needed. Mustard powder adds more flavor to a plain white sauce, too.
Melt butter/oil (or a combination) in a saucepan. Add flour, salt, pepper, mustard powder and saute for 2 to 3 minutes to create a roux.
To reduce the floury, raw taste of a "traditional" white sauce, "saute" the butter/oil, flour, seasoning mixture until it turns golden before adding the milk.
Prior to adding the milk, remove from heat...
...removing from the heat source is especially important if you use an electric stove burner. Gas burners are more forgiving as they lose heat more quickly than electric heating elements.
After removing the roux from heat, add the milk all at once. Stir well and return to the heat source. Simmer on medium heat, stirring often, until the milk begins to scald, and is steaming. Then, stir constantly until it comes to a gentle boil. Gently allow the sauce to bubble, while stirring for about a minute until just thickened a little.
Remove, again, from heat. Add the grated cheese about a 1/2-cup at a time, stirring to melt, before adding another half cup until the cheese is incorporated into the sauce. Set aside, covered, until it's time to add to the potato/nettle mixture. Don't allow the cheese to boil after adding as it will separate out of the sauce and go "grainy".
Into an oiled, 2-quart casserole dish, add the nettle leaves and snip...or gingerly julienne the leaves then add them to the bottom of your dish. You want to create a thin layer to cover the bottom of the dish.
On top of the nettles, layer three of the thinly sliced potatoes. Top with half of the sliced onion.
Sprinkle this layer with salt and ground black pepper.
Ladle on half the sauce...
Add the remaining nettles and top with the remaining three potato's slices and onion. Sprinkle with salt and pepper.
Pour on the remaining sauce.
Top with 2 TBS fresh flat-leaf parsley and 1/2 tsp paprika.
Cover, or top securely with foil.
Bake for one hour, covered. I place the casserole onto a pizza pan or cookie sheet to catch any boil overs.
Remove from oven and uncover. Bake an additional 1/2 hour uncovered.
Remove from oven and serve as a side dish to meat or beans, or as vegetarian main dish with a vegetable, or salad side dish.
I like this as a main dish with a green bean or broiled/grilled beet side!
Nettles deserve our attention! In fact, they demand we pay attention...or else! Still, they want gentle handling and respect and will reward with flavor and savor.
Brewed, boiled, steamed, dried for tea, nettles are a Spring tonic that dissipates the Winter blues!
Grow your own! Or, gather them stream- and lake-side always being sure they haven't been sprayed with herbicides or insecticides.
Nettles, Nature's Springtime tonic for healthy blood and organs!!!
They're tasty, nutritious, and satisfying! Our ancestors ate them! So should we.
Comments