the 80 acres: herb

Showing posts with label herb. Show all posts

0 3 . 3 1 . 1 3

Sunday morning

mind-energizing

gotu kola

for clarity of the mind, mental expansion

Awakening Gotu Truffles

grind gotu kola into fine powder in a spice/herb grinder

mix with honey

roll into a gotu kola truffle

0 3 . 2 4 . 1 3

Foraged Local Nettle Soup

with Coconut Milk

Spring has begun to gift us with its soft petals and pollen-scented air. I harvested a bag of fresh, young nettles last week, drying most of them for future tea and keeping the rest for immediate cooking. I just attended my first weekend of classes at The School of Traditional Western Herbalism. We held a potluck to ring in the beginning of our program, for which I put together this super simple fresh nettle soup. Rich in minerals, nettles have a characteristic deep, earthy flavor that I absolutely love. They have to be one of my favorite ingredients EVER. If you do harvest your own nettles, be sure to remember that they STING. Their sting is on the mild side, but it is best to wear gloves and be mindful of other bare skin. Their stinging property goes away once they are cooked or dried.

3 Tbsp coconut oil

1 large yellow onion

3-4 cloves garlic

2 shallots

3 yukon gold potatoes

fresh nettles (at least 2 lbs; the quantity I used

was a densely packed plastic bag-

the kind you would find in the produce section)

water to cover

salt to taste

whole organic coconut milk (for garnish)

Before starting the cooking process, make sure your nettles are trimmed and washed and ready to go. I use gloves and kitchen scissors to trim nettle leaves from the more fibrous stems (discard stems). Once trimmed, use tongs to place nettles in a large stainless steel bowl. Fill the bowl with cold water and allow nettles to soak for a few minutes, tossing them gently. Remove nettles from bowl with tongs and place in colander to strain.

Roughly chop onion, garlic, and shallots. Place in large pot with coconut oil over medium-high heat. Stir occasionally for 5 minutes. In the meantime, slice potatoes into about 1/4" pieces. Add potatoes to pot. Cook for a few minutes, then add water to the pot, enough just to cover the vegetables. Reduce heat to low, cover pot and simmer for about 20 minutes, or until potatoes are tender. Add nettles to pot in batches (using tongs). They will immediately decrease in size as they begin to cook and you will be able to keep adding more. Once all the nettles are in pot, top off with more water so nettles and vegetables are just covered with water. Cook for 5 more minutes.

Blend the soup in batches, scooping from the pot to the blender until entire soup is pureed. (You can also use an immersion blender or a food processor.) Pour pureed soup back into soup pot and season with salt. Serve soup with a swirl of coconut milk.

You can alternatively stir in desired amount of coconut milk to entire soup before serving. Toasted, crushed walnuts or almonds are a wonderful addition to the top. I also love sauteed black trumpet mushrooms for garnish. You could skip the coconut milk completely and instead top with a dollop of delicious, whole sour cream (with nuts and mushrooms!).