Nothing beats fresh ingredients, except maybe free fresh ingredients that you can pick straight from nature — no cultivation means no work, no pesticides, no nothing. Pretty much as ecological and easy as it gets.
Later in the summer, I am sure I will take my family to pick blueberries, and maybe even mushrooms when fall comes, but today, we went for something a bit more exotic: nettles. Rich in calcium, magnesium, iron and numerous trace elements as well as a range of vitamins, nettles are an amazing free alternative for spinach.
Equipped with a plastic bag and some gloves, I took my two young boys out to the small forest / park right next door to our home and got to work, and in no time, I had collected the 100 grams that are needed for my nettle pancake recipe. Without kids, or with a second adult helping with the kids, I could have easily collected enough for a dozen of pancake recipes. Maybe we’ll go again later this week, and take mom with us as well.
Anyway, here’s the important part. Read it before you go out nettle-hunting:
- Nettles burn your hands if you don’t wear gloves, which is not so nice. Wear some protection, and be careful.
- Nettles need to be collected when they are young. That is if you are going to eat them. There are plenty of other usages for nettles, all the way to making clothes, which I might investigate in the future, but if you are going to eat the nettles, make sure to collect them before they start growing flowers. The younger the better.
After a nice walk through the forest and with the nettles in the plastic bag, we returned home and started cooking.
Here’s the recipe for a small batch of nettle pancakes:
- 100 grams of nettle leaves, minced (see below for full instructions on handling the nettles)
- 2 eggs
- 2.5 dl (1 cup) all-purpose flour
- 1 tbsp oil (I used peanut oil, but I suppose any vegetable oil will do)
- 1 tsp sea salt
- 500 g (0.5 l) full fat milk
Most of the recipe is rather straightforward: just mix all ingredients together and whisk a bit so that they form a batter. What needs a bit of extra attention is the handling of the nettles. It goes like this.
Handling the nettles
1. Take the nettles out of the plastic bag without touching them. I just flipped the bag upside-down and poured the contents on the table.
2. Pick the leaves into a bowl. (If you have only collected leaves in the first place, you can skip this step.)
3. Wash the nettles.
4. Bring a pan full of water to boil and throw in the nettle leaves. This step will get rid of the acids and make the leaves easier to eat. From what I have read on the internet, you could skip this step too, if some stinginess is OK with you.
My choice today a really quick boiling of about one minute which left the nettles feeling nice and crisp.
5. Use a pair of scissors to mince the nettles. I guess a knife would do as well, but I was still a bit afraid to touch the leaves…
6. Mix the batter and throw in the nettles. Whisk a little more and then let the batter rest in the refrigerator for at least half an hour before frying the pancakes.
7. Make the pancakes. Eat fresh.
