Italian Nettle Soup

This past week I came across a version of nettle soup that includes tomatoes. I had never seen a nettle soup recipe with tomatoes before so I had to give it a try. Any surprise that this recipe originates in Italy! I added in a few other greens in addition to nettles - cause hey - it’s greens season 🌱

While the original recipe calls for pasta or rice, I added chickpeas and a bit of ground beef to turn it into a meal. You can adjust it according to your preference. Some sort of spicy Italian sausage could also be a nice addition.

You want the finished soup to have some texture. In the recipe below I suggest using an immersion blender to lightly blend the soup before you added the final rice and chickpeas as this seems simplest and most approachable. I have to say however that the original recipe called for putting the blanched greens through the coarse setting on a food mill. I opted to try food mill technique out of curiosity and I must say I love it, despite the extra work and time involved. Do what is realistic for you.

INGREDIENTS

4 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil or other high quality traditional fat or oil such as lard

1-2 cups of onions - I used my plentiful fresh garden Egyptian green onions but feel free to use whatever onions or leek you may have on hand

4 cloves of minced garlic

3 cups canned or fresh chopped peeled tomato

Pinch of chilies or to taste (optional)

1 tablespoon finely minced fresh rosemary or 1 teaspoon dried rosemary

3/4 pounds of greens in total (to give you an idea, that would yield about 1 1/2 cups blanched )- I used a combination of blanched young nettle tops and endive, as well as finely chopped fresh parsley and baby fennel fronds yielding 3/4 pounds of greens in total. I added the parsley and fennel fronds at the very end.

6 cups of soup stock or broth, chicken, vegetable or beef

1 1/2 cups cooked rice, chickpeas or pasta

Salt and Pepper to taste

OPTIONAL ADDITIONS

Ground beef or spicy Italian sausage

To serve: Extra olive oil, a squeeze of fresh lemon, freshly grated parmesan, a spoonful or two of pesto or other green sauce

DIRECTIONS

1. Sauté the onions in olive oil for about 5-10 minutes till softened, add the garlic and sauté a few minutes more being careful to not burn the garlic

2. Add the tomatoes, rosemary and chilies and simmer for 5-10 minutes

3. In the meantime wash and blanch and chop the nettles (and/or endive or other wild greens). Add them to the soup along with 1/2 teaspoon salt (more if using unsalted broth) and simmer for about five minutes more

4. Pulse the mixture with a hand blender until you get the texture you like. You want the finished soup to have some texture and not be too finely pureed

5. Add the rice or pasta (and/or cooked ground beef or sausage)

6. I added the finely chopped parsley and fennel at the very end before serving

7. Season to taste with salt and pepper, more chilies, a squeeze of lemon according to your taste buds

8. Serve with any other optional additions and Enjoy!