A sting to the palette - cooking with nettles

Once cooked the sting is destroyed -so you can eat freely. You can serve nettles as you would spinach with fish, chicken etc. Nettles also make a nice omlette.

• The best taste comes from sauteeing:

After washing (as shown previously), still wearing gloves transfer to a cloth to dry. Heat olive oil and saute.

The caramelisation on the nettle leaves is where the amazing taste is. Keep turning over so they all get cooked. After a minute when they are almost cooked add a couple of tablespoons of water and leave to evaporate which finishes the cooking while stopping the nettles turning into nettle crisps. Season with salt, pepper and grated nutmeg.

• Steamed -

Wearing gloves you can transfer the nettles from being washed in the sink to a large pan. There should still be enough water on the leaves to create steam once you put a lid on top. Cook for 3 - 4 minutes till tender. Squeeze off excess water and season with salt, pepper and grated nutmeg.

• Deep frying -

Nettles can be deep fried at about 150 oC as you do with basil leaves and used as a garnish.

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