Unlike my husband, my childhood memories don’t involve lots of frolicking in the woods (although I know it happened on occasion).
Stinging nettles, which brought Jason so much short-term misery as a child, didn’t enter my consciousness until about two years ago, when I started noticing them at the Farmer’s Market.
It would seem unlikely that a plant that is notorious for leaving your skin itching would have any place in the kitchen, so I ignored them. But my curiosity got the best of me, I guess, and this week we came home from the market with a big bag of the greens.
The key to working with nettles in the kitchen, just like in nature, is to not let them touch your skin. Until they’re blanched, that is, you should handle them with gloves or tongs. Blanching them for just a minute of two takes away their stinging ability, turning them into a rich and zesty green that makes a great pesto base, among other things.
Pesto is exactly what I went with here. With some cottage bacon we picked up from Pecatonica Valley Farms, this pasta dish tastes like spring on a plate.
And after spending about two hours removing storm windows and putting up screens on almost all our 23 windows, we deserved spring. Breeze blowing through the house, white wine in hand, and nettle pesto pasta.
- 1 lb stinging nettles
- ½ cup olive oil
- ½ cup pine nuts
- 4 garlic cloves
- ¼ cup Parmesan cheese, shredded
- salt and pepper
- 8 oz spaghetti, angel hair, or fettuccine pasta
- 3-4 pieces bacon, chopped into bite size pieces
- Bring a large pot of salted water to boil. Using tongs or gloves, transfer nettle leaves to water. Boil for 1-2 minutes until wilted. Drain and rinse with cold water immediately. Let cool.
- Combine drained nettles, olive oil, pine nuts, garlic, and Parmesan cheese in a food processor. Pulse until smooth. Add salt and pepper to taste.
- Bring another large pot of salted water to boil. Cook pasta until al dente. When pasta is done cooking, drain and mix with pesto (you may have some extra pesto left over).
- In a skillet, brown bacon until slightly crispy. Sprinkle on top of pasta and serve immediately.
[…] The aged cheddar cheese from Bleu Mont Dairy will undoubtedly be eaten as a snack or made into grilled cheese sandwiches with some left over nettle pesto. […]
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