Ouch! Recipes for stinging nettle and other things from my garden

I love gardening, and the place we’re renting at the moment is perfect for it. The owner has spent 40 years developing the soil, and its beautiful. Sadly though, we moved in a little late in the season, and some of my veggies are coming a long a bit slowly because of the cold.

The same can’t be said for the weeds. Stinging nettle has found its way its the veggie beds, and has taken over fast. I was going to rip it all out, but further consideration has lead me to realise that a) it stops the slugs and caterpillars from walking straight from one plant to the next, and b) its edible.

And nettle isn’t the only thing going great guns at our place – the lemon tree is continuing to be prolific, and my mushroom container (bought at the Flemington farmer’s market, but also available at CERES and other garden shops) finally grew me some fungi!

My home grown stuff, and my boots. (and gloves and string – not sure where I was going with that).

So I’ve been playing with ways to use our bounty, and here’s the best hits so far.

Nettle and Spelt Pasta

I made this a few weeks ago, and didn’t get a picture, so you’ll just have to imagine the grey-green coloured, hand made noodles.

I used my all purpose pasta recipe, with just the one tweak. I blanched and pureed around two and a half cups of chopped nettle, resulting in about 1 cup of nettle mush. I then added the nettle mush to the flour to make a crumbly dough, before adding enough water to fill it out. Of course the measurements elude me, but you get the idea.

I served it up with a tomato sauce because I was playing host to some kidlets, but I think it would be great tossed with some salt, nooch, garlic and olive oil.

 

Nettle Risotto

Next up was a nettle risotto, with lemon and pumpkin.

Nettle Risotto

I wasn’t going to post a recipe, because I make risotto all the time and was sure I had posted a few here by now. But when I looked for a recipe to link to – gasp! I’ve never actually posted one. So here is my risotto recipe this time with nettle, but use whatever veg you like (I’m a big fan of plain onion risotto).

Risotto with Nettle

Serves 3-4

• 2 cups raw nettle, washed and stems removed (use gloves and be very careful, they hurt)
• 2 Tbs olive oil
• 1 brown onion, diced
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/4 cup white wine
• 1 1/5 cups aborio rice
• 1 cup pumpkin, small dice
• 6 cups stock of your choice I used veggie
• zest of two lemons
• 3 Tbs lemon juice
• 1/2 tsp dried tarragon
• salt and pepper to taste

1. First deal with the nettle. Wearing gloves remove the stems and any dead leaves. Put the nettle in a saucepan and cover with water. Bring to the boil, lower heat, and simmer for 5 minutes. Strain.
2. Puree half the nettle, and chop the other half, and set aside.
3. In a large saucepan heat the oil and fry the onion until soft and beginning to brown.
4. Add the garlic and fry for another 5 minutes, stirring.
5. Add the rice and wine, and stir over high heat until the rice begins to turn more opaque.
6. Add 2 cups of stock, the nettle and the pumpkin. Bring to the boil, then return to simmer until the stock is nearly absorbed. Repeat, stirring frequently, until the stock is all used up and the rice is cooked.
7. Stir the lemon juice and zest through, taste, and add salt, pepper or herbs you want – i used tarrgon with the nettle.
8. Serve up hot.

Nettle Pesto

So my nettle use has had a bit of an Italian bent. This time I went with pesto to top some plain pasta. This is easy peasy, but as before, be very careful when handling the nettle.

Nettle Pesto on Pasta

• 2 cups of washed nettle, stems removed.
• 1/3 cup of pine nuts
• 1/4 cup cashews
• 3 cloves garlic
• 1 Tbs nutritional yeast
• juice of half a lemon
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1/3 cup vegan cheese, crumbled

1. First deal with the nettle. Wearing gloves remove the stems and any dead leaves. Put the nettle in a saucepan and cover with water. Bring to the boil, lower heat, and simmer for 5 minutes. Strain and set aside.
2. In a dry, non-stick pan, toast the pine nuts until they brown. Be watchful – they take a while but once they begin to brown they burn quickly. Reserve half of the pine nuts for garnish.
3. Toss all ingredients together and blend. I use a stick blender, but a food processor or big blender will work too.
4. serve on pasta, topped with the vegan cheese and left over toasted pine nuts.

Lemon and Hazelnut Cheesecake and Vegan Lemon Butter

My sister suggested I turn my mound of lemons into lemon butter, and I actually found a vegan recipe very quickly. I used this one, and created my own jar of the stuff. Its sweet and sour, and while it is tasty, it isn’t really matching up to the memory of buttery, creamy, eggy lemon butter of my pre-vegan days. I might give it another go with more coconut milk though.

Lemon butter in an old peanut butter jar.

I did, however, turn it into the topping for a delicious cheesecake. I need to work on it again though, because the lemon tang completely overwhelmed everything else, and not in a good way.

Ugly lemon cheesecakes

Fabulous Plain Old Fried Mushrooms

Last, we come to the mushrooms. In my first crop I only had enough mushrooms for one meal and the pressure was on to find the most perfect thing to do with them. In the end I decided I wanted to know what they tasted like alone, and how they compared with other mushies, so I fried ‘em up home style with some margarine, salt, pepper and garlic powder. They were stupendously good, and I can’t wait for more mushroom babies to spring up!

Terrible photo of delicious mushrooms

Go local – Kalamansi

Remember back in Malaysia Week I posted a recipe for Ais Limau (Lime Cordial), saying I had to use the wrong limes?

(sorry wordpress isn’t letting me link at the moment, must be something buggy. It’s here http://roundtheworldvegan.wordpress.com/2010/10/03/devil-curry-and-ais-limau/)

Not anymore! Now we have an abundance of kalamansi lime at our disposal. Awesome.

Kalamansi limes are tiny, green or orange skinned fruit with a light orange centre, that taste limey, but not as tart as the ones we’re used to at home.

They look like this:

Green (and one orange) kalamansi and a small lemon to show size

What can you make with them? Everything!

I have been making Ais Limau, using them to flavour spicy soup (such as assam laksa) squeezing them into sambals and over stir fries, and generally enjoying them in every way I can before we go home and never see one again.

A jug of brown sugar Ais Limau

The best use of kalamansi so far though, would have to be my recent Kalamansi Pie attempt. However, as the pie took several false starts, I don’t have a recipe so much as a story of how not to make pie.

The Making of Pie

I started with the idea that I would make pie exactly as I have many times before: Soak agar in water/juice/sugar, then cook, then set in pie base, then eat.

I set about squeezing all the tiny kalamansi at about 2pm. They are very seedy on the inside, so I squeezed them through our very crap collander.

Dead limes in our crap collander (don't let the photo fool you, its very crap)

Then I added water and sugar, and sprinkled in some agar agar to soak. I left it alone for a good 15 minutes before bringing it to the boil, and cooking for another 10 minutes, allowed it to cool just a little, and poured some of it into the pie shell.

It smelled good, it looked good, but in the words of Miss Clavell, something was not right.

It wouldn’t set. Not in the freezer, not on the bench, not in the fridge. And my pouring seemed to have melted quite a lot of the shortcrust pie shell. Oh no!

So, I poured it back out (shortcrust crumbs included) added more agar, and set about soaking and boiling again.

While this was going on, i notice my pie shell was looking very much worse for wear, so I popped it into the oven to dry off.

I went back to the lime mixture, which still wasn’t thickening, and decided to add more sugar and just keep boiling. In my frustration I forgot about the pie base until I noticed I could smell something caramellish- when I pulled it out the edges were dark brown and the base (where it got wet) was beige. Damn.

Back to the lime mixture, after soaking and boiling for a third, unsuccessful time I had decided to give up and ask the internet – surely soeone would know what I had done wrong?

As usual, the internet knows all. It is thought you need to use more agar when working with citrus – that could be the problem, but as I had already used enough agar flakes to set a small rhino (no, it doesn’t make sense as an analogy, just go with it), that probably wasn’t the problem.

Then I spotted it: apparently some fruits, such as pineapple, mango, kiwifruit and papaya, have an enzyme that breaks the bonds of agar, so no matter how much you put it, it just wont set. Kalamansi weren’t mentioned, but I made the mental leap that it was from the same part of the world as papaya, mango, pineapple, and, well, fuck it, my agar wasn’t setting, and I had to blame it on something.

So, now what? Would I ever save my pie? I turned again to google, and found this recipe at the Gluttonous Vegan (http://www.thegluttonousvegan.com/2009/09/killer-key-lime-pie.html), which uses a corn flour slurry. Of course! I had forgotten about corn flour in my rush to use my special imported agar flakes.

So I slurried the lime, and it thickened nicely, and I poured into my slightly burnt pie case and stuck it in the fridge at around 5pm. That’s right, three hours of pie making later. There was now much too much lime mixture (with the added slurry-bulk) for me to cover it in a layer of coconut cream pudding as I had planned, so I left it to have on the side (as with the rest of the dish, it hadn’t really worked and was lumpy, anyway).

After dinner I pulled it out, wondering if it would be at all edible. To my great surprise it was much better than I could have imagined! The texture was perfect, the extra bulk had quietened down the sour lime so that it was tangy but not over-powering, the crust tasted like heaven with its chewy, caramelised bits, and the coconut lumps weren’t noticeable at all.

Pie!

*sigh of relief* I will be making this again, but next time I’m going straight to the power of corn flour.

Soursop Sorbet

I had never even heard of soursop before coming here. Or, I had, but I thought it was some sort of British slang for a craky old man or similar, like “Mr Crankpanterson is an old soursop”.

Turns out, soursop is a fruit. A tasty, sour, creamy fruit, that looks like this:

Soursop, image borrowed from http://davesgarden.com/guides/articles/view/221/

I first encountered it on a very hot afternoon at a restaurant here called the Tattooed Irishman, but more commonly referred to as “The Village” after the hotel it is attached to.

It was in the form of sorbet, and it was one of the strangest things I have ever tasted; very sour, sweet, and with an odd after taste that reminded me of handcream. Mr doesn’t taste the handcream, and a friend here didn’t think  it had an odd taste until after I suggested it.I’ve even read conjecture that it tastes like onions, but I didn’t get that. So, if you’ve ever tried soursop, please leave a comment on what you think it tastes like.

(Oh, by the way, yes I did just say there was vegan sorbet available in Pohnpei, FSM. Hell yeah!).

I have since been eyeing the big, spiky, green fruit off at the markets, and bought one with the help of a very friendly staff member, who picked a good one for me. Unfortunately I opened it too soon and it was hard as rock, and then I left it for a little while and it went off while I was trying to figure out if it was ripe yet (things ripen so quickly here, that you never buy anything already ripe).

So, a few weeks later, I tried again, this time with more success. When I cut into it it was the right consistency, but it was very, very sour.

So, I added some sugar, mashed, stuck it in the freezer and voila! we have been enjoying soursop sorbet ever since. It is very easy, but I’ll put the recipe in anyway.

Soursop Sorbet

Vegan Soursop Sorbet

• 1 ripe soursop
• 1/2 cup white sugar (or more/less depending on sweetness of fruit)
• 1/2 cup water

1. Chop the soursop, and remove peel and all seeds. Be alert, as it is a sneaky fruit with hidden seeds as well as the obvious ones. I suggest squishing pieces in your fingers, as this make the seeds pop out. Set aside.
2. In a small saucepan add water and sugar and stir over medium heat until dissolved. (it doesn’t need to boil). Set aside to cool.
3. Add soursop and sugar water to a blender (or mixing bowl with stick-blender) and blend until well combined.
4. Freeze in whatever container is handy. Mush with a fork every 2 hours or so.
5. When ready to eat, set the sorbet on the bench for about 5 minutes to soften, then serve. (it may take longer in melbourne and other cold climates).

Go Local – Karat Banana

One of the most amazing things here is the variety in bananas. For a girl from the land of one variety- that I don’t even know the name of, because they’re just “bananas” – its a little baffling, to be honest.

I don’t know how many varieties there are, I’ve been told around 40, but the shops have 3-10 types on a normal day, and there are posters around educating people on the beta carotene levels in 15 varieties, all grown here on Pohnpei.

The king of the beta carotene bananas is the karat (Kar-arch) banana. It is fat, has red skin and is bright orange on the inside. Like this:

Karat Banana

Karat bananas have 2230 micrograms of beta carotene per 100 grams, which is around 100 times more than white flesh bananas. It has been used as infant food here for centuries, but has fallen out of fashion lately, although there is a campaign to bring it back. In a place where there are a lot of starchy foods available, and much more American imported junk food than fresh produce, vitamin-rich bananas are pretty handy. Also, they make your pee fluorescent yellow., which is almost a plus in itself.

Now, I’m not a huge fan of bananas myself. Mr eats a few every day (even at home in Oz), but I only have them when the mood really strikes me. However, as on of the only regularly available fruits on the island, I’m learning to like them a little better.

Here’s how we’ve been using our karat:

Karat Smoothy

• 1 Karat banana
• 1 scoop protein powder (we are using Sun Warrior, Vanilla flavour)
• Some soy milk

1. Blend.
2. Drink. (easy)

Karat looks like egg yolk

Finished karat smoothy

Banana, Caramel and Coconut Ice-cream Tart

• 1 pre-made pie base
• 1 karat banana
• 1 Akadahn banana
• 2 taiwang or another type of banana
• 1 jar coconut jam
• 1 cup coconut cream
• 1 tbsp cornflour

1. Slice the taiwang and akadahn bananas (or any type) and cover pie base.
2. Smoosh the karat banana and add to other bananas.
3. In a small saucepan heat the coconut jam until it becomes a little runny, then remove from heat and pour onto bananas.
4. In a small bowl, mix the cornflour into the half the coconut cream to form a slurry.
5. Clean the saucepan, then heat the other half of the coconut cream in it.
6. When the coconut cream is hot, add the slurry and it will thicken.
7. Remove from heat, pour over caramel.
8. Freeze pie, and thaw slices slightly in fridge as needed.

Karat-Caramel Tart

Karat Banana Spice Bread

• 2 karat bananas
• 2 other bananas (any variety)
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1 tsp ginger powder
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp nutmeg
• 1/3 cup oil
• 1/2 cup wholemeal flour
• 1 1/2 cup white flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1/3 to 1 cup milk (depending on smooshiness of your bananas).

1. Pre-heat oven to 170 degrees celsius.
2. In a large bowl, smoosh bananas and add sugar, spices and oil. Mix with a hand blender until smooth.
3. Add flours and baking powder, and combine to form a very thick dough.
4. Slowly add milk until you reach a muffin batter consistency (sorry I can’t be clearer, it really depends on how big and ripe your bananas are. Hmm, that sounded a bit off.)
5. Pour batter into a large loaf pan or normal cake pan.
6. Bake for 45-60 minutes.

Banana Spice Bread

Coconut Jam

My new official favourite food is Coconut Jam – a local caramel-like spread made from sugar, glucose and coconut (and sometimes Karat banana, something I’ll blog about later).

It can be eaten straight out of the jar, put on pancakes, scones, or made into tarts, and it is soooo good. Being partial to all things sweet I’m glad to have found it hiding out next to the peanut butter at the Blue Nile, a local supermarket, as there isn’t much here in the way of vegan sweets, especially if the vegans in question are also trying to avoid the evils of high fructose corn syrup and aspartame, which seem to be in every damned thing.

But back to the positive. I’ve made caramel out of coconut before, but its pretty exciting to have all the work done for you, and because it is made right here in Pohnpei it has the added benefit of helping the local economy and agriculture, which could use the boost. Go local!^

Here are a few photos of what we’ve done with it so far, and a recipe (if you can call it that) for banana and caramel tarts:

Coconut Jam is ready for its close up

Pancakes with Kalamansi and Coconut Jam

Scones with (coconut) jam and cream*

Making Tarts

Banana and Coconut Caramel Tarts

Makes 12

• 2 sheets of shortcrust pastry or home made equivalent (I made my own with flour, sugar, coconut oil and ice water, but didn’t measure, however there are plenty of recipe son the net if you want to make your own).
• 3 small bananas (one aussie banana is equivalent)
• 1 jar coconut jam (or home made caramel, or soymilke caramel flavour)

1. Pre-heat oven to 180 degrees celsius. Lightly oil the cups of a muffin pan, or lay out 12 patty pans/muffin liners on a tray.
2. Cut rounds from your pastry to fill 12 cups of a muffin pan/liners, and gently press to make the tart case.
3. Bake cases until just beginning to colour. (this took me 20 minutes, but as I used coconut oil a marg-based pastry may be different).
4. Turn cases out and allow to cool.
5. Chop the banana/s and place bits of banana at the base of each tart case.
6. Add a heaped teaspoon of caramel/jam to each tart, then put them back in the oven for a further 15 minutes.
7. Allow to cool and serve with vegan cream.
   

   The finished product

Vegan Cream

enough for 20 tarts

• 1 packet of silken tofu (297g, I used Mori Nu)
• 1/2 cup soy milk
• 1/3 cup icing mixture/powdered sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla essence
• 2 tsp lime juice

1. Add all ingredients and blend until smooth.
2. Refrigerate for one hour.

Notes

* My photos are a bit sucky and are likely to stay that way while we’re in the FSM as our kitchen/house has bad lighting, and our plates are black. The ones that don’t suck were taken in an apartment we no longer live in.

^Go Local is a campaign of the Island Food Community of Pohnpei, encouraging people to grow and eat local foods in order to benefit health, income, food security and cultural preservation. I intend to blog about the various local foods we try under the Go Local tag.