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More from sanssouci
Some weeks ago I got stung while taking a pic of a Lily of the Valley in 
psicoz garden. So it was time for REVENGE!
Nettles taste good, a bit of nut and somewhat balsamic. They're used for rice and pasta plates, and omelettes mostly.
For this risotto: three of four handfuls of nettles (I recommend using rubber gloves to pick and clean them!). Pick them in clean and trusted places!
Two small potatoes (or one big), carrot, celery and onion finely minced. Rice (duh), I use the Roma variety but I guess every country has its own kind of rice.
Vegetal broth made with nettles boiling water and a cube, a glass of white wine and grated parmesan
Boil the nettles for five minutes, stir but keep the water. You'll make some vegetal broth in it adding a cube.
Mince the nettles (they'll have lost the stinging liquid after being boiled so don't be afraid)
Fry nettle, celery, carrot and onion bits in a spoon of olive oil until the onion gets transparent.
Add the rice and the potatoes slioced in small cubes (as big as a dice, more or less) and stir a bit letting it toast and absorb the oil, then simmer it with wine. As soon as the wine has been absorbed, keep simmering with broth (I use vegetal cubes, but the best broth would be chicken stock, homemade). When the rice is cooked enough for your tastes, add a good hanful of parmesan, stir, and serve!
Risotto should be served quite soft and creamy. It's usually stirred in butter in the end, but I tend to avoid it and use olive oil. Revenge tastes good :9
psicoz garden. So it was time for REVENGE!Nettles taste good, a bit of nut and somewhat balsamic. They're used for rice and pasta plates, and omelettes mostly.
For this risotto: three of four handfuls of nettles (I recommend using rubber gloves to pick and clean them!). Pick them in clean and trusted places!
Two small potatoes (or one big), carrot, celery and onion finely minced. Rice (duh), I use the Roma variety but I guess every country has its own kind of rice.
Vegetal broth made with nettles boiling water and a cube, a glass of white wine and grated parmesan
Boil the nettles for five minutes, stir but keep the water. You'll make some vegetal broth in it adding a cube.
Mince the nettles (they'll have lost the stinging liquid after being boiled so don't be afraid)
Fry nettle, celery, carrot and onion bits in a spoon of olive oil until the onion gets transparent.
Add the rice and the potatoes slioced in small cubes (as big as a dice, more or less) and stir a bit letting it toast and absorb the oil, then simmer it with wine. As soon as the wine has been absorbed, keep simmering with broth (I use vegetal cubes, but the best broth would be chicken stock, homemade). When the rice is cooked enough for your tastes, add a good hanful of parmesan, stir, and serve!
Risotto should be served quite soft and creamy. It's usually stirred in butter in the end, but I tend to avoid it and use olive oil. Revenge tastes good :9
Category Photography / Miscellaneous
Species Unspecified / Any
Size 612 x 612px
File Size 98.2 kB
:9 Hey, how was I not watching you?!
Rice is funny, I've been learning how much rinsing it matters for certain things (and brown should always be rinsed, gets the "funny smell" out from excess oxidized bran dust). Seems like different people learn to always or never rinse it, so for people who learned to always rinse it, worth noting that not rinsing for risotto helps it stay together and creamy... Annoying "purists" over here would say the type matters and they always have arborio in the store for risotto, but as long as it's some kind of short grain it probably comes out like food.
Wanted to reply for nettle trivia, though! They have something in them that's sort of like a natural cortisone, so tea or the liquid extract from a heath food store (tastes like a mowed lawn smells) is a lifesaver for chest congestion. Surely works in food, too. Or if someone here in the US wants to make this but can't find fresh nettle, tearing open one of the "Alvita" teabags would work - as far as I can tell they leave the needles out and conveniently pre-chopped, but maybe not as good as fresh. :)
Rice is funny, I've been learning how much rinsing it matters for certain things (and brown should always be rinsed, gets the "funny smell" out from excess oxidized bran dust). Seems like different people learn to always or never rinse it, so for people who learned to always rinse it, worth noting that not rinsing for risotto helps it stay together and creamy... Annoying "purists" over here would say the type matters and they always have arborio in the store for risotto, but as long as it's some kind of short grain it probably comes out like food.
Wanted to reply for nettle trivia, though! They have something in them that's sort of like a natural cortisone, so tea or the liquid extract from a heath food store (tastes like a mowed lawn smells) is a lifesaver for chest congestion. Surely works in food, too. Or if someone here in the US wants to make this but can't find fresh nettle, tearing open one of the "Alvita" teabags would work - as far as I can tell they leave the needles out and conveniently pre-chopped, but maybe not as good as fresh. :)
I think that rinsing is okay when you have to cook plates where the grain must stay whole and solid, like many eastern-inspired plates, or rice salad. Risotto, in its many incarnation, needs the rice to be glutinous to be soft and creamy. I remember years ago discussing about rice with an american friend. I guess the kind of rices you find there are very different from Italian ones. In Italy (and expecially in the northwest, where I live) rice is produced in many types that are very common in stores, one is arborio, but there are many others, so you just have to choose if you like smaller or bigger grains. Since some years ago instead, it was hard to find different kind of imported rices, like basmati or other eastern species, that maybe are more available in the US. They are a whole different beast :D
Their scent is very good affianced with spices, but would kill risotto, while 'european' rice is more delicate and soft and is great for less spicy preparations.
Personally, I almost never rinse rice. I cook basmati mostly pilaf style, and I don't dislike the taste of whole grain at all :9
Their scent is very good affianced with spices, but would kill risotto, while 'european' rice is more delicate and soft and is great for less spicy preparations.
Personally, I almost never rinse rice. I cook basmati mostly pilaf style, and I don't dislike the taste of whole grain at all :9
Exactly! The 'purists' I'm talking about are the people who saw one expensive cooking show and are now 'experts'. ;) Good short grain / pearl grain was otherwise hard to find here until recently though.
A lot of brown can be very bitter and "off" here if you don't rinse it, I always thought it was the quality and I was buying the wrong kind... then just learned to swish it around and pour off a few times. There's whole grain and then there's "something is so wrong you don't want to be in the kitchen with it," if it's very fresh or was cleaned before packaging then you avoid that but a fast rinse guarantees the "store brand" comes out fine. :)
A lot of brown can be very bitter and "off" here if you don't rinse it, I always thought it was the quality and I was buying the wrong kind... then just learned to swish it around and pour off a few times. There's whole grain and then there's "something is so wrong you don't want to be in the kitchen with it," if it's very fresh or was cleaned before packaging then you avoid that but a fast rinse guarantees the "store brand" comes out fine. :)
Dolce vendetta!
Tranne per il fatto che non è dolce! xD
Noi con le ortiche ci facciamo gli gnocchi. E sono buoni anche quelli! ^^
Nel risotto invece preferisco gli spinaci. Rosolo la cipolla, ci aggiungo gli spinaci triturati e quando è tutto ben rosolato, ci aggiungo il riso (ancora crudo) e lo metto a mantecare. Poi aggiungo gradualmente del brodo al riso, per cuocerlo, ed alla fine quando è quasi pronto ci metto latte, sottiletta ed una bella grattata di formaggio parmigiano! ^^
Tranne per il fatto che non è dolce! xD
Noi con le ortiche ci facciamo gli gnocchi. E sono buoni anche quelli! ^^
Nel risotto invece preferisco gli spinaci. Rosolo la cipolla, ci aggiungo gli spinaci triturati e quando è tutto ben rosolato, ci aggiungo il riso (ancora crudo) e lo metto a mantecare. Poi aggiungo gradualmente del brodo al riso, per cuocerlo, ed alla fine quando è quasi pronto ci metto latte, sottiletta ed una bella grattata di formaggio parmigiano! ^^
I LOVE cooking with nettles! :D
Nettles are an excellent substitute for spinach, so when they are young and tender, I tend to go walking and looking for them with a plastic sack and gloves.
I dry some for tea, and the rest I use for Cream of Nettle soup usually.
Not gonna turn down free healthy food in this economy. Being able to recognize and pick wild herbs and vegetables is like finding money wherever you go.
Haven't made them into a risotto before, so I need to try this.
Nettles are an excellent substitute for spinach, so when they are young and tender, I tend to go walking and looking for them with a plastic sack and gloves.
I dry some for tea, and the rest I use for Cream of Nettle soup usually.
Not gonna turn down free healthy food in this economy. Being able to recognize and pick wild herbs and vegetables is like finding money wherever you go.
Haven't made them into a risotto before, so I need to try this.
Nettle soup, now that's something I want to try. I know few herbs but I'm trying to learn more... wild food is often delicious! Do you eat dandelions in the US? here we pick them when they still haven't bloomed, and eat it raw in a salad with boiled eggs or steamed like spinaches.
Americans don't typically eat dandelions, but it's not unheard of here. I think it was more common among our grandparent's generation and it's folk wisdom that is dying out these days, because most people don't even know they are edible or nutritious. I normally pick them and eat them raw in salads or dry and grind the roots down to make "coffee."
I haven't steamed them yet. I totally need to try that!
I haven't steamed them yet. I totally need to try that!
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