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FORAGER | CHEF

Award-winning chef, author and forager Alan Bergo. Food is all around you.

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Green Stinging Nettle Crepes

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Green nettle crepes with nettle and goat cheese filling served with steamed nettles, toothwort and spring beauty Spring nettle crepes are a good example of the sort of seasonal cuisine I used to serve at Lucias restaurant for brunch during spring. They’re also a great stinging nettle recipe if you’re looking for something different and creative.

The basic idea is this: make some green crepes with common stinging nettles in the batter, fill them with more cooked nettles, a few ramp leaves, goat cheese or ricotta, fold them into packets or roll them up, bake, and serve with MORE nettles and a fresh green salad. It’s spring on a plate. 

 

Using crepes as pasta 

The technical term for these could be a couple different things, in French they could just be crepes d’ortie, in Italian cuisine, where crepes are sometimes used in place of pasta, you could call them crespelle, or even cannelloni. 

Filling green nettle crepes with nettle filling
Spreading out the filling.
Filling green nettle crepes with nettle filling
Folding the crepes.

Another thing to mention is the way that they are folded. Crespelle to me just means a crepe filled with something, and those I typically fold as you see here into an attractive packet. If I call them cannelloni, I will roll them into a tube, after which they can be napped with bechamel sauce and baked in a hot oven, or just simple butter and a sprinkle of parmesan, as I have pictured here. 

Stuffed nettle crepes

Wild spring greens salad 

To make the dish as green as possible (and to make sure I eat lots of plants) I serve this with steamed nettles on the side to reinforce the nettle theme, as well as a salad of fresh wild spring greens: watercress, flowering cutleaf toothwort, and spring beauty, along with a few leaves of fresh wild mint.

Baked crepes stuffed with nettles

The crepes will poof a bit as they bake.

Think of the salad as a suggestion-if you don’t have access to those, you can just use some arugula, or skip it, and it will still be good, but don’t skip the steamed nettles. 

Green nettle crepes with nettle and goat cheese filling served with steamed nettles, toothwort and spring beauty

Green nettle crepes with nettle and goat cheese filling served with steamed nettles, toothwort and spring beauty
Print Recipe
5 from 1 vote

Spring Nettle Crepes

Green nettle crepes with a nettle and goat cheese filling served with a side of fresh nettles is spring on a plate.
Course: Brunch, Main Course
Cuisine: American, Italian
Keyword: Ramp Leaves, Stinging Nettles, Wood Nettles
Servings: 6

Ingredients

  • 1 Recipe nettles crepes see recipe

Filling

  • 4 oz fresh young nettles
  • 1 oz fresh ramp leaves optional
  • 8 oz soft goat chevre or a combination of ricotta and goat cheese, or ricotta
  • 2 oz parmesan cheese
  • 1 large egg, beaten
  • A few scrapes of fresh nutmeg to taste
  • Kosher salt and fresh ground black pepper to taste

Serving

  • 3 tablespoons unsalted butter
  • ¼ cup grated parmesan
  • 6 oz fresh nettles
  • 2 oz fresh wild salad greens* see note optional
  • 3-4 large leaves of fresh mint optional

Instructions

Make the filling

  • Steam or blanch the nettles and ramp leaves if using for 2 minutes, then remove, cool naturally spread out on a tray, squeeze dry, and chop medium-fine.
  • Mix the cooled nettles with the remaining filling ingredients, but only HALF of the beaten egg (you can double the recipe and use a whole one) seasoning with salt, pepper, and nutmeg to taste. From here the filling can be made ahead of time up to 48 hours.

Filling the crepes

  • Lay each crepe out browned side-down, spread with a scant ¼ cup of the filling nearly to the edge, then fold in half and gently fold in half again. If you got a little happy with the filling and the crack at the bottom it’s ok, you’re not prepping for restaurant service here.
  • Lay the crepes out on a cookie sheet lined with lightly greased parchment, sprinkle with parmesan, dot each with 1/2 tablespoon butter and bake at 375 F for 15 minutes or until the crepes are hot throughout and gently puffed.

Fresh nettle garnish

  • Meanwhile, steam the fresh nettles for 5 minutes or until tender. If your nettles are older, chop them a bit beforehand.

Serving

  • Arrange a nettle crepe on the middle of a preheated dinner plate, top with a small serving of the steamed nettles that you’ve blotted dry on a towel so as not to make the plate watery, sprinkle the nettles with a pinch of salt.
  • Toss the fresh greens with extra virgin olive oil, lemon juice, and a pinch of salt and pepper to taste, along with the wild mint, if using.
  • Sauteed mushrooms make a nice addition if you have some.

Notes

Wild Salad Greens
I used a combination of toothwort, spring beauty and watercress, trout lily, if you’re not sensitive to it, would also be a good addition. If you don’t have access to these, a little fresh arugula would be fine, or just skip them.
Baked crepes stuffed with nettles
Print Recipe
5 from 1 vote

Nettle Crepes

Basic crepes colored green with stinging nettles. Makes about 8 crepes
Prep Time5 mins
Cook Time15 mins
Course: Appetizer, Brunch, Pasta
Cuisine: French, Italian
Keyword: Stinging Nettles, Wood Nettles
Servings: 8

Ingredients

  • ½ cup milk
  • ½ cup water
  • 2 large eggs
  • 1 cup flour
  • 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
  • 3 oz nettles
  • ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
  • Cooking oil a small amount as needed for greasing the pan

Instructions

  • Blanch or steam the nettles for 60 seconds or until just wilted, then remove and cool on a towel, squeeze dry and chop coarsely.
  • Add the nettles and the remaining ingredients to a blender and puree until very smooth. Allow the mixture to rest for 30 minutes before cooking.
  • Pour ¼ cups of the mixture into very hot, lightly greased 8 inch non-stick pans and cook, swirling the pan around to make thin cakes.
  • When one side is done and light golden, flip the crepes and cook for literally a second to “kiss” the other side, then transfer to a tray, platter or other surface to cool.
  • Repeat the process with the remaining batter, stacking the crepes on top of each other when they’re finished.
  • When all the crepes are cooked, wrap the stack of crepes in cling film to keep them pliable with the residual steam, then refrigerate. From here the crepes can be made ahead of time up to 48 hours.

More 

Stinging Nettles: Harvesting, Cooking and Recipes 

Nettle crespelle with steamed nettles and a foraged greens salad

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FORAGER | CHEF®
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Author: The Forager Chef’s Book of Flora
James Beard Award ‘22
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Alan Bergo
Sometimes I forget we have good traditions in Amer Sometimes I forget we have good traditions in America too. Case in point: bourbon. 

TIL about American traditions, and the role of the white oak in aging. Tasted some of that sweet nectar too. 

The rye finished in rum barrels smells like pure maple syrup 🤤. @angelsenvy

#bourbon #whiskeyrow #angelsenvy #whiteoak
Summer veg PSA: One of the edible plant parts I co Summer veg PSA: One of the edible plant parts I cover in my book you might not know are squash and pumpkin shoots. 

Tender and delicious, these are eaten around the world. The US is still coming around, but I see them occasionally at farmers markets. 

I like to give them a dip in boiling water to wilt them quick, then toss them with some fat or stir-fry them quick. The little curly-cues make them look like fairy tale veggies to me. 

#squashshoots #cucurbitaceae #eatmoreplants #kehoecarboncookware
Shaved cattail rhizomes with smoked trout, chickwe Shaved cattail rhizomes with smoked trout, chickweed, lemon, hickory nut oil and tarragon from the @wild.fed shoot. 

I spent a couple days trying to cook the rhizomes, and it works, but raw is my favorite prep. 

I add some smoked trout both for the salty pop and because it’s fun to mix aquatic edibles. Runner bean flowers for a splash of color. 

#cattails #foraging #chickweed #runnerbeans #saladsofinstagram
Long, fun day snatching crayfish out of the water Long, fun day snatching crayfish out of the water by hand with Sam Thayer and @danielvitalis for @wild.fed 

Daniel and Sam were the apex predators, but I got a few. 

Without a net catching crayfish by hand is definitely a wax-on wax-off sort of skill. Clears your mind. 

They’re going into gumbo with porcini, sausage and milkweed pods today. 

#crayfish #ninjareflexes #waxonwaxoff #normalthings #onset🎥🎬
Working all day on preps for cattail lateral rhizo Working all day on preps for cattail lateral rhizomes and blueberries for this weeks shoot with @wildfed 

Been a few years since I worked with these. Thankfully Sam Thayer dropped a couple off for me to work with. They’re tender, crisp and delicious. 

Sam mentioned their mild flavor and texture could be because they don’t have to worry about predators eating them, since they grow in the muck of cattail marshes. 

I think they could use a pet name. Pond tusk? Swamp spears? Help me out here. 😂

Nature makes the coolest things. 

#itcamefromthepond #cattail #rhizomes #foraging #typhalatifolia
I liked the staff meal I made for Mondays shoot so I liked the staff meal I made for Mondays shoot so much we filmed it instead of the original dish I’d planned. 

Cooked natural wild rice (not the black shiny stuff) is great hot, cold, sweet or savory. It’s a perfect, filling lunch for a long day of berry picking. 

I make them with whatever I have on hand. Mushrooms will fade into the background a little here, so I use a bunch of them, along with lots of herbs and hickory nut oil + dill flowers. 

I’m eating the leftovers today back up in the barrens (hopefully) getting some more bluebs for another shoot this week w @wild.fed 

#wilwilwice #wildrice #chanterelles #campfood #castironcooking
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