Today, I have for you one of the best stinging nettle recipes I've tasted to date. Turkish nettles? Oh yes.
I'm unsure of the exact species of nettle that might be cooked in the Middle East, as there's a number of nettle genera eaten around the world, like the giant Nepali nettle (Girardinia diversifolia which, is also an important crop used to make textiles to this day).
My educated guess is that Urtica pilulifera (Roman nettle) is used here as I've seen it in ethnobotanical accounts of the region, and Isirgan is also a regional name for the plant.
I do know the colloquial name for nettles of the region though, which is ısırgan, and, when combined with the regional curd cheese called lor, as far as I can tell, might be described as: Isirgan Otu Salatasi (nettle salad) Isirgan Buğulaması (steamed nettles) or the longer Lor Isirgan Otu Salatasi (nettle salad with curd/cheese).
Whatever you call it, it's a novel, delicious way to have nettles. Interestingly enough, there's a number of Turkish websites that appear to suggest serving nettle salads with cheese and a few garnishes where the nettles are literally raw.
Maybe there's something lost in translation there (chime in if you can clarify) but I don't suggest experimenting with eating a salad of raw nettles, however young, unless you want to teach someone a lesson.
Steaming Nettles
The hidden gem you should squirrel away here is hidden a bit in the recipe: the nettles are steamed. Most of the time when nettles are cooked, people recommend blanching them to denature the stingers, after which the nettles are cooked a second time.
Blanching nettles is is tried and true, but anyone who's done it will know that the leftover blanching water is a deep green—a clue that blanching removes more from the nettles than their sting.
Steamed nettles, like you might expect, taste more of themselves. With Urtica dioica/common nettles, this is a chlorophyll green flavor so strong and concentrated it tastes nearly aquatic.
If you've ever pureed nettles into a soup, you may know the flavor. I crave the strong, assertive flavor of nettles, but if you have children (or a partner with a childish palette) you could blanch them here to calm the flavor and the dish wouldn't suffer for it.
The way that the steamed nettles mingle with the mild cheese and olive oil scented with garlic is just magic, and a dash of crushed red pepper flakes is welcome too. Give it a try with your next basket.
Turkish Nettles (Isirgan Buğulaması)
Equipment
- 1 Steamer basket
- 1 10 inch saute pan
Ingredients
- 8 oz fresh young nettles*
- 3 large cloves garlic
- ½ cup high quality ricotta cheese (Calabro brand is the best I've had. The texture is soft like chevre, not grainy like most others)
- Kosher salt and fresh ground black pepper
- Pinch crushed red pepper flakes optional
- 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil plus more for serving
- Fresh lemon wedges for serving optional
Instructions
- Submerge the nettles in a sink of cold water, then allow to drain in a colander. Put a steamer basket in a tall pasta pot, and fill with water (roughly 2-3 cups) until it almost touches the bottom of the steamer basket.
- Put the lid on the pot and heat on high until the water is boiling and the pot is ready, then add the nettles, handling them with tongs if you’re scared of their sting*, put the lid on the pot and set a timer for two minutes.
- After three minutes, taste a nettle to make sure you like the texture (older nettles, or those with a higher proportion of stem may take longer, and preferences can vary).
- Meanwhile, crush the garlic cloves with the back of a knife, then heat in a 10 inch saute pan or similar with the oil on medium for at least 10 minutes, swirling the pan occasionally until the garlic is toasty browned on all sides, but not burnt.
- Remove the garlic and discard, thanking it for it’s service.
- Add the nettles straight from the steaming pot to the oil. If the pan is very hot be careful so you don’t splash yourself. The nettles added en-masse here will cool the pan down very quickly, so don’t worry about violent splatters too much.
- Stir the nettles to coat with the oil, seasoning with a pinch of salt and pepper and the pepper flakes, if using. Add the cheese and fold it in. You're not sautéing the nettles here-just combine them with the cheese and warm it up.
- The cheese should not be aggressively mixed, part of the character of it (high quality ricotta especially) is the texture of the small curds.
- Heat until the contents of the pan are just hot throughout, double check the seasoning for salt and pepper and adjust until it tastes good to you. Serve warm or room temperature.
- Pass extra virgin olive oil and lemon wedges at the table, if using.
Tolga
Great recipe! I haven't tried steaming nettles yet, but I'll give it a try soon. About the raw nettles, I'm half Turkish and I can attest to the fact that some people really do eat raw nettles. Some recipes for nettle salad do tell you to blanche the nettles and some tell you to wash them really, really vigourously - effectively crushing the needles. Other tricks I've heard are yoghurt to soothe the stings and leaving nettles in the fridge for a while. I also just read in the comments of a few recipe videos that the salads don't sting your mouth because of either the salt or the acid.
Alan Bergo
Thanks Tolga, that's super helpful. I eat nettles raw in front of people more as a parlor trick. I may have to try macerating some, if it really denatures the sting it would be very interesting.
Susan Miller
I'm making this later today. Gathered beautiful young nettles this morning. Have you ever tried making spanikopira with nettles? I'm thinking about giving it a shot.
Alan Bergo
Thanks Susan, let me know how it works out for you. Spanikopita would be excellent with nettles.
Susan
Wow. I love nettles to begin with, but this knocks it out of the park. I don't know if I'll ever make them any other way (well, maybe that spanikopita). I like heat, but I think I'll leave the pepper flakes out next time. Fantastic with fresh squeezed lemon. I prefer it room temp. Excellent!
Alan Bergo
Glad it worked for you Susan. Yes, I'm a chili flake addict but it's just fine with a squeeze of lemon.
Jacqui
to Susan: I make a variant of a Georgian Khachapuri with nettles. I make the dough with yoghurt and baking powder - no yeast - but a long rising time, like several hours on the counter. I roll out the dough and crumble a half-and half mix of feta and mozzarella on one half of the dough and then pack on the nettles that I just put on raw. I generally go at them with a pair of scissors when they are draining in the colander and them put on as many as I can with kitchen tongs. Then I fold the other half of the dough on top, seal up the edges,give it an egg wash, add some interesting garnish (hogweed seeds, garlic mustard seeds ....), cut a few slits to let the steam escape, and bake it. The Khachapuri is probably my favorite nettle recipe.
Though this one is AMAZING. I used a mix of feta and a fresh goat cheese (I'm trying to avoid those little plastic tubs...) and it is fabulous. It is the essence of the taste of green.
Will K.
Funny you should mention wood nettle having a potent sting. I gathered some last year to use in nettle wine, and having forgotten my gloves, I used a plastic grocery bag over my hand. Of course, I got stung through the bag!
Alan Bergo
Oooooh do the wood nettles bite. They get me through my pants.
Keith Langdon
I make ramp and nettle soup every year and freeze some away for when the days are white a grey. My nettle patch is quite robust and this sounds awesome.
Karin
Alan, this looks delicious! I think this will be my choice for my first taste of nettles. My kiddo is not a fan of ricotta, would feta work as a substitute? ...or just stay with ricotta?
Alan Bergo
Feta would be a little too salty here. Queso fresco would be a good compromise. Or, just use the highest quality ricotta you can find. Coops near me sell Calabro brand, which is has a very different texture than the majority of ricotta on the market, which has a texture like cottage cheese to me.
Mary Lacer
Alan, I love your posts. The other night I sautéed up our first ramps, nettles, chives and fresh dandelion leaves! It was delicious! I picked the nettles about 4" high. We have an abundance so I shouldn't run out. Tonight we're having ramp soup. I might have to work up the courage to eat the nettles raw.
Alan Bergo
Thanks Mary. To clarify, you do not eat the nettles raw per se, I was shown to slap them in my palm, which crushes many of the stingers. It’s a parlor trick, a gimmick to help people know they’re not the devil itch weed Nanna talked about. You’re not going to make a salad out of them. Interesting thing to try once or twice.
Dimitri Magiasis
The only way that I've had a substantial amount of nettles raw is in the food processor. You can make a pesto out of it. It has to be fully broken down, as if there are any small pieces, it can sting you. FYI: 100% nettle pesto almost tastes like fish...it's a little weird. Better when mixed with some other greens.
Not sure if this is what the recipe is referring to.
Steve Hoffman
Got some 3 inch babies popping up next to the house. This looks like the nettle recipe I've been looking for.
Alan Bergo
Steve, it's really good. Pilar asked for it again last night. Mississippi Market sells Calabro ricotta.
Donna Hartmann
This recipe sounds like a most luscious way to enjoy nettles, I can’t wait to try it. Thanks!
Nina
OMG, this sounds amazing. I'm trying it FOR SURE!!! Thanks.
Susan e Dietrich
Oh, they’re up here in my Mpls yard.
Elizabeth Blair
Alan, re young nettles up already in WI and MN? Have not checked my local patches yet but see that most of the wild flowers in my MPLS backyard are up already.
Alan Bergo
Oh yes. We're generally 2 weeks behind here in the cold valleys of WI. The nettles in the metro should be prime.
Melissa
This sounds delicious! Regarding eating nettles raw, it is possible. Where I live in England, when the plants just start to emerge around February, I have pinched out the growing tip with bare fingers and snacked away while we were on our woodland walk. I still chew them well, just in case any little stingers have managed to develop. My husband was stung once on his lip following my lead and now he won’t eat them uncooked. The flavour is wonderful!
Alan Bergo
It's really good. I'm aware of the raw nettle parlor trick, I do it occasionally on plant walks, slapping the nettles in my hand to crush the stingers. I learned it from Sam Thayer. If you've eaten or served an entire salad of raw nettles as I mentioned, let me know.
ezgi
Hi,
I am from Turkey and yes, you can eat a whole salad consisting of nettles no matter how grown they are.
The trick is to wear gloves, wash them, and crush the nettles afterwards with salt. Add chopped green onions and curd, and it is ready!
Alan Bergo
Thanks for sharing, yes I actually made the salad last year. One of the more interesting ways I've had nettles.