Highest quality salted butterat room temperature, for serving
Flaky finishing saltor kosher salt, to taste
Fresh ground black pepperto taste
Fresh lemon wedges for servingoptional
Instructions
Submerge the nettles in a sink of cold water quickly after harvesting to clean them, 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 4minutes.
After 4 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) I prefer very young nettles cooked only as briefly as is needed to denature the sting, this should take anywhere from 4-5 minutes and does not seem to denature the sting as quickly as blanching.
When the nettles taste good to you, remove them a serving bowl, bring to the table while still very hot so you don’t rob any dinner guests of the pleasure that is watching soft butter melt into them on a plate.
Pass the butter, salt, and lemon around the table.
Video
Notes
More than just a side dish, you can use this method to par cook nettles for general cooking. For example, if you want to make a nettle soup, steam them to keep more flavor in the greens.