Stinging nettle soup

Stinging nettle soup is a hit at our place. It takes a little bit of time to pick the nettle leaves but the cooking itself is very easy. It is adapted from a recipe on Allrecipes .

For tips on handling stinging nettles, read my blog post about this useful weed.

Ingredients (the quantities are all pretty flexible)

• 20 cups of stinging nettle leaves, somewhat packed
• Rice - about 1/3 cup uncooked or 1 cup leftover cooked. I used basmati rice since that is what we typically have around
• 4 cups vegetable broth
• 1 onion
• salt, pepper, olive oil

Instructions:

• Heat olive oil and cook onion. Set aside.
• Bring salted water to a boil and boil leaves for 5 minutes or so, drain off water.
• Add broth, nettles, and rice if uncooked
• Simmer 15 minutes.
• If the rice was cooked, add it at this point and warm it up. 
• Blend it with an immersion blender. Adjust texture with additional liquid if desired.
• Season with salt and pepper if you like.