This looks so satisfying and delicious, Irina! My nettles are just starting to pop up, and I'm always so hopeful I will use more of them each year, but then they take off, and I get overwhelmed so I often limit it to nettle tea. This step-by-step makes it feel easier to manage, and I'm determined to use them while they are young and more tender.
I know what you mean. They grow with such enthusiasm that, if you blink, you might just miss the right moment to pick them while they're still young. Good luck this year. x
I had no idea how nutritious nettles are! My mom grows some in her garden, but I have textural issues with creamy greens like this. Are there any other ways to eat nettles? Can they be made like a salad, or must they always be cooked?
This dish is not creamy, there is no cream in it. So it’s not like creamed spinach. Nettles have a firmer texture, so I think you'll be ok. They need to be blanched, otherwise are too stingy for a salad. There is a nettle pilaf and a nettle ciorba.
What an incredibly inspiring recipe. Here in the Sabina region of Central Italy, polenta is traditionally consumed with meat, beans or mushrooms. Apart from a recipe that I came across at a local food festival where it was cooked with chicory, I have been searching for other plant-based recipes for polenta. This is traditional but also so very fresh, especially for Spring. Beautiful images. Thanks for sharing.
There is another recipe with dock leaves, that we cook on the grill and serve with polenta and garlic vinaigrette. Instead of dock leaves, you can use chard and roast it in the oven. Thank you for your kind words, I’m thrilled you like the recipe.
I would use it this way, particularly because layered polenta is a traditional dish in Romania. Although we generally use cheese for layering, nettles could work well too. In the Balkans, people make cornbread with nettles.
Love the recipe and keeping the tea in the fridge to drink on an empty stomach. Thanks.
It’s a very good thing to do in the morning.
This looks so satisfying and delicious, Irina! My nettles are just starting to pop up, and I'm always so hopeful I will use more of them each year, but then they take off, and I get overwhelmed so I often limit it to nettle tea. This step-by-step makes it feel easier to manage, and I'm determined to use them while they are young and more tender.
I know what you mean. They grow with such enthusiasm that, if you blink, you might just miss the right moment to pick them while they're still young. Good luck this year. x
I had no idea how nutritious nettles are! My mom grows some in her garden, but I have textural issues with creamy greens like this. Are there any other ways to eat nettles? Can they be made like a salad, or must they always be cooked?
This dish is not creamy, there is no cream in it. So it’s not like creamed spinach. Nettles have a firmer texture, so I think you'll be ok. They need to be blanched, otherwise are too stingy for a salad. There is a nettle pilaf and a nettle ciorba.
Thank you! I’ll have to ask my mother if there’s a way she can get some for me to grow!
You can pick them from any field or park. They are everywhere, I don’t grow my own.
What an incredibly inspiring recipe. Here in the Sabina region of Central Italy, polenta is traditionally consumed with meat, beans or mushrooms. Apart from a recipe that I came across at a local food festival where it was cooked with chicory, I have been searching for other plant-based recipes for polenta. This is traditional but also so very fresh, especially for Spring. Beautiful images. Thanks for sharing.
There is another recipe with dock leaves, that we cook on the grill and serve with polenta and garlic vinaigrette. Instead of dock leaves, you can use chard and roast it in the oven. Thank you for your kind words, I’m thrilled you like the recipe.
Very interesting! I think I shall treat myself to your cookbook. It looks absolutely beautiful. Thanks again.
Lovely post, Irina! Would you ever layer the cooked nettles with the polenta and bake as gratin?
I would use it this way, particularly because layered polenta is a traditional dish in Romania. Although we generally use cheese for layering, nettles could work well too. In the Balkans, people make cornbread with nettles.
Incredible Irina, would love to make this sometime
I hope you get to make this someday. It’s better than spinach.