Nettle pie
I know, every man and his dog is posting about wild garlic. Controversially, I am not sure I really like wild garlic pesto. It has a grassy flavour which makes the usual basil pesto seem like eating silk in comparison. It has taken my many years and much experimentation to find out that if it is cooked like a soft leafy green (think chard rather than kale) and mixed with other leaves, then it is glorious. Even just wilted in soups, you get all of the gloriously heady garlic punch, and none of the background bitterness.
The only thing that outgrows the wild garlic in the landscape that surrounds my cottage and garden is nettles. I mind this less, not just because nettles are a sign of extremely fertile ground. Nettles are the workhorses of the foraging world. They make tea. They make dye. They make the most powerful plant feed to rival comfrey. Someone in my village even makes rope out of it. But the way to my heart is through my stomach, and I adore these soft, fast growing, early spring nettle tips for spanakopita. River Cottage does a recipe for it (follow this link for other lovely nettle recipes) but I will admit, I just use Anna Jones’ famous Double Greens Pie recipe and use nettles as one of the greens. I think a whole pie made of nettles might be quite an acquired taste and, like with so many foraged leaves, mixing them up is usually a good thing. And I always have chard.
A few tips: Use gloves or great care to pick nettles, although the sting will go as soon as they are heated. Make sure you harvest from clean, safe areas away from dogs or roads, and wash before use. I soak in a bowl of lightly salted water to start with, drain, and then pour over hot water from a just boiled kettle. Drain again and then squeeze out the excess water as soon as they are cool enough to touch. Takes longer than you think.
Double Greens Pie with nettles
SERVES 4–6
olive oil
1 bunch of spring onions (about 8), trimmed and roughly chopped (or use 1 white onion, finely chopped)
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
500g greens – nettles, spring greens, kale, spinach, chard or a mix, shredded (chop any stalks finely)
grated zest of 1⁄2 an unwaxed lemon
3 organic or free-range eggs
200g feta cheese (or goat’s cheese, crumbled cheddar, or half a tin of mashed white beans or vegan cheese)
a large bunch of fresh herbs (parsley, dill, mint, coriander or a combination, picked and roughly chopped)
4 large sheets of filo pastry or 8 smaller ones
1 tablespoon poppy seeds or sesame seeds
Preheat your oven to 220°C/fan 200°C/gas 7.
Put a 26cm non-stick ovenproof frying pan on a medium heat and add a little olive oil, then add the spring onions with a pinch of salt and fry for a few minutes, until softened.
Next, add a couple of handfuls of spring greens or kale and cook until they have shrunk down a little. Keep adding like this until all the greens are in the pan, then cook until just wilted. Add the chard or spinach and let that wilt too. Sprinkle over the lemon zest and season with more salt if needed and a bit of pepper. Transfer to a bowl and leave to cool a little.
Crack the eggs into a mixing bowl, crumble in the feta and add the chopped herbs. Once the greens are cool, add these too. Wipe out the frying pan with some kitchen paper.
Get yourself a large sheet of baking paper, about 50cm long, and lay it on your work surface.
Drizzle it with a little olive oil, then scrunch it up into a ball so it’s all coated (this will stop it burning in the oven). Now lay it flat again.
Lay the filo over the baking paper in two layers – it will overlap here and there but that’s ok. Drizzle the lot with a bit more oil. Now carefully lift the paper to rest on top of the frying pan, with the excess hanging evenly round the edges.
Pour the egg and greens mixture into the middle and level out with a spoon. Fold the excess layers of pastry over the top to cover the top of the greens mixture. No need to be too neat here, as some movement and texture looks beautiful. Sprinkle over the poppy seeds and pop the pan into the oven to bake for 20 minutes.