Foraging for edibles: Part 2 - Dead nettles

I know the subject of wild edibles, foraging and eating weeds can be tricky, you want to make sure you are properly identifying the plant and not poisoning yourself in the process which is why I'm keeping these posts as simple as I can, and doing one green per post so that you're not getting mixed up or confused.

Today I'm cooking with the Dead nettle, and this variety is not like your stinging nettle, which means you can touch it and pick it and it won't hurt you.  Stinging nettle is used as well in cooking/medicinal and tea preparations but we'll talk about that another day.

This variety of dead nettle, known as "golden anniversary". It grows in my backyard close to the ground and seems to cover the flower beds.  I'm not sure who planted it or where it came from but it is edible and here I'm using it in a German gnocchi like dumpling recipe.

Bubespitzle:

Ingredients:

1 and a half large russet potato, boiled and set aside to cool and "dry up"

150 g  flour + more if needed

2 large eggs (set out on the counter, at room temp) 

Pinch of salt

Grating of fresh nutmeg

Peel russet potatoes and add the yellow flesh to a large mixing bowl. Add remaining ingredients and knead into a dough. This is best done by hand, even though things can get a big sticky. If it’s too sticky, add a bit more flour.

To form tear off small bits of dough, a small balls, and then place in between your palms and begin rolling your top palm outwards away from you, the ball should turn into a long shape and then set aside until all of them are ready to go into the pot.

Boil a large pot of salted water on the stove top.  Add the dumplings and they're done as soon as they begin to float.  Drain and set aside. After letting them dry off a bit, brown in a pan with butter or vegetable oil.

For the nettles, wash them and chop finely like an herb on the cutting board.

- 1 bunch nettles

- 1 small knob butter

- 1 small clove garlic, minced

- Salt and Black pepper

Heat a saucepan and add the butter, sautee the garlic until fragrant on a medium low heat and add the nettles at this point. Cook until they're tender and wilted like a spinach.

When ready to serve add the dumplings into the sauce and sautee, you can add a little bit of the starchy boiling water to form a "sauce" and then check for seasoning and serve immediately.

Oh and feel free to check out my previous foraged edible post on dandelions

Chicken pot pie

What do you do when you have a whole chicken and lots of peas? Well I was in the mood for chicken pot pie!

When I realized I didn't have any butter at home (from all the baking over the weekend) so I had to run to the store to get some. As soon as I set foot outside I realized "chicken pot pie" was a bad idea. It is one of the hottest days of the summer so far!

The chicken was already roasted the night before (lots of salt and lemon for a flavourful tender chicken) took all the meat off the bones and reserved the liquids from the pan in the same container for the meat to soak it up in the fridge, yum!

With fresh peas I shelled them and blanched for a few moments (as soon as they float) I threw them into an ice bath and then put them in the fridge for the next day.

All the vegetables like carrots, celery, onion, small chunks of potato and a few cloves of garlic got boiled in a stock until tender then it was time to make the roux... butter and flour in the pot and milk added to that, some black pepper and a bit of salt in the end.

Veggies and chicken got layered in the casserole, cream sauce was poured over and the oven was preheating on 375-400.

The pastry was made before hand (as soon as I got home with my butter!)

Chopped butter into small cubes and worked it into the flour then some cold milk brought it all together and the dough was shaped into a disk and refrigerated.

At this point it was ready for use so I rolled it out and draped it over the casserole/pan, poked a few holes in it and did an egg wash over.

Baked until it was bubbly and the crust was flaky and browned.

Delicious Saturday Meal

Here is our delicious saturday meal - following our big feast on friday (10th of June)

My mother put together a yummy salmon casserole which I called "engagement salmon" because later that night we watched Ina Garten prepare her take on the famous "engagement chicken" and it was very similar to this dish only mum used limes in the salmon instead of the lemons in the chicken but it still had lots of onion and it was delicious !

Along with that we made Chef Lidia's pasta with homemade bread crumbs Mum had a loaf in the freezer so to my amazement she began grating it and then sauteeing it in the olive oil and garlic ... then tossing the fresh pasta in it. YumYum!

This truly was one of the yummiest pasta dishes I've had, so simple but so comforting.

We also roasted asparagus (salt & pepper, olive oil drizzle- bake on 400-425 until tender then squeeze lemon juice on) and made salad. It was a really memorable and great day.

Honey our cat gave me a not so pleasant face when I pointed the camera at her but she's a real sweety :)

A fun day of cooking and baking!

Rich & Dark Chocolate Cupcakes

Yield: 18 standard cupcakes *** (We made 12 and an entire loaf cake since we ran out of the foil wrappers!)

Ingredients:

1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour

2 cups granulated sugar

3/4 cup Cacao Barry Cocoa Powder – Extra Dark

2 teaspoons baking soda

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

2 eggs

1 cup strong, hot black coffee *** ( I did not want the coffee flavour so I just used hot water, cooled a bit)

1 cup buttermilk, room temperature

1/2 cup vegetable oil

1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract

Method:

Preheat oven to 350 F. Line muffin/cupcake tin with paper or foil cupcake liners. In bowl of electric mixer, sift all dry ingredients. Add all remaining ingredients to bowl with the dry ingredients and with paddle attachment on mixer, mix for 2 minutes on medium speed (you may need the plastic splash-guard that comes with mixer) and pour into prepared cupcake pan until 2/3 full (or just less). Batter will be liquidy.

Bake for 15-17 minutes, or until toothpick or skewer comes out with a few crumbs. Try not to overbake. Cool on wire racks in pans for 5 minutes then gently turn cupcakes onto racks until completely cool.

Raspberry Swiss Meringue Buttercream

*Essentially, this is vanilla Swiss Meringue Buttercream with some clean, dry, fresh raspberries into it. It doesn’t require many raspberries to give it a nice flavour, but it’s personal preference. You can also use seedless raspberry-puree for a smooth finish. Add a drop of pink food colouring for a touch more pink.

Swiss Meringue Buttercream

Because it does take some time to make, I always make in batches of 3 (vanilla), because it freezes so well and saves time. A batch of 3 fits perfectly in a 5QT KitchenAid mixer bowl. You can then thaw, divide, add separate flavours, purees, etc. I have recently decreased the amount of butter I use in my buttercream, because I find it has a lighter, fluffier quality to it. I’ve adjusted the recipe accordingly, but you can add more butter if you prefer. I’ve also recently started heating the egg whites and sugar to 160° F, rather than 140° F, and I find the meringue comes together so quickly this way (just an observation, however 140° F has worked for me for years). Just a note!

Yield: 5 cups

Ingredients

5 large egg whites (30g each–total 150g)

1 cup plus 2 tablespoons superfine granulated sugar

3/4 pound (3 sticks) unsalted butter, softened, cut into cubes

2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

Pinch of salt

*1/2 pint fresh, rinsed & dried raspberries (optional)

Method

Wipe the bowl of an electric mixer with paper towel and vinegar, to remove any trace of grease. Add egg whites and sugar, and simmer over a pot of water (not boiling), whisking constantly, until temperature reaches 160 degrees F, or if you don’t have a candy thermometer, until the sugar has completely dissolved and the egg whites are hot.

With whisk attachment of mixer, begin to whip until the mixture is thick, glossy, and cool. Switch over to paddle attachment and, while mixing on medium speed continously, add softened butter in chunks until incorporated, and mix until it has reached a silky smooth texture (if curdles, keep mixing and it will come back to smooth). Add vanilla and salt, mix well. You can also add a wide variety of flavourings, extracts, and more.

Notes:

Add about a 1/2 pint of fresh washed & dried raspberries if you like the textured effect, or raspberry puree for a smooth finish.

You can also add a drop or 2 of pink gel colour to get a pinker look.

Keep in airtight container in refrigerator for up to one week, leaving out at room temperature when needed, rewhipping in mixer for 5 minutes.

Can freeze for up to 6-8 weeks. To thaw, place on counter overnight, and rewhip for 5 minutes with paddle attachment in an electric mixer.

Makes approximately 5 cups of buttercream.

*Recipe for Swiss Meringue Buttercream adapted from Martha Stewart.

Thanks to Sweetoplita for the recipe, *** I used fresh blackberries with 1 tbsp of four fruit jam (blackberry, strawberry, raspberry and cherry) in my buttercream.

Most of the photos courtesy of my three amazing sisters and are featured on Munch n' Crunch

If I had a deep freezer I'd freeze ...

I want to make pretezels ... but if I had more room in my freezer I'd freeze them like last time since it's easier to make a big batch. They taste wonderful heated up because their crust gets crispy and the inside stay soft and chewy.. this got me thinking of buying a deep freezer.

Since I LOVE to make lists I thought I'd write out what would go inside it:


Lasagna (made with boil noodles)
Raw meatballs

Cooked meatballs

Homemade pasta sauces

Homemade pizza sauces

Homemade pizza dough

Homemade Pretzels
Homemade bagels

Artisan bakery breads
Pita bread
Homemade tortillas

Garlic bread (assembled from scratch)

Certain cheeses

Leftover slices of layered cream Cakes

Leftover spice cakes
Homemade cupcakes

Homemade whipped meringue buttercream frosting
Ganache

Homemade fresh fruit purees

Freezer jam

Frozen berries and fruit

Ginger (for grating)
Chopped hot peppers

Lemongrass (cleaned and chopped)
Thyme

Lemon juice with zest in it

Lime juice with zest in it

Simple syrup (for all kinds of drinks!)

Spice blends (like my arabic 7 spice blend)

Nuts (hazelnuts, walnuts, almonds, pecans..etc)
Seeds (roasted pumpkin and watermelon seeds)
Chestnuts

Vegetable clippings for stock
(Shittaki stems, celery tops..)

Chicken bones for stock

Meats

Sausage

Hotdogs

Pepperoni

Homemade Stocks

Roasted homemade stocks

Soups (for hotpot or pho)

Frozen boiled dry beans

Curry

Stews (like okra or goulash or gravy before thickening)

Homemade pet food

Homemade stock for pet food

Liver pate for pets

Making Manti

Some shots of manti making today using a recipe I found a short while ago, it was a perfect thing to do on this chilly November day while sipping a homemade pumpkin spice hot cocoa.

Manti are these turkish (also armenian and variations are made in different regions) dumplings made easy by stuffing a savoury spiced beef (or lamb) mixture into a wonton wrapper and baking until golden then baking one more time with a flavourful broth. The dumplings are tender with golden crispy tips served with yogurt sauce.



Recipe courtesy of My Barbarian Table

Simple comfort foods

Sometimes the simplest things in life are the best, like tomato soup and a cheese sandwich.

After a long day of organizing, it was just the perfect "lunch"

Brie sandwich in the back while chive cheddar sandwich is being made.

A variation on the soup is the roasted tomato soup.

Roasted tomatoes: chop ripe tomatoes, drizzle with olive oil and season .. bake on a low temperature until the flavours concentrate, peel and use in dishes. Puree for the soup with some stock.

To accompany it is a creamy artichoke garlicky grilled pita sandwich with some olives, very Mediterranean.