With the advent of the first greenery, one wants something light, fresh and preferably simple to cook. It is worth paying attention to nettles, you can cook many tasty and healthy spring dishes from it. With these greens, original, tasty salads are obtained, it is added to green soup, pies and pancakes. Now we will talk about nettle soup - this is a very vitamin and healthy dish.
To prepare nettle soup, the recipe recommends taking young leaves, and so that they do not burn your hands, you need to pour boiling water over them. It should be borne in mind that the most burning are the older shoots. Sorrel, dill, cilantro, parsley, green onions, arugula and any other herbs are also added to the dish along with nettles. Nettle and sorrel soup, especially with the addition of other herbs, is very rich in vitamins, beautiful and appetizing in appearance, fragrant and original.
Usually young nettle soup is cooked with water, but low-fat beef or chicken broth can also be used, canned meat is also suitable. Of the other ingredients, potatoes, carrots, onions, bell peppers, tomatoes, champignons, and beans are usually added to the dish. Nettle soup with egg, potatoes are considered classics of this dish. It is very tasty to cook a soup of fresh nettles with melted cheeses, they, when dissolved, add a delicate creamy texture to the dish.
Suppose you know how to cook nettle soup. But how to serve, for example, nettle soup with an egg? The recipe recommends serving it both hot and cold, a little sour cream and boiled eggs will give the soup a unique taste. You can simply chop the eggs with a knife and pour into the already prepared soup. Or you can do it differently: beat the egg with salt, pepper, lemon juice or separately with cream and pour the resulting mixture into the soup a few minutes before the end of its preparation.
How to cook nettle soup to surprise your loved ones? Add some seafood to the dish (shrimps, mussels), it is not a shame to serve such a delicacy to guests.
Now, a few recommendations from experienced chefs on how to cook nettle soup:
- Finely chopped nettles are placed in the soup at the very end of cooking. Just like all other greens, it is also thoroughly washed;
- soup can be served in soup bowls or in deep bowls;
- for meat broth, chicken or beef should be washed well and then boiled in a whole piece;
- you need to collect nettles for soup only in your garden or far in the forest;
- without sour cream, the soup will turn out to be less high-calorie, but also it will be less in tenderness and taste;
- additionally, for the flavor of the dish, try adding chopped nettles to the onion-carrot roast and fry everything together a little;
- since the nettle in the soup is strongly boiled down, greens should be laid with a margin;
- To add oiliness to the soup, aroma and goodness, put a little linseed oil in a bowl of soup when serving.
Nettle soup #1
Boil the broth. Separately, put the washed nettle into boiling water and cook it for 5 minutes. Throw the boiled nettle on a sieve and let the water drain. Then finely chop the nettle along with the washed sorrel. Sliced carrots, parsley and onions fry in fat.
Nettle mass and fried vegetables put in a boiling broth and cook for 15 minutes.
Fry flour in melted bacon, dilute with broth, add to soup and cook for 5 minutes.
When serving, put half a hard-boiled egg, cut into 4 slices, into each plate, pour the soup, season with sour cream and sprinkle with chopped parsley.
Boiled potatoes are served with nettle soup.
Products
young nettle 300 g
beef with bones 500 g
sorrel 200 g
carrots 0.5 pcs.
onion bulb 1 pc.
parsley root 0.5 pcs.
leeks to taste
celery to taste
flour 0.5 tablespoons
eggs 2-3 pcs.
fat 1 tablespoon
sour cream, 3 tablespoons
water 3 l
salt to taste
#2 Young nettle soup
Pour diced potatoes into boiling meat broth and cook for 15-20 minutes. At this time, in hot oil or fat, add finely chopped onions, grated carrots, bell peppers, tomato paste or mashed tomatoes.
Dip the young nettle in boiling water for 1-2 minutes, put it in a colander, rinse with cold boiled water.
Put all the ingredients in the broth and cook for 5 minutes. Add bay leaf, finely chopped greens.
Can be served with sour cream.
Products
potatoes 5-6 pcs.
onion 1 pc.
carrot 1 pc.
Bulgarian pepper 1 pc.
tomatoes 4-5 pcs.
or tomato paste 1 tbsp. a spoon
nettle to taste
bay leaf to taste
#3 Botvinja
Botvinja is considered a special cold soup. It is based on useful young beetroot, its tops, sorrel, spinach, young nettle leaves, dill, parsley and fresh cucumbers. The basis of botvinja is no less rich in its components - beetroot broth, fish or meat broth, white and bread kvas, horseradish and mustard. Try this legendary dish at least once!
Products (for 8 servings)
Fish - 500 g
Boiled beets - 2 pcs.
Cucumbers - 2 pcs.
Beet tops - 150 g
Petioles of beet tops - 8-9 pcs.
Sorrel - 125 g
Spinach - 125 g
Nettle - 150 g
Green onion - 30 g
Parsley - 30 g
Dill - 30 g
Salt - 1 tsp
Bay leaf - 2 pcs.
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For the base of the botvinja:
Beetroot decoction - 250 ml
Fish broth - 250 ml
Kvas white - 250 ml
Bread kvas - 500 ml
Salt - 0.5 tsp
Sugar - 1 tbsp. l.
Mustard - 1/2 tsp
Horseradish - 1 tsp
Ground pepper - 1/2 tsp
Lemon (juice) - 1/2 pc.
*
For serving:
Ice
Culinary connoisseurs call this cold soup the “queen” of Slavic cuisine, the main and oldest recipe in the collection of cold soups. Cooking it is not as easy as the popular cold soup, but it's worth it. We are confident that this dish will take its rightful place on your table.
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Real botvinja is served cold, with pieces of fresh fish poached in boiling water. They are served on crushed ice. Fish is usually eaten as a snack, and ice is added to the botvinja.
How to cook botvinja:
Rinse the beets thoroughly and boil until tender, strain the broth for the base of the botvinja, and cut the boiled beets into small cubes.
Cooking:
Bring 1 liter of water to a boil, add 1 teaspoon of salt and 2 bay leaves, boil the fish pieces for 2 minutes.
Remove fish from broth and set aside. Cool the broth and strain for the base of the botvinja.
Similarly, cut cucumbers, peeled. Finely chop the dill, parsley and green onion.
Place spinach in boiling water and blanch for 30 seconds. Remove from water and cool. Chop with a knife.
Then blanch the sorrel for 30 seconds. Also chop.
Send beet tops to boiling water for 30 seconds. Then chop.
Blanch beetroot stalks for 1 minute. Prepared petioles of beet tops cut into small cubes.
Blanch the nettle leaves in the same way as the petioles. Then finely chop.
Mix in one bowl chopped beets, petioles and beet tops, spinach, nettle, sorrel, parsley, dill, green onions and fresh cucumbers. Mix.
Preparing the base for the boots. Pour beetroot broth, fish broth, white and dark kvas into a bowl. Add salt, sugar, mustard, horseradish and lemon juice. Mix everything thoroughly.
Put the prepared vegetables and herbs in a serving plate, pour over the prepared base for the botvinja. Put finely chopped ice in a separate plate, put the fish on it and serve with the botvinja.
Enjoy your meal!