Wild Garlic and Nettle Risotto

Spring has definitely sprung, wild garlic in abundance and the nettle tops we all hated as kids, so time to make wild garlic and nettle risotto. There is no mistaking wild garlic or Ramsons to give them their other name. Swathes of the spear-shaped leaf carpet the floor of damp woodlands giving way to the white star-shaped flowers. The unmistakable smell of it can be smelt many yards away as you approach. Allium ursinum, known as wild garlic, ramsons, buckrams, broad-leaved garlic, wood garlic, bear leek or bear’s garlic. A bulbous perennial flowering plant in the amaryllis family Amaryllidaceae. It is a wild relative of the onion, native to Europe and Asia, where it grows in moist woodland.

Going with the wild garlic for the risotto was nettles. We all know what a nettle looks like and all have memories as a child of being stung by them. Urtica dioica, often known as common nettle, stinging nettle or nettle leaf, or just a nettle or stinger. It is a herbaceous perennial flowering plant in the family Urticaceae. Full of vitamins A, C and some B vitamins. Fresh nettles contain (per 100g) 670 mg potassium, 590 mg calcium, 18 mcg chromium, 270 mcg copper, 86 mg magnesium, and 4.4 mg iron.

For the wild garlic and nettle risotto I used the following.

Ingredients

Large handful wild garlic.

Small handful of young nettle tops, picked and chopped wearing gloves.

1 Shallot

2 handfuls of risotto rice

Large knob of butter

Fresh ground black pepper

150 ml white wine

500 ml stock ( I used vegetable stock )

Half a cup of frozen peas

Parmesan cheese ( a good finely grated amount your choice I never weigh )

Method

Finely dice the shallot and chop the wild garlic and nettles (wear gloves unless you like the sting sensation). Melt the butter and add the shallot and saute until soft and translucent but not coloured. Add the wild garlic and nettles and saute until tender, add the rice and stir to cover with the butter and toast lightly. Pour in the wine and cook off until almost evaporated. A ladle at a time add the simmering stock and stir well, as each ladle of stock is absorbed add another until the rice is cooked through, around 12-15 minutes in general but as with all cooking taste as you go along and adjust seasonings. When the rice is cooked through remove from the heat and add the grated parmesan and another knob of butter and allow to stand. This will result in a rich, unctuous and creamy risotto. To go with my wild garlic and nettle risotto I had pan-fried sea bream with crispy skin, parsley, wild garlic and caper butter finished it off, dressed with a wild garlic flower.