Nettles? Are you serious!?
Posted: 18 July '09 by Kelly
Nettles - tonight's dinner?
When Niall suggested eating Nettles (yes you read it right!!) I thought he was insane! Surely they cannot be nice?? So, to prove me wrong off we went, gloves firmly on, to our local park to pick our dinner. Despite the funny looks we were getting by passers by, it was lots of fun picking our ingredients from the forest.
The menu was set- Home made Ravioli with Nettle and Ricotta. I was yet to be convinced, but the smells from the pot were promising. Niall plated up with a simple butter and garlic sauce. And the verdict?? DELICIOUS. It tasted rather like spinach, those same robust and iron-y flavours.
And the best thing about it is they’re free, just remember to keep your gloves on, or avoid touching the stalks, which are the part with the sting.
You can read about how we made our pasta elsewhere in our blog.
To finish off the Italian themed dinner I made a Lemon and Mascarpone tart (Torta Di limone e mascarpone), which was really zingy and delicious. Serve it with a good quality vanilla ice cream and enjoy.
You can view the slideshow hereImage 1Image 2Image 3Image4
Lemon and Mascarpone Tart
Ingredients
Serves 6-8
- 350g of sweet pastry
- 2 egg yolks, beaten icing sugar, to finish
For the filling:
- 300g mascarpone cheese
- 50ml whipping cream
- 50ml milk
- 100ml lemon juice
- 100g caster sugar
- 120g egg yolks
Method
- Preheat oven to 170 degrees celsius, gas 3. Roll out the pastry and use to line a non-stick tart tin. Line with oven-proof paper, fill with rice or dried peas and blind bake for 4 minutes. Take out the weights, remove the oven-proof paper and cook for around 10-12 minutes until golden.
- Take it out of the oven and brush with egg yolks and return to oven for another 2 minutes.
- Turn the oven down to 110 degrees celsius. The pastry is now cooked so all you need to do is cook the topping.
- To make the topping, mix together the mascarpone, cream, milk, lemon juice and sugar in a bowl. Whisk the egg yolks separately, then add to the mascarpone mixture and incorporate quickly with a hand blender.
- Spoon into the pastry case and put into the oven until the centre is set but the slightest bit wobbly . This took round 40 minutes for my tart but keep checking it as the recipe said it would only take 25 minutes.
- Leave to cool, during this time the topping will firm up.
- To finish, dust the top with icing sugar and caramelise it with a blow torch.
- Serve at room Temperature.
Tags: dessert, lemon, marscapone, nettles, ravioli, tart
Categories: Recipes
