Stinging Nettle and Fontina Frittata

Our family has a wonderful cabin on Anderson Island, the southern most island in the Puget Sound.  It's a small cabin overlooking the sound with a cozy fireplace and our go-to place to get away anytime we have a few days and no other plans. The weather was great last weekend so we took a short trip down to Ander.

The long, meandering driveway down to the cabin is lined with stinging nettles. I have memories of being stung quite often when I was little, trying to tromp through the woods making forts or whatever else.

I've been noticing stinging nettles more and more often around in recipes and being sold at farmers markets.  I've been waiting for spring so I could get down to the cabin to be able to forage some of my own nettles.  It's like having a driveway full of organic spinach... why not start eating some of it?

I came home with a bag full of nettles and an itch to make something delicious with them.  I came up with a Singing Nettle and Fontina Frittata recipe.  It was so good, and not too much work to get the stinging out of the nettle: well worth the effort.  Its mild flavor can be used in just about any recipe you would use spinach in. 

Look here for a note about foraging your own stinging nettles.

 Recipe for Stinging Nettle and Fontina Frittata:

1 cup stinging nettles (washed, rinsed, and blanched)
2 Tablespoons butter
1/2 yellow onion thinly sliced
8 Organic brown eggs
3 Tablespoons milk, cream or half &half
3 0z Fontina cheese grated
Salt and Pepper to taste

Let your nettles rinse in a tub of cold water for about 10 minutes.  Place nettles in boiling water for about 3-4 minutes.  Immediately drain and place in a ice water bath.  Squeeze out the remaining water and now you have a ball of wilted sting free nettles.

Adjust top oven rack to be about 6-8 inches from broiler.  Turn on broiler.
Over med-high head add 2 tablespoon of butter in a nonstick or cast iron 10inch skillet. Add onions and cook 3-4 minutes until soft.
Add cooked and blanched nettles and saute another 2 minutes.
Whisk eggs with salt, pepper, and 3 Tablespoons of milk, half and half, or cream.  Add egg mixture to skillet.
On medium high heat, cook the eggs for about 2 minutes, scraping the sides and bottom with a spatula. Stop when the eggs are mostly cooked but still very wet. You want to see cooked egg scattered throughout, but loose egg in between.
Continue cooking on stove for another minute so underside sets.
Sprinkle the fontina on top. Put skillet under broiler. Let cook under broiler for 4-5 minutes or until brown on top and eggs are cooked throughout. 

Lemon and Oregano Marinated Artichoke Hearts

Store bought artichoke hearts are so tasty and versatile, but I started to think how much better they could be made with fresh artichokes, fresh herbs and a few other really quality ingredients. I just planted an herb garden with some really healthy Oregano and I had a bunch of lemons laying around the house so I used that as the base to my marinade. 

Lemon and Oregano Marinated Artichoke Hearts

2 large or 4 small artichokes steamed about 30 minutes and hearts removed.  If your not familiar with cooking Artichokes check out this tutorial.

You can also use 2 8oz packages frozen artichoke hearts.  Cook according to directions on box and then add to marinade.

For the Marinade

1/4 cup Olive Oil
1/4 cup lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon lemon zest
3 tablespoon white wine vinegar
2 cloves of garlic sliced thin
1 pinch of dried chili flakes
1 tablespoon finely chopped Oregano
Salt and Pepper to taste

Mix all ingredients together in a bowl.  Pack two 8-10oz jars full of cooked artichoke hearts.  Pour over marinade to cover all artichoke hearts.

These will be ready to eat in just a few hours and can last up to a few weeks in your fridge.

These are great in pasta, sandwiches or just eaten as is.  Also a great Homemade gift idea too!

I made a simple sandwich of Salumi salami, marinated artichoke hearts, a spread of chevre and arugula drizzling a little of the extra marinade on the bread.

Enjoy!

Cream of Asparagus Soup

Something really wonderful happened this weekend.  The sun came out and the temperature went over 60.  It felt so good to get out and get some things planted in the yard, mow the lawn and let our pasty children play in the sun.  I think I say for most Seattleites that it's spring days like this weekend that we desperately look forward to from January to March, but in this years case, mid April.

The markets are starting to come alive with produce other than Kale and potatoes.  Although the asparagus isn't quite in season here yet our stores are flooded with Asparagus from California.  Since its one of my very favorite veggies, I just couldn't wait to make some Cream of Asparagus soup. 

I made a super simple cream of asparagus soup.  Although the soup was excellent, I though it could use a little crunch so instead of the asparagus tips used to garnish the soup in the recipe, I made some garlic croutons and topped with a little chevre.

Soup recipe from Epicurious.com

Garlic Croutons Recipe:

1 cup of leftover stale french bread cut into 1/2 cubes
3-4 tablespoons olive oil
2 cloves crushed garlic

Heat oil in a skillet.  Once oil is hot toss in the bread crumbs and saute the bread on med high heat until almost golden brown.  Sometimes I add more oil if the bread has sucked it all up.  Depends on how dry your bread is.  Toss in the garlic and cook until a nice golden brown.  Sprinkle with a little sea salt and place croutons on a paper towel to cool.