An almond tree in full bloom.

This year, spring has been glorious. It has come not in fits and wheezing starts, but in an extraordinary burst of warmth and flowers redolent of summer. The winter was extraordinarily mild, which means we’ve also had honeybees aplenty (four hives worth!) for the earlier-blossoming flora — plums, cherries, and pears will all benefit where last year they relied exclusively on native pollinators.

A honeybee pollinates Lamium purpureum (Red deadnettle).

A black-chinned hummingbird sips nectar from cherry blossoms

Today was the brightest, warmest day yet of the year. Marking the day’s warmth, the first blossom of the flowering quince opened. Every year the flowering quince is a favorite of our local hummingbirds — though that wasn’t where I encountered the black-chinned hummingbird. The hummingbird whirred past as I stood beneath the ornamental cherry tree, sipping nectar daintily from the cherry blossoms.

Sakura: Ornamental cherry in full bloom.

Nettle Spanakopita hot and ready to eat!

How to pick the nettles: put on some gloves to save your hands the misery! Wash the nettles (with the gloves on) or they’ll be sandy. Then, put them in boiling water for just a minute. Use this water as a soup broth or for tea — it’s supposed to be healthful. Then use the nettles like spinach in your recipe.

Here’s one recipe for making use of your blanched nettles:

Nettle Spanakopita

1 1/2 hours prep time

Ingredients:
1 pound defrosted fillo dough and 1 stick of melted butter + 1/4 cup olive oil for brushing the fillo sheets
1/4 cup butter
2 cups chopped onion
1/4 cup flour
2 pounds nettles
1 Tbsp basil
1 tsp oregano
2-4 cups crumbled feta cheese (depending on how strong a feta flavor you want)
5 eggs, whisked
salt and pepper to taste

Preparation:
Clean and stem nettles.
Chop and salt lightly, although keep in mind the feta cheese will add a fair amount of salt.
Cook onions in butter until soft.
Add the flour and stir the onions constantly over medium-low heat until the flour turns light brown. Add a tablespoon or two of the nettle broth if the onion and flour stuck to the bottom of the pan.
Add the chopped nettles and sauté for a few minutes.
Combine the onion and nettle mixture with all other ingredients.

Chopping blanched nettles.

Assembly:
Spread melted butter on a 10x15 inch baking pan.
Place fillo dough in pan, and let it climb up the sides
Brush generously with the melted butter and olive oil mixture.
Keep layers of dough coming, each with butter, then after eight layers spread on half the nettle mixture.
Continue with eight more fillo leaves, and then add the rest of the filling.
Layer the rest of the fillo leaves, don’t scrimp on the butter.
Bake uncovered for 45 minutes in a 375º oven. Check after 20 minutes to make sure the fillo dough is not getting too dark. Lay a sheet of foil over the top if the fillo is getting too dark.

Enjoy!

An iceberg of chevre floats in a bread bowl filled with cream of nettle soup.

While it’s exciting to grow our own vegetables for consumption, we also love making good use of the wild edibles that have volunteered themselves all over our property. Last week we featured ladyfern fiddleheads; this week we’ll include a few recipes that feature stinging nettles.

Cooking stinging nettles is easy — quickly blanching the nettles in boiling water will remove the sting without making them into a flavorless mess. Once they’ve been blanched, nettles are extremely versatile: if you don’t know how to get started, try substituting them for spinach in a favorite recipe. Their flavor is a bit spinachy, but with a distinctive “wildness” that doesn’t easily compare to any common culinary greens.

Stay tuned for the soup recipe — I’ll post it some time tomorrow.

Nettles growing happily, pre-harvest.