Sunday 12 March 2017

Urzici cu Usturoi

"Garlicky nettle spread"

You know spring has come around when the local markets and street-corner vendors start stocking those gorgeous spring leaves: nettles, wild garlic, red orache, patience dock and spinach. Here's a quick a simple toast topper for the spring that uses stinging nettles (urzici).

Time: 20 minutes
Servings: 3-4 servings (enough for 1-2 people)
Ingredients:

A bag of nettles. These should be the young tips, not the large older leaves.
An onion, finely chopped
Some spring garlic (2-3 stalks) or regular garlic if you can't find the young stuff
Olive oil
Salt
A little flour

Method:

1. Wash the nettles thoroughly in four or five changes of water. In the meantime, heat up a pan of water.
2. Plunge the nettles into the boiling water, simmer for about 5 minutes till soft and intensely green.
3. Leave the nettles to drain and when cool enough to handle, give them a squeeze to get rid of excess liquid.
4. Heat up a couple of glugs of olive oil in a pan and gently saute the finely-chopped onion for a few minutes. When soft, add the nettles and stir for a few more minutes. Turn off the heat and add the finely chopped garlic (a clove will do if you don't have the spring garlic to hand), add a pinch of salt to taste and a teaspoon of flour to help the consistency.
5. Serve on crackers or freshly toasted bread.


3 comments:

Anonymous said...

One of the multiple spring dishes I miss the most. We used to serve this almost cold (enhanced flavor) with hot polenta, as a main course during Easter fasting. Don't be afraid to use more garlic!

Romfoody said...

Glad you enjoyed it, Tony, and happy to hear it sparked some memories, anonymous! Serving it with 'mamaliga' (polenta) is definitely a good suggestion for a more substantial meal. Also, this being 'post' (the Romanian version of lent), mamaliga and nettles would make a filling vegan meal.

GCC Oil & Gas Jobs said...

Looks crunchy and tempting.
Going to search for some Romanian restaurants here in Dubai.
Want to try some of them with my family.