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.