Nettles and Dandelions... for Lunch!

Ed and I have been really busy at the allotment today, planting seeds, digging over beds and fertilising them to get it all ready to grow lots of tasty vegetables. We didn't really have a lot in for lunch today so I decided to have a quick look at what the allotment already had on offer!

I snipped off a little punnet full of dandelion flowers and then donned my gardening gloves to gather some nettle tips. You want the lovely young leaves at the top of the nettles, the older leaves can be a bit fibrous. I also picked some random onion-things we have growing on one of the raised beds, at first I thought they were spring onions but they had a garlicky hit so I wonder if it was green garlic. If you are brave enough to try this and don't have green garlic then you can replace it with a clove of garlic or a few spring onions. 

So to make my weedy lunch I washed the nettles and picked the dandelion petals from the stems. I washed them really well then sautéed the nettles and chopped green garlic in a knob of butter (this will take all the sting away), on a medium heat. I added a little salt then waited until the nettles had wilted, you will know they are ready because they will reduce in size by about half, then I put the dandelion petals in. I cooked this for another 5 minutes then added a portion of rice noodles to the pan and mixed it all together. 

This was so delicious! Ed couldn't believe that I made this from weeds, that are free and easy to find. If you want to try this yourself a couple of things to remember are, nettles are best picked in the spring and autumn, when they are far away from flowering. Only pick these two plants if you are sure what they are, don't pick them if they have had pesticides or weed killer on them and don't pick them if they are at dog peeing height (for obvious reasons). 

Enjoy <3

xkx  

Vegan Coconut Rice Pudding.

Ed loves pudding so it is pretty difficult for him to decide which ones are his favourite, but rice pudding is definitely in his top 5. A lot of cow's milk doesn't really agree with Ed so he thought he would not be able to have rice pudding again. I tried to make him some with soya milk but it was a disaster, it just went brown and tasted funny. My mum had more patience with the soya version and had a lot more success. But I thought that coconut milk maybe a little easier to make rice pudding because it has more fat in it that soya milk, and this seems to make the rice fluffy and silky.

This rice pudding is absolutely beautiful, it's thick, smooth and the rich tasting coconut just transports it to heavenly pudding land. I used 1oz of sugar in this so it is sweet when the coconut is reduced down, as I don't have a sweet tooth I may reduce that amount next time. Ed is very happy with it though because he has a humongous sweet tooth. We usually have jam on rice pudding but I really don't think this needs it because it is like the little black dress, simple, chic and you don't need to accessorise with the right one.   

This recipe is in imperial because I stole it off my lovely mum, but it was my idea to use coconut milk so I'm not ripping it off completely. 

2oz Pudding Rice

1oz Sugar

1 Knob of butter (or vegan alternative)

1 pint of coconut milk (if you use a can just rinse the can out with water to make it up to a pint. You can also use soya milk or cow's milk depending on your dietary preference.

A generous flurry of Nutmeg

Just put it all in a saucepan and simmer gently for 20-25mins. Stir now and again to make sure the rice isn't sticking to the bottom of the pan, you will know when it is ready because the rice with be soft and it will have a beautiful pudding sheen. Now if you use coconut milk or cow's milk you can eat the pudding straight away because the consistency will be thick and moorish. If you have used soya milk it is best to leave it to cool then heat it up a while later, this will give you that nice consistency. I grate nutmeg in whilst I'm cooking and at the end because it reminds me of home, just taste as you go along and add as much as makes you happy.

This bowl of pudding with definitely cheer up a rainy, grey Saturday evening. Hope you are having a great one.

xkx