Gluten-Free Stinging Nettle Quiche – the ultimate Recipe
Gluten-Free Stinging Nettle Quiche – the ultimate RecipeLet’s talk Nettles boys and gals…!! You know what they are, they grow about everywhere! I think they might be the most hated of weeds around in a fancy garden and are therefore heavily concidered to be pest controled. So most people try to beat them with horrific chemicals and have no clue of what they are actually trying to controle.
Stop! After all you have been trying to get rid of them, but it doesn’t really work, does it?
“A weed is a plant that has mastered every survival skill, except for how to growing into rows!” – Doug Larson
Before heading over to what to do with it, I’m going to write some interesting details about this amazing herb! If you don’t have patience, skip the text and head down to find my Gluten-free Nettle Quiche recipe. Nevertheless I think you might want to read on.
The first time I started to learn about Stinging Nettle was when my Bulgarian friend told me a little story. She used to get terrible sunburns as a child. Her family remedy back in Bulgaria was made by her mother, using nettles. She used to prepared Nettle Tea for her which she had to drink to keep the symptoms at bay.
I myself didn’t really have to use it in that way, so I can’t tell if it works or not, but it certainly got my attention. As there is one thing we can be sure of, it is that people in the Eastern part of Europe still have many herbal traditions intact. Therefore I love to hear their stories and I try to make sense of how to claim back forgotten common knowledge the natural way.
After diving into the Stinging Nettle subject I learned about it’s powerful natural health benefits! The fact that this plant starts to grow early in spring (although you can find it all year round), but in early spring they shoot up bold and vigorous! It has a reason nature designed their proces in this way. As February/March is a traditional time for cleansing and detoxification practices in ancient herbal traditions, we see that many of the plants that are being used in the spring detox process, are the ones that are springing up from the soil at that very moment. Just like Stinging Nettle! The youthful power of growth is reflected in the make-up and essence of the plant at its strongest at this time of year in early spring. So whoever would want to benefit from it should follow the seasons and pick up seasonal harvesting practices.
Stinging Nettle is alkaline in nature and loaded with Vitamin C and powerful antioxidants. Maybe you are aware that both Vitamin C and antioxidants are extremely helpful to get the glow for your skin (that might be just the answer to the sunburn issues of my friend’s story above here), so I’d definitely encourage you to make a bodymist spray out of it to try and see what it does by applying it to your skin every day. I must say that sounds like a great option if you don’t like drinking it as a tea. Give it a go!
However, consuming the alkaline Stinging Nettle might have potential benefits to clean out your system and enhance your gut by promoting an alkaline environment in the body. It’s the perfect detoxer, remember? It is even known to help break down stones in the kidney and gallblatter and takes care of the overall circulation system in the body and stimulating the red bloodcell production (wound healing benefits). Even so it surges back oxygen into the blood and your energy levels will rise.
Now back to the seasonal harvesting and why it is important to make use of them in early spring. Stinging Nettles are much praised to help with the symptoms of hay fever and other respiratory issues. We all know when the pollen start to fill the air and we see some loved ones having difficulty to enjoy the beautiful warm and sunny days. By preparing yourself before the pollen season starts, you might benefit enormously by consuming Stinging Nettle on a regular basis. Keep in mind to start using it when it comes available to consume and not wait until you need to cure the symptoms. This is a preventative herbal medicine after all. Just give it a try! For now I’m going to follow up with some posts of how to make Stinging Nettles delicious and fun! Because you probably never knew the many possibilities of this powerful superfood called Stinging Nettle.
By the way, if you harvest the tops when it’s their seasonal harvesting time, you will be able to pick them with your bare hands. Ok, maybe a little sting, but nothing really bad (if working out of season, use gloves!). Through working with Stinging nettles throughout the years, I learned that they tend to be manageble bare handed when they are meant to be consumed by our human species. But take care to not pick them all, as later in the season you’d want to harvest the seeds as well, but that’s a whole different story! Stay tuned, I’ll write about it most definitely when the time is there. Oh, there is so much to tell about them, I could write a book, but I will save some info for later posts.
Ok, up to the tasty part of the story!
Can you eat Stinging Nettle? Yes! Definitely!!
Won’t they sting your tongue? Not a single bit!
Enjoy the precious goodness that Stinging Nettle has to offer by making this delicious Gluten-Free Stinging Nettle Quiche (recipe below!). Ofcourse you can use a normal wheat, but for this recipe I used Buckwheat which has this distinguished taste that will lift the quiche to a total different flavor sensation. See if it fits your taste buds and have a try! Of course I’d be thrilled to hear what your thoughts are and how you liked the taste!
Till Nettle Times!
The ultimate Stinging Nettle Recipe – Quiche
Ingredients for 8 servings
125gr real organic butter cut in small cubes
250gr buckwheat flour
5 organic eggs
1 large union
3 garlic cloves finely chopped
a large bowl filled with Stinging nettle tops
1 broccoli chopped in small parts
1 tsp celtic sea salt
1 tbsp (ice) cold water
2 hands full of pine nuts or if your prefer meat 250gr pancetta or bacon
200gr gruyere cheese
250gr ricotta cheese
150ml organic milk or any milk you wish to use plantbased
250gr mushrooms
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp paprika powder
1/2 tsp chilli pepper
1 tsp of Tumeric
Black Pepper and Celtic sea salt to your taste for the filling
a bunch of finely chopped parsley
Method:
The crust:
Combine buckwheatflour, butter, salt and 1 egg and the tablespoon of ice cold water, might be a bit more, and knead until it becomes 1 ball of dough, wrap in climfilm and put in the fridge for 1 hour. In this time you are going to prepare the filling and you fire up your oven to 200 degrees celcius for preheating.
Other preppings:
– Also greese the cake spring of your choice, about 26cm in diameter would do. And dust with some leftover buckwheat flour.
– Take all the leaves of the Stinging Nettle stalks, we need just the leaves. You can do it bare handed again if the season is right, otherwise use protection with gloves.
– Slice all other needed ingredients.
– If you leave out the meat, slowly roast the pine nuts until they are golden brown, then set aside for later use.
Prepare the filling:
Heat some olive oil and toss in the garlic and unions, then (throw in the meat if you prefer panchetta or bacon), add the mushrooms, then finally go ahead, be brave and add the Stinging Nettle leaves, next the broccoli and season with extra celtic sea salt to suit your taste, I’d do 2 teaspoons of that. Then flavor ahead with the spices as summed up in the ingredient listing (nutmeg, paprika powder, chilli pepper, tumeric (leave the parsley for later) and bake it well to make sure the stinging is out of the nettles (heating Stinging Nettles takes away their sting).
Prepare the quiche:
Take the dough out of the fridge. Shape in a cylinder shape of like 25cm, slice the dough in half. 1 part is for the bottom, the 2nd part for the sides. As this is a gluten-free Stinging Nettle quiche, the buckwheat isn’t going to be very elastic, so I slice the dough in very thin slices, like 3mm and then kneed them out a little and spread them out over the bottom. Holes can be filled up later. Do the same with the dough for the sides. Leftovers are to fill up the weak spots of course, just use your fingers.
When you’re done with the crust mix the roasted pine nuts with the filling and add the filling to the crust and spread out over the bottom.
Then take a bowl. Mix the remaining 4 eggs, the milk, the ricotta cheese and the gruyere cheese. Poor over the quiche filling, just spoon it through a little to make sure it is evenly spread out and put in in the middle of your preheated oven for 40 minutes on 200 degrees Celcius.
When it’s done, you may find a beautiful Quiche coming out of your own oven! Let it cool for 1 hour and enjoy the perfect taste. You might like to keep some apart for later use as it makes a great quick lunch when served cold as well! Or throw in the freezer to have something at hand to serve your guests when you lack time to bake. They might be impressed!
*** I say: ” Buon Appetito!! ” ***
Can’t wait to hear how you liked this! Stay in tune for more nettle recipes and much more by following this blog or get noticed on my Instagram profile!
Indulge!!!
