Nettle soup

Ingredients 1 leek, 1/2 pint vegetable stock, 1 potato, 200g nettles, butter

Serves: 2 Preparation: 20 minutes

When I first started making nettle soup, it took me literally 10 minutes of blanching and blending nettles with vegetable stock before I was eating my lovely fresh bowl of soup. These days I like more depth of flavour and a thicker texture which only adding leek and potato brings to the table. 20 minutes for soup is still great in my opinion, and nettles are freely available so this is certainly easy on the pocket.

1) Dice the leek and sautee until soft in a knob of butter.

2) Peel and dice the potato and add to the leek. Stir through and then add the vegetable stock.

3) To prepare the nettles, pick them carefully by cutting through the lowest part of the stem with secateurs or good scissors, then pick them up by the stems and pop them in your foraging bag/basket. Pour into a colander and run under cold water until any bugs have been washed away. You can use rubber gloves to protect your hands when picking the leaves from the stems but years of cooking burns have given me asbestos fingers and a few stings in you really don't much notice the tingle any more.

4) Once the potatoes are soft (about 15 minutes) add the nettles to the pan and simmer for 5 minutes. Remove from the heat and pulse in the blender before serving.

Nettle & feta tarts

Ingredients 4oz plain flour, 2oz butter, 3 eggs, 75g marscapone, 150g nettles, 35g feta.

Serves: 6 Preparation: 45 minutes

I love nettles. The green flavour makes a lovely refreshing tea, a peppery soup that only watercress can top for simplicity... but it also works well for a bit of indulgence. These tarts are feather light with melting soft nettles and the crumbly tang of feta.

1) To make the shortcrust pastry measure 4oz of plain flour and 2oz of cold butter. Cut the butter into small cubes and drop along with the flour into a food processor until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs. Drip in 2-3 tablespoons of cold water until the mixture quickly forms a ball. Wrap this in clingfilm and put in the fridge for 15 minutes. Once chilled, roll out and press firmly into pastry cases. Bake blind for 5 minutes and set aside to cool.

2) To prepare the nettles, pick them carefully by cutting through the lowest part of the stem with secateurs or good scissors, then pick them up by the stems and pop them in your foraging bag/basket. Pour into a colander and run under cold water until any bugs have been washed away. You can use rubber gloves to protect your hands when picking the leaves from the stems but years of cooking burns have given me asbestos fingers and a few stings in you really don't much notice the tingle any more. Drop the leaves in boiling water, stir once, then pour back into the colander. Plunge into ice water to stop the leaves cooking and retain their colour. Strain and set aside.

3) Whisk together the eggs and marscarpone and stir in the nettles and crumbled feta. Spoon into the tart cases and bake for 20 minutes at 180, by which time the pastry and surface of the tart should be golden brown.

Nettle & yoghurt risotto

Ingredients 1 cup risotto rice, 1 white onion,  1 pint vegetable stock, 100ml Rachel's Organic Greek Yoghurt, 150g nettles, butter

Serves: 2 Preparation: 45 minutes

All risottos (no matter what the ingredients) can be made in 3 simple stages. The first is called tostatura - coating the rice in fat, the second involves cooking off some alcohol and the third involves releasing the starch from the rice one ladle of stock at a time. This risotto has the peppery freshness of nettles (which were late in season this year due to the snow) and a wonderful tang of yoghurt - a light change from my tendency towards rich, creamy risotto flavour combinations.

1) To prepare the nettles, pick them carefully by cutting through the lowest part of the stem with secateurs or good scissors, then pick them up by the stems and pop them in your foraging bag/basket. Pour into a colander and run under cold water until any bugs have been washed away. You can use rubber gloves to protect your hands when picking the leaves from the stems but years of cooking burns have given me asbestos fingers and a few stings in you really don't much notice the tingle any more. Drop the leaves in boiling water, stir once, then pour back into the colander. Plunge into ice water to stop the leaves cooking and retain their colour. Strain and set aside.

2) Dice the onion and sautee in a little butter until soft. Add the risotto rice and stir until the rice becomes transparent, revealing a white dot in the centre and pour in the wine.

3) Once the alcohol cooks off, add the first ladle of stock and stir through.

4) Continue adding the stock to the risotto, one ladle at a time, adding the nettles with the second to last ladle of stock.

5) When the rice has fluffed up and has become soft, stir through the yoghurt and serve.