[Bludger]

Last year I was in Sweden and had nettle soup (very popular there because it signifies the end of winter). This is the time of year for the new nettles, which when i read up on them last year I discovered they contain as yet unknown chemicals.
I used this recipe last year, it was great although bright green it tastes primarily of chicken stock and creme fresh  

NETTLE SOUP
Ingredients


½ carrier bag full of nettles, tops or young leaves
55g butter
1 large or 2 medium onions, finely sliced
1 litre good chicken, fish or vegetable stock
3 tablespoons cooked rice or 3 rice cakes
2 tablespoons thick cream or crème fraiche
salt and freshly ground black pepper


To Garnish:
A little extra cream or crème fraiche and few sprigs of wild chervil or parsley, chopped

Method
Pick over the nettles and wash them thoroughly. Discard only the tougher stalks, as the soup will be liquidised. Melt the butter in a large pan and sweat the onion, plus the carrot, celery and garlic if using, until soft but not brown. Add the stock and pile in the nettles. Bring to the boil and simmer for 5-10 minutes, until the nettles are tender. Season with salt and pepper, and with nutmeg if you wish. Puree the soup in a liquidiser with the cooked rice or rice cakes (you will probably have to do this in 2 batches). Return to a clean pan, stir in the cream and reheat, but do not let it boil. Check the seasoning, then serve, garnishing each bowl with a swirl of cream and a generous sprinkling of chopped herbs.

To serve cold:
An alternative is to serve this soup cold. After liquidising and adding the cream, pour the soup into a bowl and leave to cool, then transfer to the fridge for a couple of hours before serving. For accelerated cooling, fill a large basin or saucepan with ice cubes and water and place the bowl of soup in the iced water. Stir to chill, adding more ice cubes if the first batch melts. Stir well just before serving and ladle the soup out into bowls. Garnish each with a swirl of cream and a sprinkling of chopped chives and wild chervil.

Serves 6

after the basics I just kept tasting and adding.

[compostqueen]

Sounds fab  

you can use spud in it too  

[celjaci]

Thanks, might try that later.

They use early nettles in Bosnia too - said to be very cleansing
Over there they use them instead of spinach to make a kind of pie