If you’ve ever spent much time with me, you’ll know that I’m likely to sneak Nettle into just about any meal I make! It can be substituted in place of spinach in almost any recipe, bringing an earthy brightness to any recipe you know and love. One of my favorites is making Nettle Enchiladas! It’s a farm favorite.
Let us know how you like the recipe, and send us some of your favorite ways to use nettle!
Elise
Ingredients:
12 Corn tortillas *
Your favorite enchilada sauce (that’s a recipe for another time!)
Filling Ingredients;
4 cups fresh or fresh frozen finely chopped Nettle (without stem) or 2 cups dried nettle leaf *
1 large onion, diced (I like to use white onions if I have them but yellow or purple work as well)
3 cups Yukon Gold or Russet Potatoes (cubed with skins on and boiled to almost fork tender)
2-3 cups fresh or frozen corn kernels
1 cup bell pepper, diced
3 cloves of garlic (more if you like garlic, less if you don’t)
1 tsp. Dried Cumin powder
1 Tbs. Dried Oregano leaf
1 tsp. Turmeric powder
½ to 1 tsp. Chili powder
1 tsp Nettle seed
2-3 Tbs. olive oil
Vegetable or other broth if needed
Sea salt to taste
*If possible, always use organic especially with corn products
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Meanwhile, heat a few tablespoons of olive oil in a cast iron skillet or your favorite sauté pan over medium/low heat
Add onions, sauté for 5 min until fragrant and translucent
Next, add in pepper, potatoes and garlic until the peppers and potatoes are starting to brown
Then, add all spices except salt to the mixture. Stir well to coat all the vegetables in the spices. At this time I usually use a potato masher and get mixture to a smoother consistency but still leave some texture
Add corn and Nettle leaf to mixture. (If you are using dried nettle leaf you may want to rehydrate it beforehand with about a cup of heated broth.) Add in nettle to the filling mixture. You can also add extra broth or potato water if you are using fresh nettle leaf. Use the broth or potato water to get the texture you want. If you accidentally add too much liquid just keep it on the heat a bit longer until the excess water evaporates.
Add salt to taste. You can add more of any of the other seasonings at this time to your liking.
Remove from heat, and set aside.
Prepare a 12×9 baking dish with a thin layer of your favorite enchilada sauce (I’ll share my recipes another time!)
On a flat pan, heat corn tortillas one or two at a time and spoon filling mixture in the middle of the tortilla using a napkin in between your hand and the tortilla so you won’t burn your hand while holding a hot tortilla. You can add meat or cheese at this time if you wish or just the mixture is great for a vegan option.
Put the tortilla rolled side down on the prepared baking dish.
Repeat this process until all the mixture or tortillas are used up. If you end up having extra filling you can fresh it for making tacos or more enchiladas another time.
Once the pan is filled add enchilada sauce on top of rolled tortillas until they are covered.
Cover the dish with foil and bake for 25 min or until bubbling and hot. You can add cheese on top for the last few minutes if desired.
Add to extra Nettle power and sprinkle a teaspoon of Nettle Seed on top of enchiladas
Let us know how you like the recipe! And send us some of your favorite ways to use nettle.
*Always use organic especially with corn products
