Green Bees
Guest
Hi! all, Could it be possible to gather food from the wild without poisoning yourself. You Betcha! With Basic store cupboard foods like Risotto Rice and Pasta you can knock up a tasty, Nutritious meal for next to nothing.
One word of warning, If you are in doubt about the identification of wild plants, always go by the golden rule of "If in doubt, Don't do it" Some wild plants and fungi have other species with very similar foliage or food groups that can be poisonous or give you a bad tummy Its best to avoid eating something until you can get a positive ID. Always keep a little portion or piece of the plant or fungi you have picked, back. This can be used as a quick method of ID, should you be taken to hospital or go to the doctors.
Bees Knees Wild Nettle and Mushroom Risotto.
Large carrier bag size amount of fresh green nettles.
2 pints of water (you may need more so no need to be anal about measurements of liquid here)
Vegetable stock cube
knob of butter to fry vegetables in
Stick of Celery, 1 carrot and 1 onion
1 Large hand full of Mushrooms (Wild if you are confident and know you fungi are best as they are free and the taste is wonderful.)
Couple of rashers of bacon finely sliced or chopped
Method
Pick a carrier bag full of nettles. (use scissors, or gloves until you perfect the nack of picking the plant without getting stung.) Make sure you wash them first.
1) Chop up the Bacon, onion, celerey and Carrot into small cubes and sweat down until almost soft and bacon cooked but not browned.
2) Add two cups of Risotto Rice and cook for two minutes before adding the liquid. This helps the rice absorb some of the moisture from the vegetables
3) Disolve the vegetable stock cube in the water and add some of it to the rice. Do not add all the water but allow the rice to absorb it before adding any more. Do not let the rice go dry either. Once all the water has been absorbed the rice should resemble the texture and look of rice rice pudding.
4) Chop the nettles and mushrooms roughly and add to the rice mixture and cook until the mushrooms are soft
5) Season with salt and Pepper and serve.
