This is a good patch of stinging nettles. They are perfect at this time of year — just bring along some work gloves, your kitchen scissors and a plastic bag and snip off the tender tops. I could literally fill the freezer with cooked nettles awaiting their uses in pasta, risottos, or just on a plate with a little butter, salt and pepper.

You’ll get some strange looks when you’re out harvesting. Some people wonder about the green plant you’re stuffing into a shopping bag, one guy asked me about all the ‘mint’ I was cutting (it’s probably a bad idea to make a mojito with these). A woman out walking her dog knew they were nettles, but was surprised that they were actually edible, and not just painful.

Well they are both painful and edible. Cook them and they won’t be painful. For dinner, stinging nettle risotto.

You can just see the hairs that deliver the payload of chemical irritants into your skin (if you’re not wearing a long-sleeve shirt, long pants and gloves). Fortunately, cooking them in boiling water completely negates the stingers.

The risotto was made with the intense liquid remaining after cooking about 5 lbs of nettles. This liquid is medicine. Save it for a nutritious tonic. Some nettle purée has also been added to give the deep green colour and flavour. If green had a flavour, this might be it. Some cooked nettles and parmigiano-reggiano are on top.

You could also use the nettle stock as a soup. Here is some quinoa cooked in the stock with chopped nettles and caramelized onions. Quinoa is a source of complete protein. Nettles are very high in protein. Needless to say, this soup is extremely healthy and delicious.

The white trillium is the flower emblem of the Province of Ontario.

Instead of white trilliums carpeting the forest floor, we end up with the garlic mustard plant. Lots of it.

Introduced to North America by settlers back in the late 1800s, garlic mustard is now considered an invasive weed.  Prime habitat for the trillium is being taken over by garlic mustard. Good thing garlic mustard is edible.

If you enjoy bitter greens (like dandelion) you will like this. When the leaves are bruised they smell like garlic (hence the name). Mixed with some ricotta, they’d make a good filling for ravioli, or the main ingredients in some gnocchi.

Gnocchi it is.

Garlic Mustard Gnocchi

400 g ricotta
350 g garlic mustard greens, chopped (weight after blanching in boiling, salted water, squeezed dry)
1 egg
70 g flour, maybe a bit more
20 g gruyère, grated
20 g parmigiano-reggiano, grated
sea salt
freshly ground black pepper
nutmeg, grated

Bring a large pot of salted water to the boil.

Meanwhile, put the ricotta and chopped greens into a food processor and form a paste. Pulse in the flour, egg, cheese and seasonings. Turn down the heat so that the water is simmering. Take a small spoon of the dough and drop it into the water. After the gnoccho has floated to the surface and cooked for a couple more minutes, remove it with a slotted spoon and taste. If it has broken apart, add a bit more flour. Adjust the seasoning if necessary.

Process all the gnocchi, removing them to a sheet pan that has been lightly coated with olive oil. Use right away with an appropriate sauce (like scamorza affumicata, for example), or cool completely and refrigerate or freeze.

I have a bottle of Marmite that’s been languishing in the back of the cupboard for quite some time. Instead of just smearing it on buttered toast (not that there’s anything wrong with that), I was looking for more interesting applications of this ingredient, which tends to elicit either hatred or love.

How about Marmite rarebit palmiers? A combination of a recipe by Gary Rhodes for Welsh rarebit made with Marmite, and a box of puff pastry (with a sprinkling of smoked paprika on top for good measure).

These are some tasty hors d’oeuvres. Even people who hate Marmite will eat them. Especially if they are holding a drink in the other hand.

For another use of Marmite, a big ‘thank you’ to Sarah at veggieDELISH for posting her Mum’s delicious “Marmite Tart” recipe.

There’s only 1 tsp of Marmite in the entire recipe, but its signature flavour definitely comes through — you end up with a buttery, light cake with cheese pockets and a huge umami hit from the Marmite. Serve with a salad dressed with a strong vinaigrette, to cut through the buttery richness. The only change I made was adding more grated cheese and lining some individual ramekins with panko after the butter.

Marmite and Cheddar Flan

based on the recipe at veggieDELISH

1 cup all-purpose flour
½ cup + 1 ½ T melted butter
1 cup cheddar cheese, grated
1 cup milk
1 tsp salt
1 large egg
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp Marmite
¼ cup panko breadcrumbs

Preheat the oven to 350°F.

In an electric mixer combine the flour and baking powder. Slowly add the melted butter and then add the grated cheese.

In a separate bowl, whisk together the milk, salt and egg. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients.

Pour into a pie dish that has been buttered and had panko bread crumbs swirled around the inside. Bake for about 30 minutes, or until a skewer comes out cleanly from the centre, and the top is crackled and slightly golden.

Using the skewer, make small holes over the top of the tart. Melt together the 1 ½ T butter and 1 tsp Marmite and pour over the warm tart.