Erzgebirge nettle soup

Ingredients for 4 servings:

• 500 g potatoes, floury, peeled
• 5 handfuls of nettles, very young shoots
• 1 liter vegetable broth
• 100 g bacon, diced
• 1 medium-sized onion(s), finely chopped
• 2 tbsp butter
• ½ tsp salt
• 2 sprigs of thyme
• 2 cloves garlic, finely sliced
• 1 stalk of lovage
• ½ tsp pepper
• 2 slice(s) bread(s), dark, stale
• 4 tsp sweet cream
• 2 tbsp parsley, chopped

Instructions

Working time approx. 15 minutes; Cooking/baking time approx. 40 minutes; Total time approx. 55 minutes

Grandma’s way

Wash the nettle shoots (young leaves), shake dry, and roughly chop. Slowly fry the bacon cubes with half the butter and the diced onion. Add the chopped nettles until they collapse. The soup should be as hot as possible, but do not fry. Remove the thyme leaves from the stems and add them along with the chopped lovage and the finely sliced ​​garlic for 1 minute, then remove the pan from the heat. Season with salt and pepper. Bring the vegetable stock to a boil, then grate the peeled, raw potatoes into the broth using the coarse side of a grater. Simmer until the potatoes are tender and the broth becomes creamy. Meanwhile, cut the bread into not-too-small cubes and dry-fry it. Then mix with 1 tablespoon of melted, salted butter. Once the soup is creamy, stir in the nettle-bacon mixture and let it simmer for another 5 minutes. Then pour into deep plates, mix with 1 teaspoon of cream each (you should still see it on top as a kind of “pattern”) and serve sprinkled with croutons and parsley.