P
Italian · Friuli-Venezia Giulia
Minestra di Ortica e Ricotta Friulana
Nettle and ricotta soup from Friuli — a spring preparation using young nettles collected before they flower, cooked in a light vegetable broth with onion and potato, then enriched off heat with fresh sheep's milk ricotta stirred in to create a creamy, slightly grainy texture. The ricotta melts partially into the broth, thickening it without blending, and creating pockets of creamy dairy against the iron-green nettle broth. A traditional Friday soup in the Udine countryside.
I
The Market List
The benchmark for each ingredient, and who stocks it near you. Tap a stockist to go straight to the product.
200 g
young nettles
top 10 cm of spring growth only, collected before flowering; handle with gloves
Not yet stocked in British Columbia
1
onion
finely chopped
Your own market
200 g
1 litre
light vegetable broth
Not yet stocked in British Columbia
250 g
fresh sheep's milk ricotta
Your own market
2 tbsp
olive oil
Friulian, raw; for finishing
Your own market
to taste
salt
Your own market
Optional garnish
to taste
black pepper
freshly ground; a few turns per bowl
Your own market
as needed
stale bread
cubed and toasted in butter to make croutons
Your own market
as needed
ricotta affumicata
smoked ricotta, grated over each bowl
Not yet stocked in British Columbia
Each tap is counted, so the stockist sees the demand Provenance sends them.
II
The Method
1
Wearing gloves throughout, strip the top 10 cm of young nettle shoots, discarding all stems. Bring a pot of salted water to a full boil. Blanch the nettles for 60 seconds. Lift them out and set aside. The leaves will have collapsed and their green fixed; the sting is fully neutralised.
2
Warm a generous film of olive oil in a heavy pot over moderate heat. Add the onion and sweat until soft and translucent, without colour. Add the diced potato and stir to coat. Pour in the vegetable broth, bring to a gentle simmer, and cook until the potato is tender and yields without resistance when pressed against the side of the pot.
3
Add the blanched nettles to the simmering broth and cook for a further 2 minutes. The broth will deepen to an iron-green; the nettle leaves will be fully soft. Do not extend the cooking; the colour and delicate spring flavour are at their peak at this point.
4
Remove the pot from the heat entirely, or reduce to the gentlest possible warmth. Spoon the fresh ricotta in rough pieces directly into the soup and stir once, slowly. This is where the dish lives or dies: the residual heat is sufficient to partially melt the ricotta into the broth, thickening it and creating soft dairy clouds; any higher heat will curdle the ricotta into hard, grainy lumps that cannot be recovered. The finished soup should be brothy, with visible pockets of creamy white ricotta against the green. Do not blend.
5
Taste and adjust salt. Ladle into warmed bowls, ensuring each portion receives both broth and ricotta clouds. Finish with a few turns of black pepper and a drizzle of raw Friulian olive oil. Add croutons and a grating of ricotta affumicata if using. Serve immediately.
III
Quality Hierarchy
01
Reserve — Wild young nettles gathered in the first weeks of spring, before any flower bud forms; fresh sheep's milk ricotta from a Friulian latteria on the day of production; ricotta affumicata of local provenance for garnish.
02
Estate — Market-sourced young nettles of confirmed spring growth; sheep's milk ricotta purchased the same day from a specialist cheesemaker or farmers' market; good Friulian or north-eastern Italian olive oil.
03
Market — Young cultivated nettles or the freshest available from a greengrocer; cow's milk ricotta of good quality, drained of excess whey; any light, grassy extra-virgin olive oil.
04
House — Supermarket nettle tops or baby spinach as a fallback; standard supermarket cow's milk ricotta; neutral extra-virgin olive oil. The Friday-soup character of the dish diminishes but the structure holds.
IV
Sensory Tests
◇Touch. Potato dice yields without resistance when pressed against the pot wall — the starch has fully softened and will give body to the broth.
◇Sight. After blanching, nettle leaves have collapsed and their colour is fixed to a deep iron-green — the sting is neutralised and the green is set.
◇Sight. After ricotta is stirred in off heat, the soup shows distinct pale clouds against the green broth — no granular white lumps, no uniform paste; the texture is brothy and dappled.
◇Where it lives or dies. The ricotta must be added off heat or at the gentlest warmth — high heat curdles it into hard, grainy lumps rather than creaming it into soft dairy clouds against the iron-green broth.
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VI
What to Pour
The pairing
Bushmills Malt 10 Year Old
Old Bushmills Distillery · County Antrim — Bushmills Distillery
Not yet stocked in British Columbia
Whisky
From British Columbia
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Without alcohol
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The whole pairingPillar VII
Origin and lineage are part of membership.
Where the dish comes from and how it came to be — on every recipe.
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