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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.