Saturday 11 April 2020

Nettle and Wild Garlic Oat Crackers





Early spring marks the start of my annual rush to eat as many nettles as a possibly can while they are at their best. This year, however, I decided that wasn't enough. I want the goodness of young nettles all year round, so with the help of my trusty dehydrator, I transformed them into a beautiful green powder.




I have been sprinkling this powder into soups and stews, and even sometimes on pizza to add a nutritional kick and earthy flavour. I haven't been using it for my packed lunches much, so I thought I would try making it into something small and portable that will keep for a while. I think oat crackers are the perfect candidate! I can make a batch on the weekend which should last me all week - leaving my evenings free for me to relax.




I have loosely based these oat crackers on a recipe in Jack Monroe's book, A Year in 120 Recipes. Here are the ingredients I used:

  • 30g Butter
  • A splash of Water
  • 120g Oats
  • A Pinch of Salt
  • 2 Teaspoons Nettle Powder
  • 1 Teaspoon Wild Garlic Powder
  • A pinch of Salt and Pepper

I put my oats in a small blender to make them into a rough powder. She suggests heating up the water and butter in a pan but it's a hot day and I'm feeling a bit lazy so I just mixed it  together with a spoon to form a sticky dough.





Continuing my lazy theme, I didn't role the dough out on a floured board. Too much washing up for my liking! Instead I greased a baking tray and squidged lumps of the dough onto it, cutting the cracker to shape, then picked off the excess. I think thats a pretty neat way of doing it!


I cooked these in the oven at 180c for 20 minutes, turning them half way though. They came off the baking tray nice and easily and in no time I had gobbled about half of them with cucumber and some of my pickled rock samphire. Sooo good. I think next time I will add more of the wild garlic powder as the flavour was quite subtle, but I love how easy they are to make and can't wait to take some into work with me. Not sure I will be able to wait till lunch time though!




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