Hilary's Nettle, Mushroom and Potato Soup

With apologies to Lady Ridley.

1/2 lb (two large) potatoes
1/2 lb (250 g) of fresh young nettle tops
two cloves garlic, crushed
half a large onion, chopped fine
tin of cream of mushroom soup
two cups whole milk
two oz. butter
four large mushrooms, chopped
marjoram,
tablespoon honey
two chicken oxo cubes
cup of white wine (optional).

Boil the potatoes until tender, save the water and take off the heat. Don't strain. Add two chicken oxos to the potato water. Stir.

After washing them and straining in a colander, coarsely chop the nettle tops (with gloves on!) and sauté them in a pan with the butter. Nettles, like all leafy vegetables, cook down quite a lot and take up a lot of room in the pan before they do, so this might take a couple of batches in the pan to get through such a lot of nettles.

Crush the garlic and sauté together with the chopped mushrooms and onion. Ladle a little of the potato water into the pan to loosen up the stuff stuck to the pan.

Pour the lot in with the potatoes. Add the sautéed nettles. (I threw in half a chopped and peeled apple, but only because it happened to be sitting on the counter going brown from breakfast.) Add the tin of mushroom soup, marjoram and honey (eases the saltyness of the oxo and enhances flavours). Stir in the milk and allow the whole thing to simmer for 25 mins on very low heat stirring frequently.

Add the wine (I found it a bit too rich without something acidic and white wine complements the mushrooms and nettles very well).

Puree in a blender.

Eat.

(Esp. good with a fresh crusty bun and butter.)