Nasturtium Dishes

What can I make with Nasturtium? I want to make a soup, but I don't know how to go about it...

chop it up with veg and let it simmer/cook or whatever that technique is called?

 

I don't think it's normally cooked, just add some leaves to a salad, treat it a bit like rocket.

 

I wanted to put it in a pot boiling so the peppery taste everyone goes on about comes out!

 

Do what you want to do with it Kyle. Every part of the nasturtium is edible.
I only ever put a few leaves and flowers in the salad bowl. But if you want to put the lot in the soup pot - why not.
Just make soup as you would normally do.
Melt some butter (or heat some oil) in a pot.
Add some chopped onion (and garlic if you like it)
Add some other vegetables as a thickener ( carrot, potato, pumpkin, squash, kohl rabbi, leek or a mixture - whatever you have) Turn the heat to low, put a lid on and let the lot sweat for about 20 mins.
Add some stock, bring to the boil, turn the heat down and simmer for half an hour.
Liquidise the lot. Taste and add salt and pepper to taste.
Stir in the chopped nasturium and simmer about 10 minutes.
Done.
To serve - put a tablespoon of yoghurt in each bowl and ladle over the soup. Serve with the bread you like - and maybe a bit of grated cheese.

 

Great & easy to follow recipe! thanks! :D

 

I've used nasturtium in soups and stir fries quite a lot.

The thing to remember is it doesn't respond well to cooking heat.

If you put it in a cooked dish (like soup or stir fries), the trick is to put it in for no more than the last minute of cooking, otherwise all the flavour (and texture) is destroyed.

If you use the leaves in cooked dishes, I chop them up and chuck them in the pan after I've turned the heat off, just before serving.

Better to use the thicker stems, chopped quite small, in cooked dishes. The stems have a lovely sweet but peppery flavour. Much sweeter than the leaves, and they stand up to heat a bit better too. Still only the last 1 minute of cooking though (at most, in the searing heat of the wok when stir frying, a minute would just wipe it out).

 

I use them in sandwiches with turkey, chicken, or by themselves with butter on rye bread. Or in a salad, the flower is a nice decoration.