Who would have thought there were so many recipes that use this not-so-common herb. Now you have a lot of variety to choose from when you have a desire for something zingy, or you have a bad cold and need to clear your head.

Check out the soups here, too; they would be ideal for a cold , wintry night, or when you’re under the weather.  Now, you just have to find someone to make it for you …

Try the recipe below for Bill’s Incredible meatloaf, and check out the link at the end of the recipe for more great horsey recipes.

Bill’s Incredible Meatloaf

Number of Servings: 6

Ingredients:

1 C. Breadcrumbs

2 Lb. Ground hamburger meat (can substitute pork or veal for ½ hamburger)

2 Eggs, slightly beaten

1 Medium Onion, sliced

1 C. Salsa or chili sauce

1 Tsp. each of garlic powder and celery seed

2 Tbsp. each of horseradish, mustard (dry or wet) and Worcestershire sauce

1 Pinch salt and ground pepper

Instructions:

Combine all ingredients. Place into a loaf pan or shape into a loaf on a baking sheet. Bake at 400ºF for an hour. Drain, cool and serve.

Sounds tasty, doesn’t it? I’d suggest using the chili sauce rather than the salsa, but that’s just my taste preference. You can find chili sauce in the condiment aisle near the ketchup in most grocery stores.

You’ll find more unusual and zingy recipes featuring that sinus-clearing root at  Horseradish Recipes.

I have always loved the kick that horseradish gives to cocktail sauce, my favorite spicy mustard, and roast beef. Apparently I am following in a long tradition of horseradish lovers, as this excerpt from Ms. Hanst’s article indicates.

Ancient Greeks and Romans knew horseradish by a variety of names and used it as a condiment. It has grown in eastern and central Europe since at least 1,000 B.C. From Russia, Scandinavia and continental Europe, it took root in England, where it met success, perhaps even before the Brits were famous for standing ribs of beef roasts. In 1551 it was known by its medieval English name, red cole — a clue to its relationship with cabbages as well as radishes in the mustard Brassicaceae family. By 1597, in John Gerarde’s “Herball,” the plant was called horseradish.

Click here to read the whole article.  Horseradish gives some kick to the Passover and Easter tables.

I looked around a bit and found out that Stinging Nettles are actually well known, in certain circles, as valuable herbs and for their nutritional value. They’re rich in vitamins, minerals, protein, make excellent fertilzer, and when they’re dried the make a great livestock feed.

Here’s another video on nettles and here’s an article by Euell Gibbons, with several nettle recipes.

Speaking of recipes, Mary sent us this one. She’s from Italy and it seems that the nettle is a pretty popular herb over there.

Stinging nettle Frittata

Time: About 30 minutes

Ingredients for 4 people: (Here’s a conversion chart for the units used)

• 6 eggs,
• 200 gr. of stinging nettle, basil and parsley finely chopped,
• 50 gr. of grated parmesan,
• 5 spoons of extra virgin olive oil,
• salt and pepper.

*Preparation*: Clean, wash, and dry (use clean paper towel) the stinging nettle (use a pair of gloves)

In a non-stick fry pan, heat up 2 spoon of extra virgin olive oil adding the fresh and dry stinging nettle, and let them to absorb the oil fragrance for 5 minutes (use gentle cooking.)

In the meantime in a large bowl put in the 6 eggs and beat them till become creamy.

Once ready, add the grated parmesan cheese, parsley, basil, a pinch of salt, a pinch of pepper. Mix everything well and add in the stinging nettle that you have previously cooked.

Once again, mix it all together and after you have heated it up add the remained 3 spoons of extra virgin olive oil, pour all in the fry pan and cook it well on both side. To cook it on both sides, use a large salad plate or the fry pan lead to turn it on the other side.

As an alternative, if you don’t want to fry it, you can bake it in a pre-heated oven for about 10 minutes. Use a non-stick oven dish and it works better if you have oiled the bottom part of the dish before poring in the ingredients.

The above “frittata” can be enjoyed with some mounded pears, fresh figs, and some soft blue cheese…some rye bread and some white wine will do the rest

A little secret…You can use stinging nettle as an alternative to spinach whenever “spinach” has been mentioned!

Now you can do it in the real world. The people at LearningHerbs.com have a video for you, in anticipation of their new site. The video shows you how to collect and eat Stinging Nettle.

No mention is made of what heals or buffs you get from eating this, and yes, he does recommend adding it to your salad. In place of the spinach.

Here’s the video

Here’s the site

Enjoy your salad.