Nettle and Potato Camp Soup with Mushroom Butter
A foraged greens soup rebuilt from dried stock, potato flakes, and a spoonful of butter stirred in at the end.
- calories
- 520
- weight
- 4.5 oz
- cal / oz
- 116
- protein
- 11 g
- serves
- 1, scales
- prep
- 5 min
- cook
- 15 min
- total time
- 20 min
- water
- 600 ml boiled
- cost
- $
Calorie and protein figures are my own estimates, good enough for planning a food bag and not meant as precise nutrition data.
- Dinner
- Lunch
- Canister stove
- Campfire coals
- Liquid fuel
- Backpacking
- Car camping
- Basecamp
- Gluten free
- Nut free
- One pot
- Dehydrate ahead
- Shelf stable
- Basic
Ingredients
| Instant mashed potato flakes | 1/2 cup | stands in for the fresh russet |
|---|---|---|
| Dried nettles | 1/3 cup, crumbled | wood nettle or stinging nettle, dried at home; spinach or kale flakes work |
| Dried mirepoix | 3 tbsp | carrot, onion, and celery, dehydrated together |
| Chicken bouillon | 2 tsp | or 2 cubes |
| Tomato powder | 1 tbsp | optional, for body and acid |
| Butter powder | 2 tbsp | or 1 tbsp ghee in a leakproof jar |
| Dried mushrooms | 1/4 cup | chanterelle if you have it, otherwise shiitake or porcini |
| Dried chives or onion flakes | 1 tsp | |
| Salt and pepper | to taste |
Method
- Put the dried mushrooms and mirepoix in the pot with 600 ml of water. Bring it to a boil.
- Boil for five minutes, then cut to a simmer and hold ten more. The vegetables need the full time or they stay crunchy.
- Stir in the bouillon, the nettles, and the tomato powder. Two minutes is enough for the greens.
- Off the heat, rain in the potato flakes while stirring. Add them slowly; they thicken fast.
- Stir the butter powder and chives in last, off the heat, so the fat stays on top instead of cooking away. Salt and pepper to finish.
The original is a Turkish-style nettle soup: fresh greens, mirepoix, a potato, chicken stock, half-pureed. None of that travels. The fix is to dehydrate the greens and mirepoix at home and replace the potato with flakes, which do the same job of thickening the pot without twenty minutes of boiling a tuber.
The part worth keeping is the finish. Fat goes in after the heat is off, not at the start, so it sits on the surface and carries the mushroom and onion flavor instead of dissolving into the broth. Dried mushrooms rehydrate in the cooking water and pull double duty as the stock. If you dry your own nettles, blanch them first so they lose the sting.
Packing
Everything dry except the fat goes in one bag: potato flakes, nettles, mirepoix, bouillon, tomato powder, mushrooms, chives. Butter powder rides in its own small bag, or ghee in a screw-top jar. Two bags, one pot.
Variations
- Skip the bouillon for a vegetable base and use olive oil instead of butter to make it vegan.
- A packet of chicken adds 15 g of protein and turns it into a real dinner.
- Dried tomato flakes instead of powder if that is what you have; add them with the mushrooms so they rehydrate.
https://foragerchef.com/wood-nettle-soup-with-pickled-chanterelles-and-ramp-butter