Bay Area Chef Shares Method to Cooking with Wild Nettles

California Live’s Malou Nubla joins Chef Mark Dommen of One Market Restaurant for a lesson in cooking with wild nettles and garden herbs. He focuses on farm-to-table cuisine and includes the key ingredient, nettles, which can sometimes be overlooked as an ingredient to eat because they are so prickly. Find out how to prepare and enjoy this flavorful herbaceous leaf. The recipe for Chef Mark Dommen’s Open Face Omelet is listed below -Open Face Omelet with Wild Nettles and Garden Herbs Serving size: makes 2 *Ingredients: • 1 tablespoon butter • 6-8 eggs • 2 cups wild nettle leaves • 4 scallions • garlic chives (quantity to personal preference) • tarragon • 1 Meyer lemon • a mixture of edible flower and herb blossoms • sea salt to taste • fresh ground black pepper Preparation: 1. Wearing gloves, pick the leaves from the nettles and then wash and spin dry the nettle leaves. Aim for about 2 cups of leaves. 2. Slice the scallions and set aside. Chop the garlic chives and tarragon and set aside. 3. Crack the eggs into a bowl and whisk to break them up. 4. In a non-stick sauté pan over medium heat, melt the butter and add the scallions. Sweat the scallions for two minutes and add the garlic chives, nettles and season with salt and pepper. Continue to cook until the nettles have wilted. (Don’t eat raw nettles, they must be cooked.) Add the eggs and using a rubber spatula stir the eggs like you are making scrambled eggs. When the eggs are cooked about half way, stop stirring and allow them to set up. Turn off the heat and top the omelette with tarragon and flower blossoms. 5. Carefully transfer the omelette to a plate and grate a little lemon zest over the top.