Purple sprouting broccoli may be the only green vegetable in the garden, but in the hedgerow all kind of edible greens are starting show. In particular, the fresh young shoots of nettles should not be overlooked, says Hugh.

They make a great soup, which I described in The River Cottage Cookbook, and also a very fine risotto. It’s even better if you combine the nettles with wild or cultivated sorrel.

To serve two as a main course, or four as a starter:

Young nettles
Wild sorrel leaves
900ml vegetable or chicken stock
One onion
50g butter
175g Arborio rice
50g grated Parmesan

Directions:

Wearing stout rubber gloves and thick socks, pick a generous colander-full of young nettles - the top four or six leaves of each young plant.

Pick as many wild sorrel leaves as you can - up to half the quantity of nettles. Or use cultivated sorrel from the garden.

Rinse the leaves thoroughly and pick them over, discarding grass, bugs etc and separating the sorrel from the nettle.

Bring a large pan of salted water to the boil and blanch for a couple of minutes, then drain, saving the liquid.

Squeeze well in a colander or sieve to extract as much water as possible (you could make this into a strong nettle tea, a great tonic for the blood).

Finely chop the squeezed nettle leaves. Finely chop the sorrel too, and set aside.

Heat about 900ml vegetable or chicken stock until almost boiling and leave over a very low heat.

In a separate heavy-based saucepan, sweat an onion, finely chopped, in about 50g of butter until soft and translucent but not browned.

Add 175g of Arborio rice and mix well for a few seconds to coat the grains with oil, then pour a third of the stock and bring to a gentle simmer.

Cook, stirring, until almost all the stock has been absorbed. Add the chopped nettles and a little more stock.

From then on, add more stock a little at a time until all the liquid has been absorbed and the rice is nicely ‘al dente’.

You may not need all the stock, but the texture should be loose and creamy. Now stir in the finely shredded sorrel leaves.

Check and adjust the seasoning.

Stir another knob of butter and a good 50g of grated Parmesan into the risotto.

Serve straight away, with more Parmesan and the grater at the table.

Nettle and Sorrel Risotto is only one recipe from The River Cottage Year, available in the online shop for just £10.