Roasted Onion Mashed Potatoes with Stinging Nettle Sauce

I was again foraging around the area and I found lots of young stinging nettle leaves peaking out of the grass.
Nettle is amazing in the kitchen and I mostly love it in a bechamel sauce with a bit of garlic, it kind of tastes similar to spinach.

When we pick up the nettle for food, we take only the tops of the young nettles.

Nettles are full of nutrients such as; vitamins C, D, and K. minerals like iron, selenium, zinc, and magnesium.
Nettles are great for our health; they can help us with constipation, it cleanses our liver, helps boost the immune system and balances our body weight.

I like to serve nettle sauce with any kind of mashed potatoes, but today I prepared roasted onion mashed potatoes.

This week's theme at Qurator's Hive Top Chef challenge is sauces and Roasted Onion Mashed Potatoes with Stinging Nettle Sauce recipe is my contribution to Qurator's: Hive Top Chef!!

Ingredients for the roasted onion mashed potatoes:

• 800 g of potatoes
• 3 tablespoons of olive oil
• 150 g of red onion
• 1 dl of vegetable stock
• 1 teaspoon of sweet red paprika powder
• 1 teaspoon of celery salt
• 1 tablespoon of margarine
• salt and pepper to taste

Ingredients for the nettle sauce:

• 150 g of nettle tops
• 200 ml of water
• 3 tablespoons of olive oil
• 3 tablespoons of all-purpose flour
• 1 garlic clove
• 50 ml of full-fat coconut milk
• 200-300 ml of vegetable stock
• ¼ teaspoon of nutmeg
• salt and pepper to taste

Preparation:

1. Wash potatoes and place them in a pot. Cover with boiling water, place it on low heat and cook for about 30 minutes, or until tender. That also depends on the variety and size of the potatoes.
   
2. Place the nettle tops in a small pot and add a small amount of water, about 200 ml.
   
   Place on the heat and bring it to boil. Simmer for about one minute then take off the heat and let it sit for about 5 minutes. This will reduce all the bitterness that we won't like to have in our sauce.
   
3. Drain the nettle tops and place them in a blender with a bit of coconut milk. Blend well. You can use drained nettle water for a medicinal nettle tea.
4. Place a small pot or a saucepan on low heat and heat up the olive oil. Add flour and whisk it with the olive oil.
   
   When all smooth, add finely chopped garlic and start adding hot vegetable stock.
   
   Add just as much to get a saucy thickness. Add blended nettle tops with coconut milk, nutmeg, salt and pepper to taste.
   
   Cook until the flour cooks through, whisk frequently not to burn it. It should simmer for 20-30 minutes. When the sauce gets too thick, add more vegetable stock or water.
   
   Whisk it frequently.
   
5. Drain the potatoes and let them cool down enough to be able to peel them. Peel them and clean out the eyes or dark spots.
   
6. Peel and slice red onions.
   
   Heat up olive oil and slowly roast the onion at low heat.
   
7. Add potatoes, vegetable stock, celery salt, sweet red paprika powder and mash it.
   
   Add salt and pepper to taste, a bit of margarine and more liquid if needed. Mash it well.