Nettles can be treated pretty much like spinach, with a couple of difference: the obvious one (they sting), the less obvious (they don't shrink quite as much as spinach), and the taste-dependent (I remove stalks from nettles, not necessarily from spinach). They have a distinctive taste which is not like spinach -- they remind me of zucchini a bit.

The traditional recipes for nettles back home are risotto, frittata and soup. I guess they could also be used as filling or for pies (like spinach), but I've never had them that way. Today I made frittata. I used about 1/2 pound of nettles, so the quantities are based on that.

So, first catch your nettles. I cheated and bought them from the organic market, because I'm not anywhere near a good "wild" source. You want to get your nettles somewhere clean, which means far from the city and not too close to the road. Use gloves (they don't need to be heavy, the stinging hairs are tiny and soft); collect young/top leaves by preference (this is a spring vegetable, really -- early June is pushing it, but I guess we're in Ireland.)

Wash the nettles well in a couple of changes of water, remove thick stalks, if any, while you're at it. In fact, they're not as dirty as spinach, but you still don't know where they've been :-) Use gloves -- latex gloves are quite enough. I suspect that they become harmless at some point during this process of soaking and handling, but why risk? I just keep the gloves on until they're in the pan, at which point they're definitely safe. Drain and dry (or spin) -- you don't need the extra water.

Slice 2 small onions thinly. Roughly mince 1 or more cloves of garlic.

Heat some olive oil in a non-stick frying pan with a pinch of salt. Add onion and garlic and (if you like) some chilli, and fry on medium until the onions start to go transparent. Add the nettles and cook for another 5-10 minutes, until they look cooked :-)

Meanwhile make the batter. My standard proportions are 1 tbsp flour and 2 tbsp milk per egg. (I used 2 eggs for this). Mix flour and milk until smooth, add eggs, salt and pepper to taste, and beat. Grated cheese can be added. Herbs are sometimes added too, but I didn't think they would improve the nettle version so I didn't use any.

When the nettles+onions are cooked, pour them into the egg batter and mix very well. Adjust salt.

Then put the pan back on the cooker and pour in the veg-and-egg mix. (No extra oil is needed if it's a non-stick pan). With these quantities, the frittata is definitely more veg than egg -- which is quite right for a green-leaf frittata. Spread the stuff around the pan so it's uniform.

Cook on medium-high for about 5 minutes on one side, flip and repeat for the other side. A frittata is generally meant to be about 1 or 1-1/2 cm thick, so choose a pan accordingly... but it's not a disaster if it's thinner or thicker.

Eat hot or cold, it's quite nice either way. All frittatas are, and they're also traditionally used as filling for panini for a snack, on their own.