Creamy Stinging Nettle Sauce

I'd never really heard of Nettles until moving to the Northwest. I learned to avoid brushing up against them while hiking in overgrown forests as they provide a famous sting to the skin similar to poison ivy. But unlike poison ivy, nettles are edible! A quick one minute soak in boiling water takes out the sting.
 I get nettles at my farmers market but you can order nettles online as well.  Locals can head to Alberta CoOp to scoop up this weed.  Or, pick them yourselves (with gloves!!) by finding a nettle patch in any local park.  I LOVE the taste of nettles, and promise you will get hooked if you try this recipe! Bonus: nettles are full of vitamin K and A, and have a 40% protein content!

Stinging Nettle Sauce with Mushrooms
You'll need:
1 lb nettles
1 stick unsalted butter
1 shallot, diced
1 cup white wine at room temperature
3/4 cup mushroom of choice (I used shiitake)
1/2 cup half & half
1 cup freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano
Pasta of choice (I used fresh whole wheat fehttuchini, but anything works!)

1. Remove stems from nettles (use gloves/tongs) and boil in salted water for one full minute.
2. Drain and squeeze out extra moisture, chop & set aside.
3. Melt butter over medium heat.  Add shallot and cook until soft.
4.  Add wine, half & half.  Cook until reduced and thick, about ten minutes.
5. Meanwhile, sautee mushrooms in 1T olive oil, salt and pepper until mushrooms begin to reduce (about five minutes).
6. Stir Parmigiano, mushrooms, and nettles into cream sauce.  Toss in al dente cooked pasta and cook, stirring over stove for three minutes until everything is combined.

I had a little bit of leftover nettles afterwords and I made a nettle pesto with them!  Use them in any standard basil pesto recipe but substitute the basil for boiled nettles.  For pesto, squeezing out ALL extra moisture from the nettles is key, you want the pesto to be oily, not watery. I spread it on crostini for a quick app when we had friends over the next day.  Alternatively you can use it as a spread on sandwiches, or stirred in eggs.