"Look up in the sky it’s a bird, it’s a plane, no it’s a nettle defying super hero named Sup!"

That’s right I am here to rescue you from your fear of stinging nettles!

Stinging nettles—also known as Urtica dioica if you speak Latin – can be a bit fearful. You are probably familiar with the stinging nettle. If you have ever gone for a stroll in the woods you may have been attacked by a stand of them. They can be evil super villains! Because just brushing up against them in the wild will cause a painful stinging sensation and an itchy reaction that can last several days.

I was recently sent a bunch of them by Justin at Marx Foods as a promotional challenge. Well, I may not actually be a super hero, but I tend to think that I am endowed with a few super powers, so a challenge like this does not go unmet in my kitchen.

So to show you my (near super hero) super human strength I plan on putting these stinging nettles in my mouth. I will then chew them and swallow them!

I have a tale to tell. It's a tale with a simple lesson. The lesson is this, use great ingredients from quality vendors and you will bring something special to the table. This post may start with a lesson, but it ends with a Giveaway. A giveaway from Tyler Florence and Marx Foods. So I hope you'll read through to the end and take place in this contest. In the meantime I have Roasted Lamb Loin with Sheep's Milk Ricotta Gnocchi, Morel Mushrooms, Pea Tendrils, and Lamb Jus.

You see it all started a couple of weeks ago. I went to the Pebble Beach Food and Wine Festival (#PBFW). I had a fantastic time.

I knew I would love it. It is just my kind of event. Mostly 'cuz there was great food and lots of it. I certainly had my fair share of the offerings and that would have been enough to qualify the weekend as very special indeed. But it was also a great opportunity to learn. Because there were cooking demonstrations and wine tasting events too.

One of these events was a cooking demonstration by Tyler Florence.

So when proposals came due for this month's FoodBuzz 24-24-24 challenge I immediately knew what I wanted to do. I decided I would recreate the meal he presented that day here on Sippity Sup for all of you. I realize it may not be quite the same as being there, but hey it's better than a swift kick in the pants, right?

I want to discuss green garlic again.

In one of the greatest cookbooks ever published, Chez Panisse Cooking, Alice Waters and Paul Bertolli write: "Garlic is commonly used as a mature plant when the bulb containing many cloves has formed. Green garlic is the same plant pulled from the ground at a much earlier stage, before the bulb forms and when the plant resembles a leek, with a stalk about 1/2 inch in diameter.”

That quote was probably my first introduction to green garlic. Though it may have been years later that I actually got my hands on any. Because even in Los Angeles, where we have year round access to the greatest produce in the world green garlic is only just now becoming fairly common at the springtime Farmers Market. To make this point I’ll quote Alice Waters once again: “Until recently, green garlic never appeared in the market and was largely unrecognized by cooks. The quality of green garlic is unique and of great use in the kitchen”.

So you see green garlic is not exactly a new ingredient to me, but it’s not exactly a staple in my life either. It took me a while but reading her words has made me a little bit obsessed with green garlic at the moment. So I am bringing it back for another look. This time in a soup. I have much to learn and Alice Waters may be the perfect teacher.