For that minty fresh taste...

Nope, this isn't going to be a post about chewing gum- it's about making something from scratch for the first time with things growing literally in our backyard (and I'm not talking about escargots...). We had Jeff and Allison over for dinner yesterday and to accompany the roast lamb (for which I take no credit whatsoever- that goes to our beloved friend Joe, Trader Joe that is...), I made fresh mint sauce from the profusely growing mint plants outside our house.

1. First I pulled a handful of mint stalks to get about 2 cups of mint leaves. Those stalks look like a lot but don't add up to much once you take them apart. You also need a couple teaspoons of sugar, vinegar and lemon juice.


2. You sprinkle the sugar over the washed mint leaves and let that sit for about an hour. That's apparently supposed to counteract the initial bitterness of the mint. I love how the sugar forms a light crystalline crust over the bright green leaves. So pretty...


3. After an hour, you bunch the leaves up and chop them. See what happens after the wash and sugar have had their way with the mint. That's all 2 cups of mint leaves amount to after I chopped them up.


4. You then heat up 2 tablespoons of vinegar and 2 tablespoons of lemon juice. I guess you could just use vinegar but we don't have the fancy sorts like wine or apple, and just plain vinegar smells really noxious if you ask me. Lemon and mint go really well together though. Nice and fresh, like how mornings ought to smell. Which is how the kitchen (and my fingers) smelled like for a good 4 hours- lovely (the smell, not my fingers...). It took about two seconds to heat since my pot was disproportionately big for 4 tablespoons of liquid. Pour it over the mint and stir. You end up with a deep emerald mixture that doesn't quite yet taste like anything actually.

I added a wee bit of salt and some olive oil to make it a tad smoother. You have to let it sit for about 2 hours until the mint has infused the vinegar/ lemon, by which time the sauce should turn moss green.

5. This is just before Jeff and Allison arrived. To accentuate the mint theme, I thought it would be nice to put together a little arrangement with the mint flowers from the plant. They're shaped like lavender flowers, but have miniature blossoms within them.


6. Here's a close-up of the mint flower arrangement.


The final taste of the mint sauce was actually rather mild- all the aroma and freshness of the mint and lemon without the violent acridity. It worked great with the lamb which was darn tasty (it did say "Well-seasoned Bonless Leg of Lamb" on the package)- kind of added that extra layer of taste without being distracting. There was also roasted vegetables pasta and Jeff & Allison brought Spanish Breaded Tomatoes and stir-fried veggies. Jude made a refreshing summery concoction of Ribena (for the unenlightened among you, that's a blackcurrant syrup all Singaporean children- and children from former British colonies I suspect- grew up with), pomegranate soda, and soda water. We wanted to take a photo of the table after everything was put together, but the camera ran out of battery. Cest 'la vie. Give a little more love, I might make the meal again- homemade mint sauce and all...