Everyone in the southern hemisphere who has a vegie patch is sure to have mint galore. Once a fortnight, I rip it out, leaving only a small patch to run riot for the next fortnight. It is amazingly prolific. We use a lot of mint but nowhere near as much as we grow.
I am going through a barbecued lamb phase at the moment. This consists of buying a butterflied leg of lamb, marinating it in lemon juice, olive oil, garlic, rosemary and oregano and then cooking it over a high temperature on the barbecue. When it is cooked, I pour a decent amount of mint sauce over the lamb then let it rest for 10 minutes or so. Alas, we arrived in Bridgetown on Christmas Eve without mint sauce. What was I to do? After one look at the prolific mint, I decided to make some. It is so very easy and it is great to find a use for some of that mint.
This recipe is from taste.com.au, although I have changed the amount of water and sugar somewhat. I found the original quantities made the sauce a little too tangy. You may also want to play around with the quantities.
Ingredients:
- ¾ cup chopped mint
- 2 tbs* caster sugar
- ½ cup boiling water
- ½ cup white vinegar
*These are 20 mil tablespoons.
Instructions:
- Put the mint into a heat-resistant bowl.
- Add the sugar and boiling water and stir until the sugar dissolves.
- Add the vinegar and mix well.
I also added 2 teaspoons of Instant Clearjel to thicken the sauce slightly. I appreciate most Australians don’t have Clearjel in their cupboard so you won’t be able to do this but US readers may wish to thicken their sauce. I slowly sprinkled the Instant Clearjel into the vinegar whilst Maus whisked it. As I am sure all who have used Instant Clearjel know, it is very quick to clump. If it does, just give it a whirl with a stick blender before adding the vinegar to the mint.
I had no idea how easy that looks to make. Isn’t it amazing how mint can take over a garden?
Diane, I have mint everywhere.
Sort of like my lemon balm that I planted to make potpourri & now I can’t get rid of it – it’s everywhere!
I Love mint sauce!
Me too Pam
Your sauce looks delicious and has maintained a vibrant colour. What is clearjel Brenda? I made mint jelly recently, it was nice, but I wasn’t too happy with the final product, so I have yet to work on the recipe.
Hi Liz. Here is a pretty good explanation http://www.pickyourown.org/ClearJel.htm
I bought mine from Berryfarm 1lb of instant and 1lb of the normal. The postage was pretty bad but it takes a while to use. It is so much better than cornflour. Instant clumps so they say mix it with sugar first (if sugar is in the recipe) or mix it with a stick blender. It is fantastic, you don’t have to heat your desserts etc. Plain Clearjel is used in preserves, especially pie fillings.
I’m salivating at your description of your barbecued lamb with mint sauce
Hi Claire. It does taste good. Perfect summer meal.
It must be so satisfying to be able to make your own sauce!
Hi Ayesha. The best part is using up some of the mint. I hate growing it and then throwing it out.