Showing posts with label condiments. Show all posts
Showing posts with label condiments. Show all posts

Wednesday, June 19, 2024

Fresh Mint Sauce

Sharp and bright, this fresh mint sauce is the perfect, classic accompaniment for roasted and grilled lamb. Make it at least one hour ahead of serving to allow the ingredients time to meld together.

Food Lust People Love: Sharp and bright, this fresh mint sauce is the perfect, classic accompaniment for roasted and grilled lamb. Make it at least one hour ahead of serving to allow the ingredients time to meld together..

I know it’s not eaten as commonly in the US as it is in the UK, but lamb is becoming more readily available, at least in Houston, and that is a good thing. It’s one of our favorite animal proteins.

If you live in the States, I can highly recommend the lamb chops that Costco stocks. They are tender and usually quite thick cut so they are great on a charcoal grill. If you live in the UK, Australia or New Zealand, you are spoiled for choice of lamb cuts and sources!

We recently spent a week in Wales and were in absolute lamb-y heaven. We even managed to source hogget (lamb 1-2 years old) from a well-stocked local butcher and salt march lamb, raised in the Gower on the southern coast from the farm shop

If your mint plants are anything like mine, they grow wild in the summer. Now is a fabulous time to make fresh mint sauce.  

Fresh Mint Sauce

My sprigs of mint weighed 125g. Strip the mint leaves from the stalks. Keep the leaves and discard the stalks. This recipe is adapted from one on Fuss Free Flavors.

Ingredients
1 cup, packed, or 54g fresh mint leaves
4 teaspoons sugar
3 tbsp boiling water
3 tbsp white wine vinegar
Good pinch fine sea salt

Method
Place the mint leaves on a chopping board. Spoon the sugar on top


Rock your very sharp knife back and forth through the mint to chop it. Push it into a pile again, and chop some more. 


Keep going until it is chopped very finely.


Transfer the mint and sugar mixture to a small bowl. Add the boiling water, and mix together, using a wooden spatula or spoon so you can pound the mint gently to soften it. 


Add the vinegar and the pinch of salt and mix together. 


Leave to stand for at least an hour to allow the flavors to meld. I tasted this immediately and thought, “Oh, no, this isn’t like the mint sauce I’m used to.” An hour later and it was much nicer than store-bought!

Serve alongside/on top of your favorite lamb roast or grilled lamb steaks or chops.

Food Lust People Love: Sharp and bright, this fresh mint sauce is the perfect, classic accompaniment for roasted and grilled lamb. Make it at least one hour ahead of serving to allow the ingredients time to meld together..

Enjoy! 

Welcome to the 13th edition of the 2024 Alphabet Challenge, brought to you by the letter M. Many thanks to Wendy from A Day in the Life on the Farm for organizing and creating the challenge. Check out all the M recipes below:


M. Fresh Mint Sauce - this post!


Pin this Fresh Mint Sauce!

Food Lust People Love: Sharp and bright, this fresh mint sauce is the perfect, classic accompaniment for roasted and grilled lamb. Make it at least one hour ahead of serving to allow the ingredients time to meld together..

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Wednesday, November 25, 2015

Fresh Orange Cranberry Sauce

Fresh cranberry sauce with a kick of citrus. This is no-cook sauce is easy to make and pairs well with your Thanksgiving or Christmas turkey dinner.

I must confess that in our family, we are fans of the jellied cranberry sauce and take a certain amount of pride in sliding it straight out of the can whole and slicing it up to serve just as is. None of this mashing it around to pretend it’s homemade in any way, shape or form. It’s completely different from this fresh orange cranberry sauce so I think there is a place for both in my life. Neither requires any cooking. Both are ready at a moment’s notice. I’m not going to pick a favorite but if you turn your nose up at the jellied stuff, give this a try.

I could have sworn I watched Paul Hollywood make his version of this on a Great British Bake Off Christmas master class but I’ll be danged it I can find it online to give you the link. If anyone out there has it, I'd be happy to hear from you.

UPDATE: I am much obliged to my friend, Nicky, with whom I watched that episode. She has just informed me that it was Mary Berry who made the fresh cranberry sauce, not Paul. Turns out it wasn't from the GBBO master class at all but Mary Berry's Absolute Favorite Christmas Favorites, which we watched that same day. Mystery solved!

For those who celebrate, may you enjoy a happy Thanksgiving tomorrow full of good food, family and bountiful blessings!

Ingredients
1 1/2 cups or 170g fresh clean cranberries
1/4 cup or 60ml vanilla wine syrup or rich (double sugar) simple syrup with a small splash each of sherry and vanilla
Pinch fine sea salt
1 orange

Method
Peel and seed your orange, making sure you remove all the pith and the hard bits in the middle with a sharp knife.



Put everything in a food processor and chop till finely ground.



Enjoy!


Need a little inspiration for the Thanksgiving feast still? Here are some of our Cajun family favorites.

Nanny's pecan pie



My grandmother's maque choux or spicy Cajun corn



My grandmother's green beans and new potatoes



Extra rich creamed potatoes


And for Friday when you have leftover turkey and gravy? Make my easy turkey potpie with store-bought puff pastry.

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