Mint: Uses & Storage

[Corinna Dunne]

Mint leaves are also an excellent addition to any salad.

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I agree. A particularly good salad for using mint is 'fattoush' which is:

Chopped mint, parsley and cilantro/corriander

Chopped spring onions, tomatoes and cucumber

Tossed in an olive oil and lemon dressing (about half and half), just before serving

And mix in toasted pieces of pitta bread last

This is great with grilled lamb or chicken. It's really refreshing and summery and would follow on nicely from your weekend mojitos!

Edited to add:

This is bizarre, 2 people posting a recipe for fattoush at the same time! Didn't mean to duplicate. You simply have to make fattoush now!

Edited June 22, 2005 by Corinna Dunne (log)

[RuthWells]

Thanks for all of the wonderful ideas! The Fattoush salad sounds great, and the frozen chocolate mint mousse sounds perfect. I love the bathroom bouquet idea.

[Corinna Dunne]

Mine is planned for tomorrow, to go with grilled, buterflied leg of lamb. I'm going to try out that lovely yoghurt marinade on the 'leg o lamb' thread.

[Nyleve Baar]

Mine is planned for tomorrow,  to go with grilled, buterflied leg of lamb.  I'm going to try out that lovely yoghurt marinade on the 'leg o lamb' thread.

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Oooo. I'm making lamb shanks tomorrow night. I'll save the fattoush for that.

Hey - are we, by any chance, identical twins separated at birth? My mother did, now that I think about it, have a slightly mysterious past.

[SuzySushi]

Mint Sauce with Raspberry Vinegar

Serves 4

1 cup fresh mint leaves, minced

2 tablespoons sugar

1-1/2 tablespoons boiling water

1/4 cup raspberry vinegar

Combine mint and sugar in a small bowl. Add boiling water and stir until sugar is dissolved. Stir in vinegar. Let stand 15 minutes before serving. Serve with roast lamb.

Or make mint chutney or mint jelly, or dry some mint for future use.

[SethG]

Mario Batali's Mint Love Letters

[Jason Perlow]

How about Heriyali Kebabs?

[WHT]

I would dry some for times it is not in season. tie small amounts with string and hang in a warm dry place from the stems leaf down. This also caqn be used to flavor tea.

mint spreads in a garden unless you have something under ground to prevent runners in the roots. roof flashing works well to contain this type of plant.

[Chloe]

Throw some mint into the water when you're boiling new potatoes or peas. Very English!

Chloe

north Portugal

[Corinna Dunne]

And it might be very nice in your bath. You could tie up a big bunch, bruise the leaves slightly, wrap in muslin and throw in your bath to infuse as you start to run the water. Invigorating!

Edit: Yikes... just realised I'm off topic here. To get us back on track: It is not advisable to use mint infused bath water when you're cooking new potatoes or peas.

Edited June 23, 2005 by Corinna Dunne (log)

[DRColby]

Bittman had a simple pasta recipe in the NYT not to long ago that featured mint and it was quite good. Just pasta tossed in olve oil and mint.

dave

[jackal10]

Mint jelly for the winter when fresh mint sauce is not available for the lamb (apple or other neutral jelly with as much mint as you like in it)

Freeze, chopped in ice tray cubes

[chow guy]

Two ideas come to mind, quinoa tabuleh with lots of mint and flat leaf parsley and mojitos.

[ludja]

Mint leaves are also an excellent addition to any salad.

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I had a great salad with mint at a friend's house last week:

romaine lettuce, chopped tomatoes, green pepper, cucumber, parsley and mint with a garlic vinagrette.

We had it with grilled beef and grilled chicken and it went great with both.

[Corinna Dunne]

I just had a 'mint meal' last night (you inspired me). It was simple but delicious:

* Butterflied half leg of lamb

Marinated for about 2 hours ambiantly in yoghurt, minced garlic, lemon juice, chopped mint, ground cumin and just a little bit of ground corriander.

Then grilled on the barbeque. I find that marinating for this period of time means that the marinade doesn't overpower the meat.

* Fattoush, using my recipe upthread.

Points to note: I find that it is best to season the cucumber and tomatoes a bit in advance and not to put any seasoning in the dressing. For the dressing, I used a ratio of 4:5 for the lemon juice and oil, as this salad should be pretty lemony, but of course, it'a a matter of personal taste too. Garlic is optional in fattoush, and I prefer to leave it out, again, a personal thing. Also, it is important that everything is at an ambiant temperature, as this salad is not good out of the fridge.

* Grilled baby eggplant/aubergines

These were cut in half, salted (which probably wasn't necessary) and threaded onto a skewer to be grilled.

The following dressing was poured over them when they were cooked:

EVOO with a salted, crushed clove of garlic (removed before serving)

Chopped red chilli

Chopped mint

A gentle squeeze of lemon juice

The aubergine should go on the grill just before the lamb comes off to rest so that they are hot when serving. Mine had got a bit cool, and I think this detracted from the balance a bit.

[Shalmanese]

I'm experimenting with making mint infused sugar tonight. Just pack some mint leaves in a jar of sugar and leave it there. I will report back with how it goes.

[chardgirl]

Another Vote for mint tea, here's some text I wrote out for our own bumper crop last year to encourage folks to try it:

Mint Tisane, otherwise known as the delicious and cheap-if-it's-in-your-garden Fresh Mint Tea

Clean several sprigs of mint. Put into a teapot or a large glass measuring cup. Pour just-boiled water over mint, let steep 3 or so minutes, drain through small tea strainer. Drink hot or chill first. Options: you can add honey or sugar if you want a sweeter taste. You can also mix this 1/2 and 1/2 with lemonade. Fresh mint tea tastes different than tea made with dry mint leaves.

[jsolomon]

I tear mint and put it in my carbonara with spectacular results...

[Ktepi]

We've got a lot of mint at the Farmer's Market right now, and what I'll end up doing with much of it -- after the leg of lamb and the ice cream and the drinks (I'm strongly considering trying that half tea/half lemonade with lime instead, since I have limes on hand for gin and tonics) -- is using it in various combinations of mint and chile.

It's a lot like gai kaprau in Thai cooking, the spicy chicken with Thai basil -- and a very simple way to do it is just to combine chopped chicken thighs, mint, and sriracha (I usually add some soy sauce, sometimes some sugar, some vinegar, onions, garlic, peppers, whatever, but it's flexible). Nice and spicy and fast.

I'd bet a spicy minted mayo would be good on hamburgers (lamb burgers?) as well -- and, for that matter, mint wouldn't be a bad addition to meatballs if you have a little lamb in there.

[ludja]

I earlier forgot one of my favorite recipes with mint--Thai Beef Salad. The combination of fresh mint, shallots, lime juice, fish sauce, chiles and cilantro is just wonderful.

[piperdown]

One of my favourite uses of mint:

Chop up a watermelon into cubes, sprinkle in some mint (or a lot), then add a bunch of fresh lime juice, and let sit for a bit in the fridge. It's honestly one of the most refreshing things I've ever had to eat on a hot summer day.

[keeperrox]

Whenever I have excess mint, I make this Mint Pesto. I don't typically do the rosemary skewers, but just toss it with shrimp and fresh angelhair. It's also good on a pizza. Make a very thin crust, use the pesto as your sauce, and feta for the cheese, with thinly sliced red onion. Like other pestos, it freezes well to use at a later time.

[daves]

I just had a 'mint meal' last night (you inspired me).  It was simple but delicious:

* Butterflied half leg of lamb

Marinated for about 2 hours ambiantly in yoghurt, minced garlic,  lemon juice, chopped mint, ground cumin and just a little bit of ground corriander.

Then grilled on the barbeque.  I find that marinating for this period of time means that the marinade doesn't overpower the meat.

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coincidence! We got a bunch of mint from our CSA this week, and we came up with pretty much the same idea. Our marinade is greek-style yogurt, lemon juice, garlic, mint, and cumin. Put through the food processor 'til relatively smooth, and the butterflied leg has been marinating in it since this morning.

[evilhomer]

One of my favourite uses of mint:

Chop up a watermelon into cubes, sprinkle in some mint (or a lot), then add a bunch of fresh lime juice, and let sit for a bit in the fridge. It's honestly one of the most refreshing things I've ever had to eat on a hot summer day.

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add some feta and a finely minced chili just before serving and you've got a great salad

[deltadoc]

I would use a dehydrator and dry the mint, seal it with a Foodsaver, keep it in the freezer. Besides the obvious uses as previously described, sprinkling dried crushed spearmint on pizzas adds a wonderful touch. I like to use basil, a bit of fennel seed, and some spearmint before topping with the mozz.

doc