Mint Sauce for Lamb
Growing up with my mom we ate a lot of lamb on Sundays. I asked my mom why that was and she told me it was my Dad’s favorite meal. She would roast a leg of lamb with bone in on Sunday and we would eat it for 3 nights in a row in one form or another but always with some incredibly bright green mint jelly on the side.
My mom didn’t prepare a mint sauce like I’m suggesting you try here. It just wasn’t her style of cooking but it couldn’t be easier. I’m not sure you could go to the supermarket and buy a bunch of fresh mint like you can today. I guess we could have grown some in our garden, but I remember the garden was reserved for beets, carrots, parsley, potatoes, & tomatoes.
This recipe for mint sauce comes from Barbara Kafka’s Roasting, A Simple Art and is the perfect accompaniment for my roast leg of lamb recipe. It can be used right away or made ahead of time and served later.
Mint Sauce
Ingredients:
- 1 bunch of fresh mint, about 4 ounces
- 1/3-cup boiling water
- 1-tablespoon sugar
- 1/3-cup cider vinegar
- ¼ teaspoon sea salt
Prep
Wash the mint leave and pat dry. Remove the leaves from the stem and discard stems. Finely chop the leaves.
Start boiling the water.
How to Prepare Mint Sauce for Lamb
Put the mint in a small container and add the water to it. Stir in the sugar and let stand until the water is cooled off enough to touch it. This should take about 15 minutes. Stir in the cider vinegar and sea salt.
That’s it. Serve immediately or reserve to use later.
on December 6th, 2007 at 11:02 pm
What are good side dishes to accompany a leg of lamb? We are considering using the mint sauce.
on August 6th, 2011 at 1:49 pm
Roast potatoes are traditionally served along with green peas but you could add any vegetable that you like.
Roast potatoes are perfect. You should use Idaho Russet or some such floury potato. Parboil them for 10 minutes or so and dry thoroughly so the outside actually looks floury. Add to the pan that contains the fat dripping off the leg of lamb for the last 45 minutes of roasting time or until golden and crisp on the outside.
on October 2nd, 2011 at 3:48 am
roast potato, sweet potato , pumpkin peas, parsnip yeah stuff like that
on December 20th, 2011 at 7:29 pm
thanks i knew there was something i was doing wrong. i was using white vinigar and No sugar. that will make all the difference. i do lamb every christmas and usually my mother would make the mint sauce but she has forgot a few things in her old age and this is exactly the way she used to make it. i love it made this way it’s so much better and more exotic tasting then mint jelly. also a little over the mashed or roasted potatos is delish!!