Mint Sauce for Lamb
Lamb Sundays
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.
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
How To Prepare At Home
Wash the mint leave and pat dry. Remove the leaves from the stem and discard stems. Finely chop the leaves.
Start boiling the water.
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.
This isn't in the original recipe, but you could leave the mint whole and then pulse it in a blender or a food processor after the water has cooled off.
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What are good side dishes to accompany a leg of lamb? We are considering using the mint sauce.
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.
roast potato, sweet potato , pumpkin peas, parsnip yeah stuff like that
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!!
I had a wonderful mint sauce years ago in New Zealand and I’m cooking lamb chops soon. I’ll struggle through the preparation of the mint sauce and dream of the Southern Alps
I was delighted to discover your recipe for mint sauce. I have an English background and spring lamb was always a favorite at our table as well. When I was only about 4 years old (I’m 63 now), my grandmother would have me “harvest” the mint from her garden. I would then follow her into her kitchen and see her skillfully chop the mint to a fine consistency. Her recipe, which I still make today was just like yours sans the sea salt. Today I have several mint plants growing in various locations in my garden. We are having a lamb party for 25 on Sunday and I can’t wait to try your exact version of the sauce! Thanks for sharing.
There is just something about the taste of lamb to other meats that is indescribable but you know what I mean. Lamb hands down is my favorite meat to eat, after that pork. Beef just doesn’t do it for me, it doesn’t have the taste that lamb and pork do.
We do not have access to fresh mint leaves so I ordered dried spearmint leaves as we have to have mint sauce on lamb and the commercial versions are unreasonably expensive here in the US. Are there any recipes for mint sauce using dried leaves? I suppose I will hydrate some and experiment but; I think the commercially prepared sauces (IE: Crosse & Blackwell)must use dried leaves. Thank You
Hi Gary, I am interested in hearing how your experiment with dried leaves turns out. I’m not sure if commercially prepared sauces use dried or fresh leaves but I’ll see what I can find out. Of course you can substitute dried leaves but you won’t get the same flavor as fresh.