This weekend when I went out to my garden the mint was going absolutely nuts. I have two varieties - chocolate mint and peppermint. Both are taking over with vigor, so it was already time for a major haircut.
The chocolate mint has faint hints of chocolate both on the nose and the palate and is great for desserts - this weekend I made two quarts of mint ice cream and served it with the first four strawberries from the garden. It is a beautiful deep green color, similar to green tea ice cream. It's a great way to end the evening.
And the peppermint, of course, is good for Mojitos. We served them not too strong - a great way to start the evening.
Not-Too-Strong Mojitos
Serves 4
- 2 tablespoons sugar or maple syrup
- Juice of 6-8 limes
- 3-4 shots (1/2 cup - 3/4 cup) light rum
- 8 oz cold club soda or seltzer water
- A few spalshes of dark rum (optional)
Bruise mint with sugar with a mortar and pestle (or in a ceramic bowl with the back of a wooden spoon). Squeeze limes into a serving pitcher, dropping in the rinds. Add the bruised mint, rum, ice cubes and club soda or selzer. Stir. Garnish with mint tops and/or a splash of dark rum. (Thanks, Jenny D.!)
Garden Mint Ice Cream Makes about 1 pint
- 1 cups half-and-half
- 1/2 cup whole milk
- 2 cups packed fresh mint leaves
- 1 large egg
- 1/3 cup sugar
In a blender blend cream, milk, and mint until mint is finely chopped. In a saucepan bring cream mixture just to a boil and cool 15 minutes. Whisk in egg and sugar and cook over moderate heat, stirring constantly, until slightly thickened and about 170°f on a candy or meat thermometer. (Do not let boil or it will curdle.)
Pour custard through a fine sieve or strainer into a bowl. Cover the surface with plastic wrap so that it is not exposed to air and chill until cold, at least 3 hours. Can be made to this step up to a day ahead.
Freeze custard in an ice cream maker - I recommend the Donvier if you're in an apartment - it's small and works quickly without the fuss of ice and salt.
Transfer ice cream to a container and put in freezer to harden.
To serve, garnish with fresh mint tops, berries, or chopped dark chocolate.
Enjoy making it. Enjoy eating it. skgr
Orange mint, which has a wonderful perfume, makes marvelous untraditional mojitos as well, but at the end of the day, my favorite is still the traditional, made with yerba buena and cane sugar (unrefined works well). I find peppermint to give too much coolness to mix as nicely, but prefer it over spearmint. Now if only you could buy Cuban white rum in the US.
regards,
trillium
Thanks for the posts about food. It's so hard to know what to make.
I recently made a simple mint syrup that I use in iced tea, and it's heavenly.
Technique: 1 c. sugar, 1 c. mint, 1/2 bunch mint: heat water/sugar, stirring until dissolved. Remove from heat, add 1/2 bunch mint and steep for 15 minutes. Remove mint and chill syrup.
The single best use of mint I have ever heard is a watermelon/lime/mint salad. Take a standard smallish round watermelon, and cut it into 1" or so chunks. Squeeze the juice of two limes, and add 1/4-1/2 cup fresh chopped mint. Chill overnight. This is the most refreshing thing ever: I felt like I'd fallen into a swimming pool. You can spike it if you like, but it's good just like this.
Enjoy!
(Found your blog via Bloglines. Glad I did!)
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