Growing up in South Africa, our lamb roasts were always accompanied with fresh mint sauce. My family had a section of the garden that just grew mint. We currently have a section of our garden that seems to be overtaken by mint!
The mint sauce accompaniment dates back to the British who ate their mutton with mint sauce as a result of the gaminess of the meat. Some people still think that lamb / mutton has a strong flavor. If so, accompany your roast lamb with this vibrant traditional mint sauce or my original spicy tahini mint sauce. These two sauces pair well with the lamb flavor. I like the acidity of the fresh mint sauce and I love the flavor of the spicy tahini mint sauce.
Tips for making vibrant mint sauce.
If you enjoy mint, you can grow it yourself. It is very prolific and can take over your garden. Confining it to a pot helps the mint from spreading. To grow mint, just cut off the end of a fresh sprig, remove some of the mint leaves and immerse it in water. After a few days, you will notice roots growing. Wait until the roots are about 1 " (2.5 cm) in length and transfer it into the soil.
Mint and peppermint plants.
Mint plant.
For this vibrant mint sauce recipe, I use ingredients that are in most recipes, but the technique used is different and results in a brighter green mint sauce. I discovered this recently when my family went over to my folks house. We were having lamb with mint sauce. The mint sauce was not bright green and so I had a theory and later did a side-by-side comparison to prove whether my hunch was correct. It was!
See my Tips and Tricks for How to make a vibrant mint sauce.
Vinegar.
For this vibrant mint sauce recipe, use white vinegar rather than red or balsamic. The darker vinegars lends itself to a darker sauce.
Hand blending the vibrant mint sauce.
Using a hand blender is much faster than chopping the mint by hand. However, if you do not have a hand blender, after cleaning and picking the leaves, immerse the leaves in the vinegar before chopping it by hand. Also, make sure that the knife doesn't have rust spots.
Use a hand blender for chopping mint for vibrant mint sauce. Chop mint with the vinegar!
Chopped fresh mint sauce.
VIBRANT MINT SAUCE
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 cup fresh mint
- 3 Tbsp white wine vinegar rice vinegar can be substituted.
- 1 tsp sugar
- ½ tsp sea salt
Instructions
By hand
- Clean mint leaves and destem.
- Place mint leaves in a small container with vinegar for a minute.
- Remove mint from vinegar and chop mint into fine pieces.
- Add salt and sugar and mix. Serve
By personal blender / chopper attachment
- Clean mint leaves and destem.
- Add vinegar to the personal blender.
- Add mint leaves, sugar and salt.
- Blend and serve.