Mint Recipes
Poached Pears in Mint Sauce
Ingredients
- 300ml of water
- 75g of sugar
- Juice and Peel of one lemon
- 6 sprigs & leaves of mint
- 6 ripe pears
- 150ml of single cream
- 2 egg yolks
Bring the water, sugar and lemon to the boil and then add the mint sprigs. Remove the mixture from the heat and leave to infuse for 3 – 7 minutes. Peel the pears and cut in half leaving on the stalks and gently poach in the syrup and then cover until tender. Lift the pears out of the syrup and remove the core. Reduce the syrup to 150ml. Whilst the egg yolks and cream together in a bowl. Pour over the reduced syrup, whisking continuously then pour the mixture back into the pan and stir over very low heat until the thickens slightly. Then serve and enjoy!
Mojitos
The classic Carribean cocktail for long hot summers!
Ingredients
- 2 tsp Sugar
- 6 – 8 Mint Leaves
- Club Soda to taste
- 1 Lime, halved
- 2 oz Light Rum
- More Mint to garnish
Place the sugar, the mint leaves, and a little club soda into a highball glass. Mix well to dissolve the sugar and release the mint flavour. Squeeze the juice from both halves of the lime into the glass & drop one half in. Add the rum & stir. Fill the glass with ice cubes and add club soda to taste. Garnish with mint.
Quick Pea and Mint Soup
Put a bag of frozen peas into a pan and half fill the pan with boiling water or stock and a crushed clove of garlic.
Bring quickly back to the boil and remove from the heat pouring off the boiling stock into a bowl and keeping it chilling till later. Drain the peas under a cold tap to keep their colour. Add about 12 chopped chives and about 15/25 mint leaf depending on the size of your bag of peas - liquidise with the peas and a handful of spinach leaf to help with the clear green colour and some salt and pepper. You may need to use some of your stock to do this but sit the stock pot in a basin of cold water to bring the temperature down quickly before you do. You want to get this soup a nice bright green so get it cold quickly and you can reheat it gently later.
For now, put the soup and the remaining stock in the fridge to get really cold. If you intend to serve this soup chilled, you can decide whether to dilute it with some of the chilled stock till you get the right consistency.
Serve with a little chilled cream or yoghurt on top with a fresh mint leaf. You can whip the cream so as it sits on top of the soup if you wish. Remember you can serve this soup hot if you wish and if you have sugar snaps or mange tout left in the cupboard you might want to add them before you liquidise the soup – when hot the addition of a crushed garlic clove is a tasty option.
Quick Tzatziki
Serves about six as a side dish
Take a 4 inch piece of cucumber, scoop out the seeds and chop finely. Combine with 7 ounces of Greek style yoghourt and 2 tbsp of chopped fresh mint and the juice of half a lemon – chill until ready to serve.
