Mint Sauce

We are one of the few residents in our neighborhood who have a “back yard.” Being that we live in a rented townhouse, we have a small plot of land about as big as a bedroom full of grass, a flowering dogwood, and my grill. Most of our neighbors installed decks that cover their entire yards.

Last fall, my parents helped me clean up the yard as it had become overgrown with weeds while the 3 girls (Julie and her roommates) were there. One of the roommates, Sarah, would mow it with a weed-whacker now and then, but since she moved out it was our turn to mow.

While my dad and I were pulling up some strange plants, the next-door neighbor, an immigrant from Armenia, leaned over the fence and told us, “that is mint!” Ok then. He communicated to us that he wanted it because he used it to soothe his heart burn. We obliged.

Over the summer, that same corner of the yard has become overgrown with what I found out is lemon balm and spearmint. I found out via Mr. Internet that lemon balm makes a great tea and can even be used to polish furniture. I also looked for any sort of recipes that use mint.

It turns out that a popular sauce in Britain is mint sauce. I decided to try it. It’s commonly used with lamb and pork dishes.

Mint Sauce:

• 2c malt vinegar
• 1c chopped mint leaf
• 2Tbsp brown sugar

Bring the vinegar to a simmer. Stir in the sugar and mint and simmer for 20 minutes.

The hardest part was actually finding the malt vinegar. Not even Whole Foods had it! I finally found it at Wegman’s - probably the best, yet hard-to-save-money-in store in the area. (Side note: Out here, Wegman’s is the ultimate food shopping experience. We drove by a Wegman’s in Rochester, NY (the chain started in the Northeast) and their Wegman’s was just a plain old grocery store - seems some intense marketing was done down south).

The next hardest part was removing the stems from all of the leaves. Once I got the concoction simmering, a new, powerful smell was introduced into our house. Note to self: do not sniff boiling vinegar again.

I used a turkey baster to suck the sauce out of the pan and squirt it into the old malt vinegar bottle. I made sure to pick up a few boiled leaves along the way.

So how does it taste? Amazing! It brought full flavor to my pork chops last night. It’s a keeper! Plus, it stays edible for 3 to 9 months in the fridge. I guess the stuff is pretty expensive if you buy it retail, too.

My next food project: Mint Syrup!