Very possibly. The Romans are thought to have introduced mint to Britain. It’s use ties in nicely with the first of the spring lamb. A lamb roast is a traditional Easter meal here and use of the mint growth makes sense. Having missed Easter,as we were away, we planned for a roast this coming Saturday but I’m going to have to buy mint as we’ve hardly any growing in the garden yet.
2 Likes
Plant it once, it grows forever. And multiplies like rabbits until you keep it confined to containers.
I’m one who like mint jelly, but in very small quantites and not overly sweet. A company called Raffetto’s used to make the best with mint leaves, but it’s no longer available. I tried various kinds from Amazon, and settled on a brand called Mrs. Miller’s, which I think is PA Dutch.
2 Likes
As a Greek American kid, I was surprised when a little tub of mint jelly was served with my lamb chops in an Anglo restaurant. I did not like it.
Later, in grad school, a Turkish friend was ugh-ed out at dill in tzatziki, the Greek way. We’re not Scandinavian, she said. I was ugh-ed out at her version with mint leaves. We’re still friends, though.
I don’t know what a loin roast is, but a long time ago the NY Times published a recipe that involved rolling out a boneless leg of lamb, coating the interior with a paste of anchovies and garlic, and trussing it back up. It was very good. I can’t find that recipe, but this one has you rubbing the exterior with the anchovy paste. Gift link:
2 Likes
I don’t think I’ve ever had mint jelly. Only mint sauce, which I like. I can’t imagine the jelly … I’m thinking of bad candy, or cough drops. 
1 Like
Some of the mint jellies are tangy with vinegar, with lots of mint leaves, especially the ones imported from England.
We always have mint jelly and mint sauce on hand for lamb. There are also mint and rosemary jellies available.
Mint jelly doesn’t taste like mint candy or Creme de Menthe. It isn’t made with peppermint.
I’m thinking spearmint … only mint jelly I’ve ever seen is clear green with no bits of anything in it!
1 Like
The clear green type also has vinegar or lemon juice in it.
I haven’t been using it on my own servings lately but it’s been on the table my entire life, the nights we have lamb. 
I found this interesting, didn’t know anything about it.
I bought an English mint plant last year, which is distinct from spearmint and peppermint.
This is what the jelly with leaves looks like
Someone posted a meme to the “silliness and” page that was a photo of a guy in a grocery produce section with a caption along the lines of
- Carefully selecting the produce that I will throw out next week.
3 Likes
I call that the “Jacques Pépin garlic level”.
So many of his old videos where Jacques says, “three cloves of garlique” and the caption says “three cloves of garlic” then Jacques does six cloves of garlic, then Jacques says “can never have too much garlique”.
5 Likes
That meme is me 
1 Like
Mine grows in a large plastic container that I’ve sunk in the ground (keeping it a couple of inches proud of the soil level so it can’t escape). I’m planning a revamp of the main herb area in the garden and may buy a couple of the more exotic mints (the one I have is spearmint) also to go in pots. I may try Moroccan mint which I’ve read is the best for mint tea.
3 Likes
My mom used to have a runaway patch growing next to the gutter downspout near our kitchen door. It grew and grew. I enjoyed pinching off and eating the leaves. Parsley too, but the mint I thin she had to periodically uproot like weeds.
2 Likes
I ended up using the recipe from Dartagnan/Y.O. It was pretty good but not a favorite from a seasonings profile standpoint. It’s also likely I didn’t adjust the seasoning ratios well enough for my amount of meat, given it didn’t match the meat mass of either recipe. I also should have skipped the fennel (although both recipes called for it).
I unrolled them, scored, and pasted the ingredients inside and out, then retied with cotton twine. I would have unrolled in any event as I don’t like the idea of elastomeric polymers getting seared and then roasted with my meat.
I took this pre-cooked photo, then like a dummy forgot to photo afterwards. I pan seared briefly then roasted with a bit of apple wood smoke.
6 Likes
Ah, sorry the d’Artagnan recipe was a dud 
TBH, I really should know better than recommend (or link to) random recipes online I’ve never even cooked or tried, since I never do that with restaurant recommendations.
Lesson learned.
1 Like
Yesterday I made gyros with 1/3 each ground lamb, beef, pork. Skipped the mint for the tzatziki per the discussion above, and honestly also b/c those darned little containers of “fresh organic herbs” are expensive for what you get, and I was already buying fresh dill.
The gyros were good, but even better was lunch today with leftover chunks of the lamb loin roast with some lightly sautéed onions and drizzled in leftover tzatziki on a large flour tortilla (I only made 8 pitas last night and we ate 7.5 of them).
5 Likes
Dinner last night was roast leg of lamb. As often, leftover meat was chopped into small pieces and frozen. In due course, it will reappear as a cheats shawarma. I coat in baharat and fry in olive oil to warm it through and crisp slightly. There’s usually a chopped salad, khobez bread, moutabal and chilli sauce to go with the meat.
5 Likes
My friend uses leftover roast turkey for a quick shawarma. I haven’t done it with roast lamb, maybe I will another time.
