Fresh mint

I had a lot of fresh mint hanging about in the week after Christmas. I made my usual fetta & watermelon salad, which uses it, but as the days around Christmas were so cold, it wasn't really the weather for the sort of things that usually call for it.
When the weather heated up the week after, it had gone a bit limp and blah, but I reconsidered throwing it out. Instead I made two fresh mint recipes from Nigella's Forever Summer. The lime & mint Coolaid, and the mint & pea soup.
I didn't have any limes, but lots of bald lemons from my onion, lemon & thyme relish-making fits, so used that instead. I think lime would have given a more desirable sourness, as this drink was waaaaaay sweet. A warning to any non-sweet-tooths out there: you will need to dilute this with water. It almost tasted like cordial syrup to me! Very tasty & refreshing though.

The pea & mint soup is complete simplicity to make. Steep some fresh mint stems & dried mint in vegetable stock (which I made up with hot water and Vegeta powder) and add to a spring onion and frozen peas.you've softened in oil. Then boil it up until the peas are soft, whiz it up with a blender and add some creme fraiche (I used no-fat yoghurt). The taste was incredibly good; it tasted like something that had many more ingredients and should have taken so much longer to prepare. Recommended!

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