Rack of lamb with homemade Mint Jelly
Mashed potatoes and lamb gravy
Herb roasted artichokes
Honey Balsamic roasted carrots and parsnips
Dear Abby’s Sweet Potato Pie with Honey Gelato. (I got the Sweet Potato Pie recipe from my grandma's "Burnt Toast" cookbook!)
So on to the jelly . . . .
MINT JELLY
The tarter the apples, the more pectin they have. Use smaller apples, you use a few more, but lots more pectin and your jelly sets quicker!
-4 lbs of tart apples (e.g. Granny Smith), unpeeled, chopped into big pieces, including the cores (including the cores is important as this is where most of the natural pectin is)
-2 cups of fresh mint, chopped, lightly packed
-2 cups water
-2 cups white vinegar
-3 ½ cups sugar (7/8 cups for each cup of juice
Combine apple pieces with water and mint in a large pot.
Bring water to a boil then reduce heat and cook 20 minutes, until apples are soft.
Add vinegar, return to boil. Simmer covered, 5 more minutes.
Use a potato masher to mash up the apple pieces to the consistency of thin apple sauce.
Spoon the apple pulp into a muslin cloth (or a couple layers of cheesecloth) or a large, fine mesh sieve, suspended over a large bowl. Leave to strain for several hours. Do not squeeze. Note that if your mash is too thick, you can add ½ a cup to a cup more of water to it. You should have 4 to 5 cups of resulting juice.
I let mine strain overnight . . . .
Then, measure the juice, then pour into a large pot. Add the sugar (7/8 a cup for each cup of juice). Heat gently, stirring to make sure the sugar gets dissolved and doesn't stick to the bottom of the pan and burn.
Bring to a boil. Cook for 10-15 minutes, using a metal spoon to skim off the surface scum. Continue to boil until a candy thermometer shows that the temperature has reached about 225 degrees, or soft-ball stage. Additional time may be needed for cooking and can be anywhere from 10 minutes to an hour or longer, depending on the altitude, amount of water, sugar, and apple pectin in the mix.
Another way to test is to dip the end of a spoon in the jelly, after a few seconds, take a little with your index finger (WARNING . . . IF YOU HAVE SENSITIVE FINGERTIPS, GET A THERMOMETER!!!!) and rub it in a circle with your thumb, then pull your finger and thumb apart, you should see a "string".
Pour into sterilized* canning jars to within 1/4" from the top and seal.
Makes approximately 6 to 8 4-ounce jars.
*There are several ways to sterilize jars for canning. You can run the jars through a short cycle in a dishwasher. You can place the jars in a large pot (12 quart) of water on top of a steaming rack (so they don't touch the bottom of the pan), and bring the water to a boil for 10 minutes. Or you can rinse the jars, dry them, and place them, without lids, in a 200 F oven for 10 minutes . . . and the coolest thing, is that you don't need the wax anymore!
. . . . now, if Thursday would just get here!
Stay tuned for the Honey Gelato and the rest of dinner!
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