Mint Sauce Gravy for Lamb

Most people put mint sauce on the side and gravy on top, and then the two meet on the plate anyway. This just does the job properly. The vinegar in the mint sauce cuts lamb fat and the mint keeps the gravy from feeling heavy. Add it at the end, off the heat, because boiled mint tastes of tea.

Ingredients

Makes about 500ml, enough for six plates

• 2 tbsp fat from the lamb roasting tin
• 1½ tbsp plain flour
• 650ml (23fl oz) hot lamb or chicken stock
• 1 tbsp mint sauce the sharp vinegary jar kind, not mint jelly
• 1 tsp caster sugar
• 1 tbsp fresh mint chopped, to finish, optional
• salt and black pepper to taste

Kit

• Roasting tin
• Balloon whisk
• Sieve
• Measuring jug

Method

1. Rest the lamb on a board under loose foil. Tip the fat out of the roasting tin until about two tablespoons are left, leaving all the browned bits behind.

2. Set the tin over a medium heat on the hob. Sprinkle in the flour and work it into the fat with a whisk, scraping up the sediment. Cook for a minute until it goes sandy coloured and smells toasted.

3. Add a ladle of hot stock and whisk until the paste has loosened and gone smooth. Add the rest in two more goes, whisking between each, so no lumps form.

4. Bring it to a simmer and cook for six to eight minutes, whisking occasionally, until it coats a spoon. Any juices that have run out of the resting lamb go in now.

5. Take the tin off the heat and leave it for a minute so it stops bubbling. Stir in the mint sauce and the sugar. The vinegar hits hard for a few seconds and then settles down, so do not panic and start correcting straight away.

6. Taste. It should be a savoury lamb gravy with a bright edge, not a mint sauce with gravy in it. If the vinegar dominates, another quarter teaspoon of sugar will balance it.

7. Strain into a warmed jug and stir through the chopped fresh mint if you are using it, right at the last moment so it stays green and fragrant.

Tips worth knowing

• One tablespoon of mint sauce in 650ml is plenty. Two will make the gravy taste sour and slightly medicinal, and the colour goes murky.
• Add it off the heat. Boiling mint drives off the fresh top notes and leaves a stewed, tea like flavour behind.
• If your mint sauce is the thick sweet jelly kind rather than the vinegary sort, use two teaspoons and add a teaspoon of white wine vinegar to make up the sharpness.
• Made with homemade mint sauce, chopped mint steeped in hot vinegar and sugar, this is noticeably better. Ten minutes of steeping is enough.

Keeping and reheating

Keeps three days covered in the fridge. It freezes for three months but the fresh mint flavour fades, so freeze it before the mint sauce goes in and add that when you reheat. Warm gently with a splash of stock.

Questions people ask