My mother-in-law has been staying with us while in the middle of a house move. The day after we had had roast lamb for dinner, we got around to talking about mint. She said she always had fresh mint jelly with lamb and fresh mint with new potatoes and fresh peas – more or less what we had eaten for dinner the previous evening. Except for one vital ingredient. The mint.

There are just a couple of things that I will never eat and unfortunately one of them is mint. I won’t even have a jar of the disgusting mint jelly in the kitchen cupboard, ready to present in a little bowl for discerning diners. No, no, no.

No one can convince me how the overpowering taste of mint will add to a gorgeous roast leg of lamb. Obviously, my husband has been missing out on this delicacy for many years and, wonder of wonders, he’s never complained… Too late now mate, don’t even think about it!

For lots of lamb recipes with or without mint, have a browse through the BBC’s recipe finder here, you’re bound to find one you like.

Another dislike, and mint related too, is chocolate with mint. I totally blame the makers of “After Eights” for this (Rowntree until purchased by Nestle) and – horror of horrors – more than a billion of these are made annually! I once came across a recipe for barbecued bananas involving “After Eights” – all you had to do was split the banana lengthwise (still in its skin), open up slightly and insert After Eights, wrap in tin foil and place on the barbecue for about 10 minutes. Voila, you now have a simple dessert of mint chocolate banana, I suppose you could serve it with mint ice cream. Eh, no, not for me, thank you!

Let me know if you have any particular dislikes? Have a good weekend and remember that today’s the last day to sign up for the Kiss The Cook newsletter and a chance to win the lovely apron shown in my previous post.

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