The Omnivorous Fish

I have been having a very serious affair with mint for lo these many years. It might actually qualify as my favorite herb, although it’s hard to imagine cooking or even eating without my other herbal friends. In the house where I grew up, we had masses of unkillable mint in one particular bed in the yard, where it provided a harmonious ground cover for some big old lilacs.

However, I’m actually more a fan of mint in savory dishes than in desserts. Lentil soup with garlic and fresh mint; various spins on grain or bean salads or Southeast Asian dishes with onion and mint or the truly holy trinity of scallion, cilantro and mint; mint in risottos and in a particularly brilliant pasta from a little NYC restaurant called Col Legno, which consists of a sauce made of cured black olives, garlic and mint (more or less a minted tapenade). And gorgeous, intensely flavorful and nutty little new potatoes, steamed and served whole or slightly smashed with lashings of good butter and lots of chopped mint, salt and pepper.

Year-round, we live on homemade minted iced tea. A strong infusion of green tea, sweetened slightly with honey, mixed with fruit juice (orange-peach-mango is good, though not locavorish in NYC), and cut with lots of ice and bruised mint. It absolutely cures what ails me, almost every night. Lime is a good addition here too.