Refreshing mojito, alcohol free

A top rank alcohol free cocktail with green lime and peppermint leaves

The best friends are those who you can just go and knock on their door without arranging the visit for weeks ahead. Sure, sometimes it is useful to plan ahead, but the possibility to drop by a friend´s house after a long day on your feet adds something precious to life´s course.

On one of these hot summer days we landed at our friend M´s place. A man of style. I always have a tingling sense of excitement somewhere inside in anticipation to be treated to a heart throbbing cafe latte, a piece of fine salmon and dill quiche, a piquant plate of pasta, something new, gravitating towards decadence.

This time the welcome rolled into a thirst quenching cocktail that swept the tiredness from our swollen feet and put back the briskness into the sweating mind.

Alcohol-free mojito
Ingredients for 1 cocktail:
Juice of 1 lime (the green one)
1 Tbsp brown sugar
A handful of crushed ice
0.5-1dl cranberry juice
2dl soda water
Fresh peppermint leaves

Squeeze the juice of one lime into a long glass, drop the rest of the lime into the glass too. Add sugar and peppermint leaves and give them a squeeze with a wooden cocktail stick to dissolve the sugar and release the peppermint flavour. Crush the ice with a blender or if no such appliance is near, wrap the ice cubes into a clean kitchen towel and beat the ice with an empty pan for a few times.
Add cranberry juice and soda water.

Serve with a straw.

Spinach, Feta cheese and peppermint pies

Spinach, Feta cheese and fresh peppermint pies

The inspiration to use fresh peppermint in new combinations recently has been ignited by my friends whose garden produces this herb half wildly in massive quantities and a Middle Eastern stand at the farmers´ market that has very generous bunches of Moroccan peppermint.

The minty avocado and new potato salad was a refreshing green light meal a few days ago and chilled cucumber and strawberry soup  was seasoned with fresh peppermint leaves.

Something quick and easy today for a light supper or an idea for an apero table.

Spinach, Feta Cheese and Fresh Peppermint Pies
Ingredients for 4 small pies
Dough
135g flour
40g olive oil
35g water
salt

Filling
100-130g fresh spinach leaves, washed and roughly chopped
olive oil (1 tsp)
100g feta cheese, crumbled
10 peppermint leaves, finely chopped
1 tbsp Greek yoghourt
salt
pepper
2 tsp honey

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees Celsius (400 F)

Feta cheese and spinach pies flavoured with mint and honey

1. Mix the dough components together. It is good to work the dough by hand until well combined.
2. Set aside until you make the filling.
3. Heat a pan with a little olive oil, 1 teaspoon is enough to wilt the spinach.
4. Place the chopped spinach into the pan and cook on medium heat for a few minutes until the spinach is soft.
5. Press the excess water out of the spinach.
6. Place the crumbled feta cheese into a bowl, add the mint, yoghourt and soft honey. Mix all together, season with salt and pepper.
7. Set 1/3 of the dough aside. Roll the 2/3 of the dough to a 3-4mm flat sheet, cut portions and fit the dough into small pie forms. If needed, place a piece of baking paper at the bottom to prevent sticking. This step is not necessary if you are using already non-sticking forms.
8. Portion the spinach onto the dough and then add a tablespoon of the feta filling on top.
9. Now roll out the remaining dough and portion for covers. It is also fine to leave the pies uncovered. Both versions work well.
10. Bake in the oven for about 30-35 minutes until the dough is cooked.

Serve warm or cold.

Covered or not, the honey, mint and cheese meet in a merry union

New potato salad with avocado-mint sauce

New potato salad with fresh mint-avocado sauce

The new potatoes have appeared on the farmers´market. The imported new potatoes from Israel or North African countries have been on the shop shelves for months as their winter harvest is already in January-February, but it isn´t until the local new potatoes appear that the full flavour of the new potatoes will bring the knowing "Ahh!", "Oooo" or "Mmmm" over the lips.


Select the small ones with the flaky peel curling off their bald bodies.
One farmer had these new potatoes the size of marbles. I must go back on Saturday to get a pound of these buttons for a salad or toss them around in butter for a warm bite.

The potato salad is a summer classic always present at a BBQ either in a creamy mayo sauce or a lighter mustard-oil based sauce.
A creamy variation is easily made with avocado. The taste can be pimped with some fresh mint.

New potato salad with avocado-mint sauce
Ingredients for 2
500g new potatoes, washed, not peeled
4-5 sprigs peppermint
1 avocado
1 tbsp lemon juice
1 tbsp Greek yoghurt
1 tbsp olive oil
salt
pepper

Cook the new potatoes with some fresh mint and salt

Bring the water to boil, add potatoes, a good pinch of salt and a couple of mint sprigs. Cook until just soft. Drain.

Scoop the avocado into a bowl and crush with a fork into a paste. Keeping the stone in the bowl in the mix prevents the avocado turning brown. Add lemon juice, yoghurt, olive oil and finely chopped mint leaves. Season with salt and pepper. Combine well.

Drizzle some olive oil and add flaky sea salt on top for a little extra.
Serve separately or mix together with the potatoes as a light lunch on its own or as a side dish.

New potatoes sauced with creamy avocado and fresh mint