Mint Condition

Is this perennial herb taking over your garden? Consider yourself lucky, hack it back, and make fresh mint syrup. Then use it to make Gino's Mint Chocolate Chip Cake.

ART by Daniela Bracco

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Today’s newsletter is on the short side (hooray!) as I am on the road again. It features a recipe for Sciroppo alla Menta (Fresh Mint Syrup), for all subscribers; and an updated version of Gino’s Mint Chocolate Chip Cake with Fresh Mint Syrup, for paid subscribers. Both recipes were originally published in 2016 in my book Preserving Italy. I recently updated the cake recipe with tweaks to the cake batter and syrup soak.

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For years, I have referred to my backyard as the Garden of Neglect. This is especially true this year. I spent most of spring on the road promoting Italian Cookies. By the time I got home, planting season was pretty much over, and it was too late and too hot to put things into the ground. Usually, I at least get my act together enough to fill the pots on the back patio. This year? I did not pot one geranium or impatiens or begonia. The two urns adorning my front stoop sport no flowers, just unruly grey-green trails of ivy, which persists year after year of its own accord, as does the fig tree in the backyard whose generous yield never seems to diminish.

Mint (and sage) and ripening figs from the Garden of Neglect

The backyard mint also persists. Two patches of mint sprout cheerfully, expectantly, every year. It’s not exactly lush, but it shows up. And so I try to do it justice by hacking it back, pulling the leaves from the stems, and turning them into a batch or three of fresh mint syrup. It’s the least I can do when I’m doing the very least!

One of the perks of fresh mint syrup is that it is the easiest thing in the world to make. All you need is the mint, water, and sugar. It lasts for a month or more in the fridge, longer in the freezer, and has about a thousand uses: churn it into a batch of vanilla ice cream or drizzle it over store-bought; stir it into lemonade, iced tea or a summer cocktail; toss it with summer fruit—melon, peaches, blueberries, blackberries, watermelon, figs. Mint syrup loves them all. It’s an excellent refresher in the sort of withering heat that many of us have been experiencing.

My favorite way to employ it is in Torta alla Menta, a mint and chocolate chip cake from Abruzzo. Mint cakes are common in the region, possibly because the herb grows abundantly in the foothills of the Apennines, and so the Abruzzesi put it to all sorts of uses in both sweet and savory dishes. Most notably, it is one of the herbs in a strong liqueur called Centerba, which translates to “hundred herbs,” which the Abruzzesi love to drink and/or drizzle on desserts.

The medieval aqueduct in Sulmona, looking into Piazza Garibaldi, circa 2015.

I’ve been making Gino’s Mint Chocolate Chip Cake every summer for at least a decade. The recipe calls for stirring mint syrup into the cake batter and then brushing more on top once the cake is baked. It comes from La Locanda di Gino, a family-run restaurant in Sulmona. The ancient city, in the province of L’Aquila, sits in a valley ringed by mountains. It is the birthplace of the Roman poet Ovid and is also famous for those colorful candy-coated almonds known as confetti. On the western edge of Piazza Garibaldi, the city’s main square, is a beautifully preserved section of a medieval Swabian aqueduct, with 21 arches beckoning you to walk through them.

The restaurant is just a 5-minute walk from the piazza, and here you will find classic Abruzzese dishes expertly prepared by the Allega family—spaghetti alla chitarra, tender roast lamb, roast potatoes, fried peppers, vegetable terrines, and other piatti tipici Abruzzesi. The late Gino’s sons, Giacomo and Marco, always impeccably dressed in pressed shirts and ties, manage the front of the house. Their mother, Lucia, and their wives, Marcella and Titina, run the kitchen.

Back in 2014, while lunching with friends, we were served squares of this chocolate-studded cake for dessert. It was pretty, if plain-looking, but when I took a bite—what a surprise! The cake tasted of fresh mint—not too powerful, just enough to balance out the richness of the buttery crumb and the bittersweet chocolate bits. It was a revelation. After the meal, I went back into the kitchen to thank the chefs, and they handed me a slip of paper with the handwritten recipe.

Below is the recipe for the mint syrup. Following that, you’ll find a link to the updated recipe for the cake, available to paid subscribers.

What’s your favorite summer cake to make?

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RECIPE: Sciroppo alla Menta | Fresh Mint Syrup

Here’s something you might not know about fresh mint syrup. It is not mint green; it’s a pale straw yellow, the color of white wine, depending on how long you steep it. But the flavor is pure, unadulterated, and fresh. It’s so much better than the artificially dyed commercial version. (Recipe from Preserving Italy)

Makes about 1 1/2 cups (360 ml)

INGREDIENTS
1 cup (240 ml) water
1 cup (200 g) vanilla sugar (sugar infused with vanilla bean)
4 strips lemon zest (no white pith)
2 lightly packed cups fresh mint leaves (about 45 g)

INSTRUCTIONS
1. Combine the water and sugar in a heavy-bottomed saucepan and toss in the lemon strips. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, stirring to dissolve the sugar.

2. When the syrup is almost at a boil, coarsely chop the mint leaves. Do this at the last possible moment so that you don’t lose any of that wonderful mint aroma. As soon as the syrup starts to boil, turn off the heat and gently stir in the chopped mint leaves. Cover the saucepan and let the syrup steep for 3 hours.

3. Pour the mint syrup through a fine-mesh sieve into a clean glass jar or bottle. Cover tightly and store in the refrigerator for up to 2 months or in the freezer for up to 1 year.

Click on the button below for the printable version of the recipe, available to paid subscribers.

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RECIPE: Torta alla Menta La Locanda di Gino

Don’t be fooled by the demure appearance s of this cake. It brims with the flavors of rich bittersweet chocolate and sassy mint. Click on the button for the newly updated, printable version of the recipe originally published in Preserving Italy.

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NEWS & NOTES

I had a delightful chat with Kate Bittman of The Bittman Project about all the “cookie towns” I visited while researching Italian Cookies, plus sourcing ingredients and other cookie-related stuff:

Taking a Tour Through Italy’s Cookie Towns

I also had the pleasure of chatting with Jessie Sheehan, exuberant baker and host of Cherry Bombe magazine’s She’s My Cherry Pie podcast. Among other things, we got into the nitty-gritty of how to make Canestrelletti di Torriglia, the Italian cookie with its own festival:

The Italian Cookie with Its Own Festival

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177 Milk Street Cooking Class

There are still a few spots left for the Summer Stuffed Pasta Class I am teaching online in collaboration with 177 Milk Street. We will be making Zucchini Anolini, a summer riff on a classic stuffed pasta from Emilia-Romagna. I’ll teach you how to make the dough and roll it out into thin sheets. Then we’ll make a light but richly flavored filling of zucchini and ricotta cheese. And (in a clever and practical twist!) we’ll use the liquid from draining the zucchini to create a light, glossy sauce.

Date and time: Thursday, July 30, 6 p.m.-7:30 p.m. EDT
Price: $74.59
DISCOUNT: Enter the code PASTA15 to receive a 15% discount on the class.

Click on the button below to register:

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Book signing, plus a cookie tasting and conversation in Easton, MD:

On Saturday, August 1, I’ll be at Piazza Italian Market for a book signing and talk with owner Emily Chandler. The book signing is from 10 a.m.-12 p.m., and our conversation will take place next door at Accanto from 12:15 p.m.-12:45 p.m. The book signing is free, and books will be available for purchase. Tickets are required for the event next door at Accanto, and cookies will be served!

Click on the button below for more info and to register:

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Thanks, as always, for reading, subscribing, and sharing!

Alla prossima,
Domenica