Attack of the Killer Mint

I think you should send us the biggest transport plane you have, and take this thing to the Arctic or somewhere and drop it where it will never thaw.
~The Blob, 1958 version

While this is the first year I am gardening on my balcony (mostly because this is the first year I’ve had a balcony), I am not entirely new to the whole garden experience.  I’ve shared a medium sized garden with my parents at their house for the past few years.  My favorite area is the herb garden.  In the past few years I have tried (unsuccessfully) to grow mint in a container.  I envisioned an endless supply of mojitos to enjoy all summer.  However, we have never had luck growing mint (or really any herbs) in containers so last year we made the bold and potentially foolhardy decision to grow the mint directly in the ground.  If you have never grown mint before you might not know that it is extremely invasive.  Invasive being a nice way of saying that it will take over the entire garden if you turn your back for 5 minutes.  Fortunately we were able to keep it mostly in check last summer.

However, last weekend I went to look at the planters because my mom told me quite casually that “the mint came back this year” and I noticed that we had a situation happening.

Mint explosion!

More mint...Yikes!

I had no idea that it would not only survive the winter, but would have taken over so much by the middle of April.  So needless to say, even after pulling a lot of the more scraggly looking runners out, I had quite a lot of mint to use up.

Since I think my liver would have an issue with me drinking enough mojitos to use all this mint, I decided to make ice cream.

Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream (Adapted from Martha Stewart’s recipe for Fresh Spearmint Ice Cream)

Ingredients

   1 cup packed fresh mint (next time I’ll add more mint as it wasn't quite minty enough for me)

   1 cup whole milk

   2 cups heavy cream

   2 large eggs

   3/4 cup sugar

   Pinch salt

   About a cup mini chocolate chips

Directions

   1.     Prepare an ice-water bath. Cook mint in a small saucepan of boiling water until bright green, about 1 minute. Using a slotted spoon, transfer mint to ice-water bath. When cool, drain, and squeeze out excess water.

   2.     Puree mint and milk in a blender until mint is finely chopped. Transfer to a medium saucepan, add cream, and bring to a simmer over medium heat.

   3.     Meanwhile, whisk together eggs and sugar in a medium bowl.

   4.     Gradually whisk 1/3 of the cream mixture into the egg mixture, then pour egg-cream mixture into the saucepan with the remaining cream mixture. Add salt.  Set over medium heat, and cook, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon, until thick enough to coat the back of the spoon, about 8 minutes. (Do not let the mixture come to a simmer.)

   5.     Strain through a fine sieve into a heatproof bowl, pressing on mint to extract liquid. Set bowl in ice-water bath. Let cool completely, stirring occasionally. Freeze in an ice cream maker according to manufacturer's instructions. Add in chocolate chips in the last 5 minutes of churning time.  Transfer to an airtight container, and freeze until firm.