GIFT GUIDE: 5 Easy-to-Make Premixed Dishes for the Food Lover

3 Red Wines for More than the High Holidays

Holiday Recipe: Sipi’s Oven Roast Lamb Chops with Lemon and Oregano

Author Tessa Kiros’s new cookbook, Now and Then A Collection of Recipes for Always (Murdoch Books) is a curated collection of 150 new recipes that warm the heart and kitchen, and which includes Tessa’s personal reflections and favorite food memories.  It also includes several ideas and combinations for delicious holiday dishes, such as:

  • Warm Malva Pudding Cake with Whisky Sauce
  • Raspberry Creme Brulee
  • Gingerbread
  • Ricotta and Jam Pastries
  • Chocolate Cake, Sour Cherries and Clotted Cream
  • Sugar Lemon Tart
  • Kourabiedes With Pecans And Chocolate Chips
  • Pistachio Biscuits With Figs, Raspberries And Rose Syrup

One tasty recipe that Tessa Kiros shares with us here is for Sipi’s Oven Roast Lamb Chops with Lemon and Oregano.

Photography Credit: Manos Chatzikonstantis

Sipi’s oven roast lamb chops with lemon and oregano

Says Tessa: “These are the ones my mom always made in the oven at home – a big trayful. I loved scraping the bottom of the dish with chips!

I get the butcher to cut the lamb chops thin and I leave some fat on the chops as it’s meltingly delicious when roasted with the lemon. They must be served warm and, if it is cold outside, serve on heated plates. Lovely with Boereboontjies (page 29) or chips.”

Serves 4

  • 1 kg (2 lb 4 oz) thin cut lamb chops, just under 1 cm (½ in) thick max (15–20 chops) with some fat
    juice of 2 lemons (about 8 tablespoons)
  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • 30 g (1 oz) butter, cut into small chunks
  • 3 heaped teaspoons dried
  • Greek oregano, plus a little extra to serve

Preheat the oven to 200°C (400°F). Quickly rinse or wipe the lamb chops over with moist paper towels to get rid of any stray bits of bone. Pat dry. Put into a large roasting dish where they fit in a single layer.

Splash with the lemon, season well with salt and pepper and add the olive oil. Scatter the pieces of butter around and sprinkle the oregano over, crushing it a bit between your fingers. Turn through to coat both sides of the chops.

Pour 125 ml (4 fl oz/½ cup) water around the sides of the dish. Cover the dish with foil and bake for about 20 minutes until pale but cooked, with a good amount of sauce.

Remove the foil, lower the oven to 180°C (350°F) and return the dish to the oven for another 20 minutes or until the chops have a good deep golden colour and the sauce has thickened and is bubbling and sticky in parts (there’s no need to turn the chops over and, depending on your oven, you can turn it to Fan to get the chops more golden if you like). Serve hot with a little extra oregano scattered over.

 

ABOUT TESSA KIROS

Tessa Kiros is international cookbook royalty. She helped define the modern illustrated genre and has sold more than 700,000 copies across multiple titles, languages, and decades. Her previous cookbooks include Apples for Jam, Falling Cloudberries, Provence to Pondicherry, Twelve, Food From Many Greek Kitchens, Limoncello and Linen Water, and Piri Piri Starfish. Tessa’s upbringing and lifelong wanderlust has seen her collect culinary experiences from all over the world. Born in London to a Finnish mother and Greek-Cypriot father, she grew up in South Africa. After many years traveling and working, she settled with her husband Giovanni in Italy, where they raised daughters Yasmine and Cassia. She divides her time today between Italy and Greece. Now & Then is her eleventh cookbook and it’s her definitive new work: 150-plus recipes with gorgeous lifestyle photography reflecting on the food that has shaped her, but also encompassing her table today. Her new cookbook taps into our renewed appetite for nostalgia, in cooking and in life. It calls out to Tessa Kiros devotees, as well as speaking to younger readers through the mediums of color, energy, authority, and the healthful deliciousness of her evolving modern table. This is Tessa Kiros as we haven’t known her; for 2023 and beyond.

Now and Then A Collection of Recipes for Always

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Murdoch Books (October 3, 2023)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 400 pages

How to Pick Out a Good Australian Wine – What to Look For & Avoid



Sometimes we can’t be an expert in everything, especially wines from different regions, but if you’re confused about what makes a good Australian wine, wine experts Jane Lopes and Jonathan Ross have 3 great tips for you to try. They are authors of the book How to Drink Australian An Essential Modern Wine Book .

Jane Lopes and Jonathan Ross: There’s never been a more exciting time to drink Australian wine. The country most known for cheap critter wines and bold shiraz is actually the country to go to for quality wines in just about every style and price-point. Australia has reached an amazing confluence of generational knowledge, old-vine material, and a spirit of innovation that, combined, is creating some of the world’s greatest wines.

So how to you pick out a good bottle?

  1. Be willing to try something new. There are world-class wines made from the most popular and frequently consumed grapes: chardonnay, pinot noir, cabernet sauvignon, shiraz, and merlot. But, when grown at scale to achieve easy prices, they fall short almost everywhere.  If you venture further afield to try, say, an Australian nero d’avola, grenache or riesling, there’s a better chance that you’ll find something made and selected with care, rather than something manufactured to meet the demand of the market.
  2. Look for a region on the bottle. There are plenty of great Australian wines that say ‘South Eastern Australia’ on the back (a catch-all appellation for the wine regions of South Australia, Victoria, New South Wales, Tasmania, and Queensland) – take, for example, Penfolds Grange: Australia’s most prized and expensive wine! But often you can find wines made at an estate vineyard when there is a more specific wine region on the label: something like Heathcote, Barossa Valley, Yarra Valley, Beechworth, Tasmania, Margaret River, etc. The list is long!
  3. Find a wine shop you trust. This is the best piece of advice in all matters wine! Wine shops that spend lots of energy and time selecting bottles for you are going to come up with the best bottles. And small, independently owned wine shops will often be able to work with the smaller production wines that grocery stores and national chains won’t. So find your local wine merchant, and get to know them. They’ll get to know you – your pallet, your budget, your tastes – and will help you find the best bottle. 

ABOUT Jane Lopes and Jonathan Ross

Jane Lopes is a sommelier, author, and importer, having worked at New York’s Eleven Madison Park, Nashville’s The Catbird Seat, Chicago’s The Violet Hour, and most recently as the wine director at Melbourne’s Attica, before passing the prestigious master sommelier exam in 2018. Lopes published her first book, Vignette: Stories of Life and Wine in 100 Bottles, in 2019. In 2020, Lopes co-founded Legend, an Australian wine imports company, with husband Jonathan Ross, to help bring the great wines they’d experienced in Australia to the US. She is now based in Nashville. She is the co-author of How To Drink Australian: An Essential Modern Wine Book (Murdoch Books / September 2023 / $60).

Jonathan Ross is a sommelier and wine importer whose career in restaurants has included posts at New York’s Eleven Madison Park, Oceana and Anthos, and as the beverage director for Australia’s Rockpool Dining Group. Ross passed the prestigious master sommelier exam in 2017, has curated wine offerings for Qantas Airlines, and founded the boutique wine label Micro Wines. In 2020, Ross returned to the US, eager to spread the word of the world-class wine he’d worked with in Australia, and co-founded Legend Imports in 2020 with his wife Jane Lopes. He is the co-author of How To Drink Australian: An Essential Modern Wine Book (Murdoch Books / September 2023 / $60).

Try a Making a Spanish Omelette with French Fries instead of Potatoes

If you’re a fan of Spanish omelettes, why not try something a bit different with your leftover ingredients? A Spanish omelette made with day-old French fries is a fun, delicious and frugal way to turn your leftovers into a tasty treat.

The best part is that you don’t need to worry about wasting food. By using day-old French fries, you can get the same great taste without having to worry about throwing away food. Plus, the potatoes will soak up all the flavors of the omelette and make it even tastier.

The best way to make a Spanish omelette with day-old French fries is to start by lightly sautéing the potatoes in a bit of oil. This will give them a crispy texture and also help to release some of their flavor. Once the potatoes are golden brown, add them to a bowl with your other ingredients, such as onions, peppers, garlic, and tomatoes. If you like, you can also throw in some cooked chorizo or other meats.

 

Once all of the ingredients have been added to the bowl, mix them together and pour the mixture into a hot skillet. Let the omelette cook for about 5 minutes and then flip it over. Keep flipping the omelette until it is cooked through and golden brown.

When the omelette is done, it’s time to enjoy! Serve it with some Spanish olives, a side of your favorite salsa, and some freshly grated cheese. Enjoy your creative and delicious Spanish omelette with day-old French fries!

Not only is this Spanish omelette made with day-old French fries a tasty treat, but it’s also a great way to be frugal. By using up your leftovers, you can make a delicious meal without having to worry about wasting food. Plus, it’s a great way to get creative with your ingredients and come up with something unique and delicious.

If you’ve never tried making a Spanish omelette with day-old French fries before, you’re in for a treat. It’s a great way to turn leftovers into something special and enjoy a delicious meal without having to worry about food waste. So why not give it a try and see how it turns out?