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).

These Two New Cocktail Cookbooks on Tequila and Bourbon will Make You Both Thirsty and Hungry

 

If you love good spirits, especially Bourbon or Tequila, then today is your lucky day. These two cocktail cookbooks will keep you in the kitchen (or the bar) making a plethora of tasty recipes that give you a really good excuse to both eat and drink, and drink and eat.

 

Bourbon Is My Comfort Food

Not only truly gorgeous, Bourbon Is My Comfort Food is also a lot of fun… and mysterious. The texture, printing, layout and photographs are quite lovely, far more than most books on beverages present. It is also fun, especially in its celebration of the Bourbon lovers’ lifestyle in photos and in various titles throughout the edition, ranging from “Cask and You Will Receive,” to “Ice: The Most Important Ingredient (Besides Bourbon.” Heather Wibbels delivers a first class homage and ambassador to the Bourbon spirit.

It’s mysterious because, well, there’s apparently a lot of people having fun with Bourbon about whom we are just now learning, and that’s very mysterious. Someone send us an invite!

Bourbon Is My Comfort Food reveals the delicious beauty of bourbon cocktails and the joy of creating them. Whether readers are new to bourbon or steeped in its history and myriad uses, they will gain the knowledge to make great bourbon cocktails, share them with friends and family, and expand their whiskey horizons―because the only thing better than bourbon is sharing it with a friend.

From building your home bar to basics on cocktail technique, Heather Wibbels showcases more than 140 variations on classic bourbon cocktails―like the Old-Fashioned, the Manhattan, Whiskey Sours, Highballs, Juleps, and more―in approachable ways. The book also features several Cocktail Labs, which invite readers to explore classic cocktail elements and experiment with flavors, textures, infusions, syrups, and garnishes.

Bourbon Is My Comfort Food is a celebration of ten years of bourbon education and cocktails by Bourbon Women, the first group dedicated to women and their love of the spirit. Wibbels celebrates with cocktails from the Bourbon Women leadership team, branches across the nation, and winners from the group’s annual Not Your Pink Drink contest. Get out your cocktail shaker and explore the wide world of bourbon cocktails with Heather Wibbels and Bourbon Women!

Publisher : University Press of Kentucky
Hardcover : 288 pages

FIND IT HERE ON AMAZON

 

The Tequila Diet: Exploring Mexican Food & Drink with the World’s Greatest Spirit

People often joke that they are on a liquid diet, and if you are a Tequila fan, that can be pretty close to the truth. The flavor of tequila has a miraculous way of adding nuances and enhancement to not only drinks like a Margarita, but also to food. Chef Dave Martin’s Tequila Diet book is a perfect blend of both culinary and mixology creations.

Created by Top Chef Alum Dave Martin, the Tequila Diet is made from a collection of recipes influenced by Dave’s adolescent years growing up in Southern California, combined with his adult adventures traveling throughout Mexico.

The Tequila Diet: Exploring Mexican Food & Drink with the World’s Greatest Spirit pays mucho respect to a great spirit and is a guide to popular and classic foods of Mexico. The recipes range from cocktails that can be shaken by a novice bartender to authentic Mexican dishes that can be prepared by the home cook or aspiring chef.

Readers can enjoy simple Salsas & Ceviche or attempt your own Homemade Empanadas or Triple Chile Enchilada Sauce (pasilla, chipotle & guajillo). Learn how to recreate regional favorites like Mole Negro (a chocolate & chile based sauce), Birria (slow braised beef, goat or lamb) or Posole (a stew of pork, hominy & pinto beans). There are lighter takes on traditional dishes that will please even the pickiest eaters. Pan Roasted Fish Tacos, Tequila Braised Carnitas and Baked Chile Rellenos are packed full of flavor and friendlier to the waistline.

Paperback : 176 pages

FIND IT HERE ON AMAZON

Chef Rene Johnson releases new vegan soul food cookbook, From My Heart to Your Table

Chef Rene Johnson has released her new cookbook, From My Heart to Your Table, featuring vegan and healthier traditional soul food. Her unique coffee table-style cookbook shares easy to follow recipes your holiday guests will love, along with personal stories and scrapbook-style pages, and some amazing tips on how to make healthier, plant-based versions of everyone’s favorite appetizers, entrees, and of course, desserts.

Chef Rene is known for taking her grandmother’s homespun southern soul food recipes and making them every bit as flavorful and culturally relevant, without many of the harmful fats added to traditional comfort food dishes.

Chef Rene’s has many celebrity followers, with clients ranging from Nancy Pelosi and Vice President Kamala Harris to actor Danny Glover, author Dr. Cornel West, California Governor Gavin Newsom, multi-platinum selling music group, Tony! Toni! Toné, and top execs at Google and YouTube.

“Vice President Kamala Harris has a sweet tooth,” says Chef Rene. “Her favorites were the desserts I made for her event, like my mini sweet potato pies, mini vegan cupcakes, and mini homemade vegan chocolate chip cookies.”

“California Governor Gavin Newson throws a yearly event for Congresswoman Barbara Lee, and they loved my vegan greens, picnic potato salad, mac and ‘cheese,’ vegan candied yams, and hot water cornbread.” But, says Rene, “the vegan quinoa ‘meatloaf’ was Gavin’s favorite.”

“Actor Danny Glover gravitated towards my vegan beans and rice. That was his favorite by far,” says Rene.

As far as more traditionally prepared, yet healthier dishes, Rene shares, “Dr. Cornell West enjoyed the jerk turkey meatballs, mini mac and cheese bites, and he also loved my vegan red beans and rice. Then he dug into my blackberry jam cupcakes.”

From My Heart to Your Table features all of the celebratory holiday food appetizers, entrees, and desserts Chef Rene Johnson is famous for, from Hollywood and Silicon Valley to Washington, DC.

A true pioneer of the healthier soul food and vegan soul food movements, Chef Rene’s food is so flavorful and delicious, you won’t miss the meat and dairy, or the excess fat.

Some of Chef Rene’s vegan soul food dishes include: fresh tomato succotash, smothered cabbage, vegan dirty rice, vegan fried okra bites, cashew “cream” sauce, vegan butter beans, mini-quinoa and spinach cakes, and quinoa meatloaf.

More traditional fare featured in Chef Rene’s cookbook includes: hot water corn bread, junky black eyed peas aka “cold day chicken soup,” sticky barbeque wings, big ol’ pot of gumbo, grandmother’s fried chicken, off-the-hook ox-tails, the “mac attack” mac and cheese, salmon croquettes, stewed salmon and grits, and more. “The beautiful part is that you can mix and match traditional and vegan dishes for the holidays. It doesn’t have to be one or the other,” she says.

There is also a healthy mix of dessert recipes for staples such as sweet potato pecan pie, peach cobbler, blackberry jam cupcakes, vegan chocolate chip cookies, and her signature “Mama Cake (yellow cake with chocolate icing).”

TasteTV’s TASTEABLE Television Series releases Season 6 Episode 603 Intro

TASTEABLE Television Series, Episode Intro, Season 6 Episode 603, featuring the Mill Valley Lumbar Yard retail and restaurant collection, Cantina Frida in Beverly Hills, Vivian Lui the author of Eat California, and a cocktail recipe from Pacifica.

This food, wine and travel television series takes viewers on a lifestyle tour of California and beyond. TASTEABLE can be watched on these PBS-affiliate television stations in Northern California, reaching over 2.5 million households from the San Francisco Bay Area to Wine Country.