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I have a few hundred cookbooks, but only one Greek cookbook. “Yiayia’s Greek Recipes” is about 15 letter-sized sheets of printer paper bound in three places along one edge with straw-colored raffia, printed in black-and-white, and was very clearly formatted in MS Word 1998. It is spotted and stained and wrinkled and very well-loved. The author credit is “Your Aunt Georgia.” Georgia is not technically my aunt Georgia, but my best friend Alexandra’s aunt Georgia, a vivacious Greek woman who, when I was in high school and just discovering that maybe I wanted to go to culinary school, decided I needed a copy of one her family’s heirlooms, Alex’s great-grandmother’s recipes.
I use these sheafs of paper often. There’s a recipe for avgolemono soup, one for keftethes (Greek-style meatballs), and of course instructions for baklava. But there isn’t a lamb recipe in the bunch.
So it’s a good thing I now have celebrity chef Michael Psilakis’s new book Live to Eat: Cooking the Mediterranean Way, which contains a strikingly simple grilled lamb chop recipe. He serves it with a baked potato and two classic Greek sauces: Ladolemono, which is almost like a lemony salad dressing, and which goes really well with almost every savory thing you can think of; and tzatziki, which you can buy already prepared if you don’t feel like making it.
Lamb Chops with Loaded Baked Potatoes
Serves 4
This combination is the Greek answer to meat and potatoes, with lamb chops instead of steak, and Mediterranean flavors (and healthier choices) standing in for the standard American potato toppings of butter, bacon, and sour cream. Ask your butcher to cut a rack of lamb into chops for you.
4 russet baking potatoes, washed and patted dry
1 (8-rib) rack of lamb, cut into chops
Extra virgin olive oil for the chops
Kosher salt
Fresh ground black pepper
2 lemons, halved
½ cup Ladolemono (recipe follows)
½ cup Cucumber Yogurt Dip (recipe follows) or store-bought tzatziki
3 tablespoons chopped mixed fresh herbs (parsley, mint, dill) or chopped chives
1. Pierce potatoes with fork and cook in microwave per manufacturer’s instruction. (Editor's note: Or roast, covered in foil, at 400F for 1 hour) Set aside.
2. Meanwhile, preheat a gas grill or grill pan (Editor's note: or cast iron pan) over medium heat. Rub the chops on both sides with olive oil, then season with salt and pepper on one side and salt on the other.
3. Grill the chops until they are nicely seared, about 1½ minutes per side for medium rare.
4. Transfer the chops to a cutting board to rest.
Grill the lemon halves, cut side down, until charred.
5. Arrange two lamb chops and a baked potato on each of four dinner plates. Drizzle the ladolemono over the chops. Split the potatoes open and spoon some yogurt dip into each, then top with the herbs. Serve warm with the charred lemons.
Ladolemono
Makes 4 cups
It may sound chef-y but here goes: Store this super-simple Greek sauce in a squeeze bottle and you will use it all the time. I find I want to drizzle the tangy, unctuous lemon-oil sauce on just about everything; it makes a more exciting dressing than just a squeeze of lemon. Toss with some blanched vegetables for an instant side dish, spoon it on top of grilled meats, pork, and chicken, or use it as a marinade for any protein.
1 cup lemon juice
3 tablespoons garlic confit pureed (Editor's note: or sauteed and then pureed garlic)
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
1/4 teaspoon dried oregano
2 tablespoons kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon black peppercorns, ground very fine
2 1/3 cups extra virgin olive oil
Whisk together the lemon juice, garIic puree, mustard, oregano, salt, and pepper in a large bowl until thoroughly combined. Slowly drizzle in the oil, whisking until thoroughly incorporated. Store, tightly covered, in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks.
Cucumber Yogurt Dip (tzatziki)
Makes 5 ½ cups
Greeks use this condiment, known as tzatziki, on just about everything. If you are lucky enough to find the authentic prepared stuff, go ahead and buy it. Either way, you will have a seriously flavorful and healthy sauce.
This recipe yields far more than you'll need to make any one dish, which is the point. It's a dip for vegetables and pita, a flavor-packed sauce for sushi (yes, it's easier to make than you think—and it doesn't have to be perfectly executed to taste amazing), yet another replacement (along with Garlic Yogurt Sauce, page 31) for mayonnaise in chicken, tuna, crab, or egg salad sandwiches (or any sandwich that calls for mayonnaise), and a condiment for grilled meat, poultry, and fish.
3 cloves garlic, peeled
1/2 cup white vinegar or white wine vinegar 4 cups Greek yogurt
1 large English cucumber, ends trimmed, peeled, and halved lengthwise, seeds discarded and flesh cut into 1/4-inch dice
3 tablespoons loosely packed chopped fresh dill 2 teaspoons kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
Combine garlic and vinegar in a blender and puree until smooth. Combine the yogurt and garlicky vinegar in a bowl. Using a whisk, gently work the liquid into the yogurt until it is fully incorporated.
Fold in the cucumbers, dill, salt, and pepper.
Transfer to a container with a tight fitting lid. The dip will keep for up to 1 week in the refrigerator.
NOTE: Be sure to remove all of the seeds from the cucumber; they release water, which will make the dip too loose.
I love the almost obnoxiously acidic flavor of white vinegar here, but you can tone it down by using white wine vinegar instead.
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Excerpted from the book LIVE TO EAT by Michael Psilakis. Copyright © 2017 by Michael Psilakis. Reprinted with permission of Little, Brown and Company.
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