Mains
Lamb Chops in the Oven
Αρνί Τάβα
Every Sunday in Cyprus, Yiayia’s mother would prepare chops to cook slowly while the family was at church. Using old-style woodfire stoves, the meat would slowly cook until tender, infused with the smoky flavour from the wood. As the church bells rang, the kids would dash home, eager to be the first to eat what was often their only meat of the week. As the only girl in the family, Yiayia was entrusted with learning how to prepare this simple yet cherished meal to have ready after church when she got old enough. And by now she knows the recipe like the back of her hand.
Main
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons of canola oil
- 6-8 lamb forequarter chops
- 3/4 tablespoon salt
- ½ teaspoon ground pepper
- 8-9 whole cloves
- 8 bay leaves
- 2 cinnamon sticks
- (broken into 5-6 pieces per stick)
- 3 large potatoes, peeled and
- cut into thirds
- 1 can of diced tomatoes
- 2 large onions, peeled and cut
- into 1cm thick rings
- 1 lemon, juiced
Method
- Preheat oven to 220 degrees on bake
- Drizzle canola oil into a large, 5cm+ deep baking dish
- Generously salt one side of all of the lamb chops
- Place the salted side of the chops down on the baking dish and tightly pack them together. Salt the other side of each chop
- Sprinkle a generous amount of pepper, whole cloves, bay leaves, and cinnamon sticks among the chops
- Cover the chops with the potatoes and season with salt and pepper
- Pour the can of diced tomatoes evenly over the potatoes
- Break the onion slices into individual rings and place evenly on top of the tomatoes
- Pour the juice of a large lemon, and a drizzle of canola oil across the dish
- Pour enough water into the baking dish until everything is submerged
- Tightly cover the tray with aluminium foil and put into the oven to cook for 2.5- 3 hours. Remove the aluminium foil after 1.5 hours of cooking and turn all of the potatoes. Return the dish to the oven for the remaining 1-1.5 hours.
- Serve with Greek salad