Tag: barbecue

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Recipes

Foodie Friday: Aussie lamb chops & feta-pomegranate topping

Being Australia Day next week, Williams-Sonoma has delivered with this delicious, fuss-free lamb recipe. Of course. Was there ever any doubt it would be lamb?

Perhaps less obvious is the choice to cook it in the oven instead of on the barbecue. But that’s entirely up to you. The charred goodness of barbecued lamb is almost a national right in summertime, so feel free to ditch the meat thermometer, head outside and throw your chop on the barbie instead.

However, this is a great, simple way to produce delicious lamb chops in the oven – especially since you’ll already have it preheated from roasting the pumpkin. It definitely saves on cleaning up, and is a handy recipe to recall come wintertime.

Lamb Chops with Feta-Pomegranate Topping and Roast Pumpkin

Serves 4

Ingredients

  • 12 lamb rib or loin chops, each about 2 cm thick (about 1.25 kg total)
  • 5 Tbsp (80 ml) olive oil
  • Grated zest and juice of 1 lemon
  • Salt and freshly ground pepper
  • 1 small pumpkin or half a larger one (about 750 g), seeded and cut into 1 cm slices

For the feta-pomegranate topping:

  • 60 g feta, crumbled
  • 1/3 cup chopped flat-leaf parsley leaves
  • 1/3 cup pomegranate seeds
  • Grated zest of 1 lemon
  • 1 tsp olive oil

Method 

1. Preheat an oven to 190°C. Line a baking tray with foil.

2. In a large bowl, combine the lamb chops with 3 Tbsp of the olive oil and the lemon zest and juice. Season well with salt and pepper and toss to coat evenly. Let the lamb stand at room temperature for about 15 minutes.

3. Pile the pumpkin slices on the baking tray. Drizzle with the remaining 2 Tbsp olive oil, season well with salt and pepper, and toss to coat. Spread the pumpkin in a single layer and bake for 10 minutes.

4. Remove the pumpkin from the oven and add the lamb chops on top of the pumpkin on the baking tray. Bake until the pumpkin is fork-tender and caramelised around the edges and an instant-read thermometer inserted into the thickest part of a lamb chop reaches 55°C, about 20 minutes. (Do not flip the lamb chops.) 

5. While the lamb cooks, make the topping. In a small bowl, stir together the feta, parsley, pomegranate seeds, lemon zest and olive oil. Season with salt and pepper and set aside.

6. Remove the lamb from the oven, cover loosely with foil and let rest for 10 minutes. Place the lamb and roast pumpkin on a platter and sprinkle with the topping. Serve immediately.  

Love this recipe? Head to williams-sonoma.com.au for all the best food and entertaining inspiration this summer.

Categories
Expert Tips Outdoor & Exteriors

How to: Plan an outdoor room

By Cherie Barber

In a climate like Australia’s, an outdoor room isn’t just an asset; it’s almost obligatory. What better way to capitalise on all that blue sky and months of warm weather than creating an extension to your home that marries the comfort of a living room with the breezy bliss of lounging around outdoors? The answer, of course, is an outdoor room.   

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However, it’s not just a matter of propping an umbrella over a table and chairs. You need to create something practical and inviting, sheltered from the elements, with a good connection to the indoors. Here are some important elements to consider.

Find inspiration

A small space like an apartment balcony is probably going to offer limited options, but if you’re sizing up something larger, then spend time browsing magazines and online sites for examples of beautiful outdoor rooms you’d love to recreate.

Plan your room

Just like you would for an indoor renovation, you need to draw up a plan, whether you’re converting a barren courtyard, a disused balcony or creating something like a deck from scratch. Are you planning something quite simple on a low budget or a luxurious outdoor kitchen with barbie, sink, lounging furniture and a 12-seater outdoor setting? You don’t need sophisticated software; just break out the graph paper, measure up the dimensions of your outdoor space to scale, then start playing around with ideas. Use cut-outs for things like table settings, potted plants, barbecue, etc. This will begin to give you an idea of the space you have to play and realistically what you can fit in.

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Prioritise what’s important

Budget and size of the space will be the main limiting factors here. At a minimum you need shade, some privacy from neighbours, hopefully easy access to indoors, furniture and some kind of lighting so you can use it at night.

Things like screening, shade sails, sun umbrellas and retractable awnings can turn an unusable courtyard, deck or balcony into a protected outdoor room you can enjoy year-round. And features like foldaway clothes lines, a wall-mounted hose reel and bench seating that doubles as a storage box help keep the area clutter-free.

If you’re creating something more lavish, like an outdoor kitchen, you may need to consider new power points, plumbing and appropriate task lighting. This is where your graph paper will come in useful.

Go furniture shopping

There are just so many budget-conscious choices out there, you’ll be spoilt for choice when you go shopping for the components of your outdoor room, whether it’s loungers, table and chairs, barbecue or storage ideas. Just make sure they-re size-appropriate to the space. No point having your sights set on a top-of-the-line barbie when the reality is you only have room for a Weber.

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Sprinkle around some magic

Now this is where you elevate your outdoor room from a practical space to something really special. Night time is often when your outdoor room comes into its own and lighting will make it feel intimate and warm. If you don’t have access to a power point, you can always use tealights, outdoor candles or even solar lighting to create atmosphere.

If you don’t have a lot of floor space for pots, consider a vertical garden; a wall of edible potted herbs perhaps. 

Mirrors immediately enlarge any space, so think about a nice, big one you can strategically place to capture the best aspect.

If you have a big enough courtyard, it’s worth sacrificing space for a striking focal point, like a potted elm or large ceramic urn. Landscape designers use this trick often: in a confined area, one big object that draws in the eye will have much more impact than a whole lot of small things, which can simply make it look cluttered.

A successful outdoor room all starts with clever planning, a realistic appraisal of what can be achieved, then that attention to detail that’s much more about imagination than a bottomless pit of money.

–Cherie Barber is the director of Renovating for Profit, a company that teaches everyday people how to buy and renovate properties for a profit. 

Categories
Recipes

Foodie Friday: Smokey Barbecue Pork Ribs

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Fire up the barbie and invite some friends over for ribs! These tender, smoky and slightly spicy ribs by Williams-Sonoma will leave you licking your lips (and fingers!). For extra smokey flavour, use smoking chips inside your barbecue. If you don’t own a barbecue, you can also cook these ribs in the oven. Serve them with a zesty coleslaw salad and some fresh bread rolls – everyone’s happy!

smoky-barbecue-pork-ribs

Ingredients

2 racks pork ribs, about 2.5 kg total

For the rub:

  1. 1/2 cup brown sugar
  2. 2 tbs chilli powder
  3. 2 tsp salt
  4. 1 tsp smoked paprika

For the sauce:

  • 3/4 cup tomato sauce
  • 1/4 cup brown sugar
  • 2 tbs Worcestershire sauce
  • 1/4 cup apple cider 
  • 1 tbs soy sauce
  • 1 tbs Dijon mustard
  • 1 tsp onion powder
  • 1 tsp garlic powder
  • 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
  • Pinch of nutmeg
  • Large pinch of salt

Method 

Preheat barbecue or oven to 165°C.

To make the rub, in a small bowl, combine the brown sugar, chilli powder, salt and paprika.

Place the ribs on a barbecue-friendly tray, such as the High-Heat Nonstick Steel BBQ Roaster from Williams-Sonoma, or a baking tray if you’re cooking in an oven. Spread the rub evenly over both sides of the ribs. Transfer the ribs to the barbecue or oven and cook for about 3 hours, turning the ribs every hour, until the meat starts to pull away from the bones. Remove the ribs from the barbecue, cover with aluminium foil and let rest while you make the sauce. 

To make the sauce, in a saucepan combine the tomato sauce, brown sugar, Worcestershire sauce, apple cider, soy sauce, mustard, onion powder, garlic powder, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat then reduce the heat to medium. Simmer for 4 to 5 minutes, or until reduced by half. Remove from the heat.

Baste both sides of ribs with barbecue sauce then return to barbecue or oven for a further 5 minutes.

Transfer ribs to a cutting board, cut into single pieces and serve hot with the remaining barbecue sauce alongside.

Serves 6.

–If you’d like to brush up on your kitchen skills, head to the Williams-Sonoma Sydney Cooking School to learn the tricks of the trade.