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Meat
Easy
4 Servings
Allergens 
45 Minutes
Diets
This dish is inspired by the following historical account:
In 1569 in Porto, Cecilia Cardosa was accused of celebrating Passover by eating “a dish made of matzah [pão asmo], grains [grãos], and cooked chestnut [castanhas cozidas] cooked in a new pot [louça nova] for Passover.” She was sentenced to having to wear the sambenito (penitential robe) and was forbidden to appear in public.
1/4 cup (50 grams) olive oil
4 matzot, such as Yehuda Matzos, broken into medium pieces
8 lamb chops
2 onions, sliced very thinly
2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon pepper
1/4 cup (85 grams) Gefen Honey
2 teaspoons turmeric
2 teaspoons ginger
1 teaspoon cinnamon
8 tablespoons water
3 cups chestnuts, cooked and drained or Tuscanini Chestnuts
10 apricots, fresh (if they are dried, soak them for 1 hour in hot water before using)
In a large frying pan, pour the olive oil. Heat over medium heat and add the pieces of matzah. Slightly brown them while stirring for three to four minutes. Then set them aside on a plate. Do not cover them, otherwise they will become soft.
In the same pan, lower the heat, add the sliced onions and cook until they are translucent. Add the lamb chops and brown them for two minutes on each side. Cover and cook for about two minutes over medium heat.
Remove the chops and put them on a separate plate. Cover them with aluminum foil to keep them warm. In the same pan, over low heat, add the salt, pepper, honey, powdered turmeric, powdered ginger, and powdered cinnamon. Stir the mixture, and then add the eight tablespoons water. Cook for five minutes over medium heat.
In a separate pot, put the cooked chestnuts in boiling water for 30 seconds. This is not to cook them (as they are already cooked) but to warm them up. Add the halved apricots to the same water. Drain and add them to the honey-spice syrup in the pan. Cover and cook over low heat for five minutes.
Check the chestnuts to make sure they are tender, and then return the meat to the sauce with the chestnuts and apricots so it can absorb the flavors.
Take four plates. Place two chops on each plate and arrange the chestnuts and apricots around them. Pour the sauce over them. Put the pieces of matzah that were browned in oil on one side of the plate.
Recipe excerpted from Matzah and Flour (2024). Purchase on Amazon.
Photography by Mathilde Boclet
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