A Tessa Kiros Favorites Roundup

Over at I Heart Cooking Clubs, we have spent a very delicious six months with Tessa Kiros.  Tessa is definitely not as well-known as other chefs and cooks, but she deserves to be.  Her cookbooks are a work of art, abounding with recipes and stories.  Normally when I spend six months cooking and baking up a chef's or a cook's recipes I usually come across a few duds.  Not with Tessa.  This time around I can honestly say everything I tried was great.

It was really hard to narrow down my top Tessa recipes, but here are my favorites.  (Click on the recipe title to be directed to the original post).

First up is Tessa's Garides Saganaki (or simply Shrimp with Feta and Tomatoes) from her Food From Many Greek Kitchens cookbook.  This dish is a must make, stays on your mind, fall in love type dish. I keep shrimp in my freezer and feta in my cheese drawer so that I can make it whenever I like.  I can tell you for sure that this recipe will make my top ten favorites list for the year.

 Second on the list are Tessa's Fried Risotto Balls (otherwise known as Arancini) from her Apples for Jam cookbook.  These puppies should come with a warning.  My goodness are they addictive. Crunchy, gooey, cheesy, with lots of garlic and tomato flavor.  These little fried balls are phenomenal. 

The next recipe on the list is Tessa's Risotto with Artichokes and Sausage.  I altered this recipe to suit our tastes simply by keeping both the artichokes and sausage out of the risotto until the very last minute (Tessa's recipe cooks them along in the risotto).  The result was easily my all-time favorite risotto recipe.  The risotto was nice and creamy, the sausage slightly crispy and caramelized, and the artichokes lent a brightness to an otherwise rich dish.  We gobbled it up!

Also making the cut are Tessa's Chicken Croquettes, along with her chicken broth and Pasta in Chicken Broth, all from her Apples For Jam cookbook.  It makes for such an amazing, comforting, family-pleasing meal.  If you're in the mood for some kitchen therapy, make these three recipes.  You won't be sorry.  You'll be rewarded with so many things.  Homemade chicken broth, crunchy and wildly flavorful chicken croquettes, and a comforting soup of pasta in chicken broth. Soul satisfying in more ways than one.

We are partial to pot roasts in my house.  It's one of our all-time favorites.  So, I may be a bit biased when I say that Tessa's Kokkinisto (otherwise known as Reddened) was one of our favorite dishes.  This pot roast is called reddened because it calls for red wine, red onion, and tomatoes.  The end result is so flavorful.  The tomatoes get all jammy and delicious and it's just wonderful served with pasta on the side.

Lastly is the best-looking most delicious tasting banana bread I've ever had.  Seriously now.  I made Tessa's banana bread and really didn't think I would post it, but it blew our minds with it's tender texture, it's spicy fragrance, and it's ultimate banana flavor.  This is THE banana bread recipe.

Tessa has six cookbooks:  Apples for Jam: A Colorful Cookbook; Falling Cloudberries: A World of Family Recipes; Venezia: Food and Dreams; Twelve: A Tuscan Cookbook; Piri Piri Starfish: Portugal Found; and Food From Many Greek Kitchens. 

I have four of Tessa's cookbooks:  Twelve, Falling Cloudberries, Apples for Jam, and Food From Many Greek Kitchens.  I recommend all of them, but Apples for Jam was easily my favorite of the six.  I loved how the recipes were organized by color and also the fact that the recipes were so approachable.  My second favorite was Tessa's Food From Many Greek Kitchens.  Food From Many Greek Kitchens is such a stunning book full of gorgeous pictures and loads of Greek recipes.  Buy one, buy them all...you won't be sorry.

 The new chef for the next round of IHCC is Rick Bayless.