Lamb Kleftiko Recipe: Slow-Cooked Greek Lamb

Kleftiko is lamb slow-cooked in a sealed parcel with potatoes, garlic, lemon and herbs until it falls off the bone. The name refers to the klephts, rebels who cooked their meat in sealed pits so the smoke would not give away their hideouts.

Serves: 6 | Prep: 20 min plus marinating | Cook: 4 hours

Ingredients

• 2 kg lamb leg or shoulder on the bone, in large pieces
• 6 garlic cloves, sliced
• 1 large onion, in wedges
• 4 potatoes, in wedges
• Juice of 2 lemons
• 4 tbsp olive oil
• 1 tbsp dried oregano
• 2 bay leaves
• A few sprigs of rosemary
• Salt and pepper
• Baking paper and foil

Method

1. Mix the lemon juice, olive oil, garlic, oregano, salt and pepper and marinate the lamb for at least 2 hours, ideally overnight.
2. Heat the oven to 160°C.
3. Lay a large sheet of baking paper over foil in a roasting dish. Add the potatoes and onion, then the lamb with its marinade, the bay leaves and rosemary.
4. Fold the paper and foil into a tightly sealed parcel so no steam escapes.
5. Cook for 3.5 hours, then open the parcel and cook for another 30 minutes to brown the meat.

Tips

• The parcel must be properly sealed; the lamb cooks in its own juices.
• Cubes of kefalotyri or graviera added inside the parcel are a popular variation.

Products from Bakaliko

• Theofilos - Greek Lamb Leg (Arnaki Mpouti)
• Theofilos - Greek Lamb Shoulder (Arnaki Xeraki)
• Thalassa - Greek Oregano 50 g

More Greek recipes

• Greek baked lamb with potatoes
• Greek lamb lemonato

Photo: Lord Mountbatten, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.