This delightful Greek recipe is absolutely one of the best things you can do with a lamb shoulder or leg. And it also has a great story behind its name; the Greek word ‘klefti’ means ‘steal’, and the story goes that in the past, when someone stole a sheep, they would cook it in a pit. This would hide the delicious aroma of the roasting lamb, with the bonus of the farmer not being able to locate his missing animal! The method used nowadays is ‘en papilotte’, ie wrapped in foil or baking paper. Included in the parcel are potatoes, plenty of garlic and towards the end Feta cheese and peas, so all you need to go alongside Kleftiko is a green or Greek salad.
01.
Ingredients
1 Lamb Shoulder/Leg
Olive Oil
6 cloves Garlic, peeled and roughly chopped
4 medium Potatoes, quartered
100g Garden Peas
100g Feta Cheese
1tbs Oregano
10 sprigs fresh Thyme
1 generous tsp Lemon Pyramid Salt
02.
Method
Make a ‘bed’ with plenty of tin foil, which you will be able to close over the joint for cooking, and pour a little olive oil in the base. Rub most of the oregano and the lemon salt into the lamb, and let it sit for an hour. Meanwhile set the oven to 160C.
Place the lamb onto the tin foil bed, and surround it with the potatoes, then scatter the remaining oregano and lemon salt over them. Scatter the garlic over everything, and then pour over a good slug of olive oil. Lay the thyme sprigs over the lamb, and then close the tin foil up, not too tightly. Place the parcel in a deep baking tray, and pour in an inch of water. Then pop it into the oven, and roast for 2 hours.
Take the lamb out of the oven and open up the parcel, then add the garden peas around the joint. Crumble the Feta over everything, and finally add another sprinkle of oregano. Return the lamb to the oven uncovered, and cook for another 30-40 minutes.
Cooking times obviously depend on the size of your piece of lamb, but this should be a slowly cooked dish where the meat is very well done. In our opinion Kleftiko works better with a shoulder rather than a leg, but the choice is yours.
