Greek lamb kleftiko

5 from 2 votes

Greek lamb kleftiko takes a little time to cook, but it's hands off and the result is a true taste of the Mediterranean.

Prep Time15

Cook Time1 58

Total Time2 13

Course: Main Course

Cuisine: Greek

Servings: approx or more

Calories: 888kcal

Author: Caroline's Cooking

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Ingredients

To marinade lamb (ahead of time)

2 cloves garlic or 3 if small
¼ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
2 teaspoon dried oregano
1 tablespoon olive oil
½ lemon
2.2 lb boneless lamb leg or shoulder (see notes) 1kg

As ready to cook

1 lb potatoes 450g
½ red onion
10 cherry tomatoes
2 tablespoon olive oil
1 dash salt
1 dash pepper
½ lemon

Instructions

The day before

Crush the garlic and mix with the salt, cinnamon, oregano, olive oil and lemon in a medium sized bowl. Add the piece of lamb and rub the marinade all over. Cover and refrigerate overnight.

On day of cooking

Preheat oven to 350F/180C if using leg, and 320F/160C if using shoulder.
Peel the potatoes and cut into large chunks of similar size in the potatoes are large. Peel and cut the onion into chunks (roughly 8 pieces). Put the potatoes, onion and tomatoes in the bottom of a large piece of parchment in an oven dish and drizzle over the olive oil, salt, pepper and lemon. Toss a little so they are covered.
Place the piece of lamb on top of the vegetables and fold up the parchment to cover, as far as possible. If it doesn't fully close (it can be tricky), cover over the top with foil to seal. Place in the oven and cook for approx 2 ½ hours for the leg, and nearer 4 hours if using shoulder (see note below and comments above). In both cases, uncover for the last 20-30 minutes to allow the top and vegetables to brown a little.
Let the meat rest for around 5-10 minutes before slicing and serving. While it's resting, leave the potatoes and other vegetables in the oven for a couple more minutes then serve with the sliced lamb.

Notes

If using lamb leg - it will be leaner, and it will be fine cooked for around 2/12 hours in total. It will be pretty tender and will slice well. Shoulder will need longer to cook, nearer 4 hours and best at a lower temperature, but will come out moist and tender. It may not slice as well, but more break up.

Nutrition