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Ingredients

Serves 2 to 4


Half leg of lamb

2 tbs dried oregano

2 tbs lemon juice

2 garlic cloves, crushed

2 bay leaves

2 tbs olive oil

1 onion, sliced

 


 




 


 

Kleftiko

Sweet embrace of Hera do I love kleftiko! In fact I could probably eat this every day of my life and die very happy – and considerably more lamby. The trick is to let the lamb cook low and long, keep it covered and make sure it never dries out or it will be tougher than a grilled leather sandwich.
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Method

 

 ​​​​​​​​​​​Mix the ingredients together to form a marinade and cover the lamb leg with it.

Meanwhile, gently fry off the onions until soft. When done, place the onions in a large oven proof dish and put the lamb on top of them. Add about 2 cm of water and then cover tightly. Place in an oven at 150C and cook for approximately 3 hours.

Open it up every so often and baste and make sure the meat doesn't dry out. If the liquid in the dish drops, top it up with some fresh water. You'll know when it's done as you'll be able to cut the meat with a spoon... – nice.

To server, carve the meat up into hunks – you won't be able to slice it. Serve with roast potatoes and spring greens. Traditionally the potatoes are cooked for the last hour in the juices along-side the lamb and this gives them a glorious flavour.

You can also use lamb chops for this: cook plenty up the day before then warm them through and serve them up at a BBQ, which always goes down well. They will take about an hour or so to cook, keep a close eye on them as they will disintegrate if you leave them too long.

Some Greek recipes suggest that this is cooked with cheese. I personally don't like cheesy lamb and the version above is more in kind with the Cypriot version.


 

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