Lamb Kleftiko

[PanBiker]

Having mentioned this over in another thread I thought I would post my recipe variant.

Lamb Kleftiko is basically a pot stew traditionally made by Greek shepherds in an earth oven from whatever ingredients in addition to lamb they had to hand.

As the dish is slow cooked you can start with raw meat if you wish but I generally go with lamb that I have pre cooked with onions and stock. To this end I shoved 500g of diced lamb into the frying pan along with a large sliced onion to seal the meat off, I then added the stock and then transferred the lot to the slow cooker for the day. I pre prepared this yesterday.

Today was assembly day to turn it into the Kleftko. you need a pot for the oven with a lid, large enough to hold all the ingredients. As I was providing for two I used a 1.5L pot or thereabouts.

Here's the list of ingredients:

500g diced lamb with stock
3 or 4 cloves of Garlic
2 large Beef Tomatoes
2 carrots (optional)
2 or 3 Potatoes (waxy variety)
2 Tablespoons or so of dried Oregano ( or equivalent of fresh)
Juice of half a fresh Lemon
100g or so of Feta Cheese



Put the lamb and stock into the pot and then add two large beef tomatoes just cut into quarters. Chop the garlic and add. Peel and quarter the potatoes then add the juice of the lemon, add the Oregano and stir all together in the pot. Now add the Feta, just cut up into 1" or so cubes on the top of the other ingredients.

Now seal the top of the pot with foil and then put the lid on, the foil is to create a more or less airtight seal. Put it in the oven on low for a few hours, the longer the better. After a couple of hours the kitchen will start to smell like lamb heaven.

Serve with crusty bread baton cut into rounds, Olive oil for a dip or butter if you wish.

In Greece you normally get the dish served in the individual pot it is cooked in and some restaurants wrapped in tied vine leaves which is how it is cooked in the earth ovens when prepared in the wild so to say.

I took a spoonful of the lamb and stock and made a separate pot up, (400g pot) to put in the freezer for another day, 400g is just about right for one if you are going to make individual pots. Scale the rest of the ingredients down to suit.

Kali orexi.

[Stanley]

Sounds very much like my slow cooked mutton......

[PanBiker]

I made a small pot up last night for my tea but with slightly modified ingredients.

250g or so of pre slow cooked diced lamb with onions and stock.
1 x large vine tomato quartered
2 x small to medium new potatoes, quartered and par boiled
1 x clove of garlic, sliced and chopped
A good shake, maybe a tablespoon or a bit more of dried oregano
Squeeze of lemon juice.

Stir it up and cook sealed with foil and lid as above. Low setting, bottom of the oven.

Half hour before eating add the salty cheese. Didn't have Feta but we did have Greek salad cheese which is pretty much the same. I added about five cubes from the block. Lid back on and return to the oven.

It was bang on and so easy to construct, I only par boiled the potatoes because I didn't put it together until early afternoon. It had about 3 - 4 hours in the oven.

[Stanley]

My fridge shelves are almost empty, butcher delivers today.... I give them my order on Thursday and Carl delivers with change for a twenty pound note on his way home. No charge. They look after me.