Sunday roast lamb: kleftiko-style recipe
My first ever experience of this dish was exactly where it should be – in Greece – and it blew me away. It’s everything I love: braised potatoes, peppers, lamb, and one of my favourite cheeses – feta. It makes the perfect dish for a Sunday, as you can put everything in the oven and let it do the work for you, while you chill out as the house slowly fills with the most amazing aromas.
When chopping the fresh soft herbs, try to let the knife cut them only a couple of times. Herbs are full of essential oils and you don’t want any of that flavour being pounded into the chopping board, instead of going into your food.
Timings
Prep time: 45 minutes, plus resting time
Cook time: 2 hours 50 minutes
Serves
6-8
Ingredients
2 tbsp olive oil
5 garlic cloves, peeled
4 sprigs of rosemary, leaves picked
30g oregano, leaves picked zest and juice of 1 lemon
2kg shoulder of lamb, boned and rolled, removed from the fridge 2 hours before you start cooking
150g feta
For the kleftiko vegetables
500g new potatoes
2 red peppers
2 yellow peppers
300g vine-ripened cherry tomatoes
2 red onions, peeled and quartered
For the herb sauce
15g mint leaves
15g basil leaves
10g oregano leaves
100ml olive oil
30ml red wine vinegar
15g honey
Method
Pour 1 tbsp of the olive oil into a mortar and add the garlic cloves, rosemary, oregano, a pinch of sea salt and the lemon zest. Give the ingredients a good pounding with the pestle until you have a rustic paste, then add the lemon juice. Preheat the oven to 240C/220C fan/gas mark 9.
Rub the lamb all over with the remaining olive oil and generously season all over. Use a small knife to create little incisions all over the surface of the lamb. This will allow the garlic and herb mixture to penetrate the meat. Rub in the mixture, making sure to include all those cuts you’ve made.
Place the lamb shoulder directly on to the oven rack with a roasting tray underneath to catch the melting fat. Make sure the roasting tray is also big enough to fit all the vegetables later on.
Roast the lamb for 20 minutes, then reduce the oven temperature to 170C/150C fan/gas mark 3½ and cook for about 2½ hours, until the lamb is soft to the touch. The best way to tell whether it is done is to push a knife or skewer through the centre of the lamb – if it goes through easily, the lamb is ready.
Meanwhile, place the new potatoes in a saucepan, cover with cold water and season well with sea salt. Bring the potatoes to a simmer and gently cook until a small knife or skewer goes through them with ease. Drain in a colander and, when cool enough to handle, cut them in half lengthways to give you as much roasting surface area as possible.
Cut the peppers in half and remove the green stem and seeds, then cut them in half lengthways. Slice each piece in half to give you rustic-looking chunky squares. Leave the cherry tomatoes whole but remove them from the vine so they are loose – do not throw the vine away (it adds flavour).
Once the lamb has had 90 minutes in the oven, carefully add the onions and potatoes to the tray of lamb fat underneath the lamb shoulder and season well. Stir the potatoes and onions so they are covered in the lamb fat and let them roast. Ten minutes later add the peppers, stir again and continue to roast.
When the lamb gets to the 2¼-hour mark, add the tomatoes along with the vine, stir well and continue roasting until the lamb is cooked. Stir the kleftiko vegetables every so often. Once the lamb is ready, take the vegetables and lamb out of the oven. Sit the lamb directly on top of the vegetables and cover it lightly with foil. Allow the lamb to rest for 30 minutes, and all the juices to run into your vegetables.
To make the herb sauce, finely chop the herbs, but try not to pound them into your board – you want a rustic-looking sauce. Put the herbs in a bowl, then add the olive oil, red wine vinegar and honey. Stir them all together and season. This can be made well in advance.
To serve, place the lamb on a chopping board and remove the string. Pour off any excess fat that might be left in the vegetable roasting tray. Stir the vegetables one last time. Carve the lamb and place over the kleftiko vegetables. Then crumble the feta all over the lamb and finish by pouring over the herb sauce. Place in the centre of the table and be transported to Greece.
Recipe from For the Love of Food by Paul Ainsworth (Pavilion Books, £26)
