Vassilis is one of our caffe team, he comes from a big Greek family so we figured he must have a stack of great family recipes.
We were delighted when he offered to share some of them with us and today we have his grandma’s kleftiko on the menu.
Here’s the recipe in case you’d like to try it at home…
You will need:
• olive oil
• 1.5 kg shoulder of lamb or leg of lamb
• 2 lemons cut into wedges
• 2 tsp of dried oregano
• 1 tsp of ground cinnamon
• 3 bay leaves
• 4 large potatoes, peeled and cut into four lengthways
• 8 cherry tomatoes
• salt and pepper
• parchment paper and foil
What to do:
Preheat the oven to 160 C. Lay the parchment paper in a lidded casserole dish so that one half covers the base of the dish and the other half hangs over the edge.
Rub the lamb all over with the lemon wedges and olive oil. Then put the lamb and the lemon wedges into the casserole dish.
Sprinkle with salt, freshly ground black pepper, oregano and cinnamon, then add the bay leaves, potato wedges and the cherry tomatoes.
Gently mix together all the ingredients, fold over the second half of the paper to cover the meat. pop the lid on and put into the oven. Roast for 2-3 hours, or until the meat falls off the bone.
Rest the meat for at least ten minutes in a warm place then eat and enjoy.
