Kleftiko lamb

Kleftiko lamb

Ingredients:
1-1.2 kg leg of lamb, boneless
2 small red onions
2-3 bell peppers (green, red, orange)
4 cloves of garlic (2 sliced and 2 whole)
2 tbsps mustard
juice of half a lemon
1 tbsp dried oregano
1/2 cup olive oil
1/2 cup dry white wine
200g kefalotyri or Graviera or any had yellow cheese, cut into cubes
5 medium sized potatoes
1/2 ripe tomato, sliced
salt and freshly ground pepper
parchment paper
kitchen string

To prepare this Greek lamb recipe, we start by washing thoroughly the lamb and cut into portions (approx. 5*6 cm).  We place in a large bowl or basin and set aside.  We prepare the vegetables.  We cut the onions in half and then in four wedges.  We cut the peppers in 2-3 cm chunks and slice 2 cloves of garlic.  We add the vegetables in the bowl with the lamb and pour in the olive oil, white wine and lemon juice.  We add the mustard, 2 whole cloves of garlic,  we sprinkle with oregano and season with salt and pepper.  We use our hands to blend all the ingredients together.  We cover the bowl with plastic wrap, chill and let marinade for at least 2 hours. It's best to leave the meat for the lamb marinade overnight to soak up all the wonderful flavors.  Once the meat for our recipe is marinated, we return the lamb at room temperature. In the same bowl we add the cheese (cut into 2cm cubes) and blend.  We preheat the oven to 180C.  To prepare the potatoes for this recipe, we peel the potatoes and cut in four pieces. (The kleftiko lamb will require about 2 1/2 hours baking, so it's best to cut the potatoes in large pieces to keep their shape.)  Now it's time to wrap the lamb in parchment paper.  We lay 4 long pieces of parchment paper to form a star.  We pop the potatoes in the centre of the parchment paper and season with salt and a pinch of oregano.  We pour the marinade from the lamb over the potatoes and we set the lamb and vegetables on top of the potatoes.  We layer with the sliced tomato and enclose the kleftiko lamb into a pouch. To enclose the kleftiko we hold the parchment paper from the edges, crosswise and grab with our hand in the middle, just above the stuffing and squeeze.  We use the kitchen string to tie tightly the whole thing together, just above the stuffing and lift into a roasting tin.  We roast the kleftiko in the oven for about 1 hour 45 minutes until tender.  We remove the tin from the oven and increase the temperature to 220C.  We unwrap the kleftiko and scrunch the parchment paper under the rim of the tin.  We baste the lamb with the juices and return in the oven for a further 20 mins until browned. We remove the pieces of lamb from the pouch and wrap them in some foil to rest.  We toss the potatoes and return in the oven for about 20 minutes, until nicely colored.  We return the lamb pieces in the roasting tin and serve the kleftiko as it is!

Dix Love,