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Cypriot lamb Kleftiko

Cypriot Lamb Kleftiko

The most famous meat dish in Greek cooking! Cypriot kleftiko is made from lamb and potatoes that slowly braise — traditionally in a wood-fired oven, or at home in a regular one. Cooked this way, the meat comes out incredibly tender and fragrant, soaked through with spices and seasonings.

katushafin

Recipe author

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Composition / ingredients

Servings:

Lamb

Potatoes

Onion

Lemon

Garlic

Olive oil

Paprika

Dried oregano

Salt

Translation table of volumetric measures

Nutrients and energy value of the composition of the recipe

By weight of the composition:

Proteins 38 % 9 g

Fats 21 % 5 g

Carbohydrates 42 % 10 g

119 kcal

GI: 100 / 0 / 0

Cooking method

Step 1:

Get your ingredients ready for the kleftiko. The meat for this dish is traditionally only lamb — young lamb is ideal — and sometimes it's made with goat. Use whatever spices you like, but oregano, basil, and paprika capture the Mediterranean flavor best. You'll also need plenty of foil.
Step 2:

First, squeeze the juice from the lemon and stir in the paprika. Mix well.
Step 3:

Rinse the meat well and pat it dry with paper towels. Rub the pieces all over with the lemon-paprika mixture and let them marinate for 2–3 hours. The acid in the lemon juice makes the meat soft and tender.
Step 4:

Peel the onion and cut it into rings.
Step 5:

Wash the potatoes well, peel them, and cut them into wide slices.
Step 6:

Take a heatproof baking dish and line it with 5–6 layers of foil, overlapping the sheets so the juices don't leak out while it bakes. Lay half the potatoes on the bottom in a single layer. Season with salt, sprinkle with spices, and drizzle with olive oil.
Step 7:

Lay the onion rings over the potatoes.
Step 8:

Peel the garlic cloves and tuck them in among the onion.
Step 9:

Arrange the marinated meat on top of the onion. Season it with salt and spices as well.
Step 10:

Add a layer of the remaining potatoes over the meat. Salt and season this layer too.
Step 11:

Wrap the dish tightly in the foil, carefully folding in all the edges.
Step 12:

Put the dish in an oven preheated to 518°F (270°C) for one hour. Then lower the temperature to 350°F (180°C) and let the meat braise for 3–5 hours. Notice how high the starting temperature is — that's exactly why you need to choose your baking dish carefully. Mine couldn't take it and cracked, so I had to move everything to another dish.
Step 13:

Take the finished dish out of the oven. Carefully unwrap the foil, plate everything up, and sprinkle with fresh herbs.

A truly delicious roast! Meltingly tender, fall-apart, and fragrant — worth every minute!
For this recipe it doesn't matter which cut you use, since it all turns tender over the long, slow cook.
Root vegetables are best scrubbed with a brush or a firm sponge under running water.
To give the oven time to come up to temperature, turn it on ahead — about 10–20 minutes before you start cooking.