Food enthusiasts know that Greece is home to some of the finest food in the world. You have probably heard of a lot of iconic Greek dishes, such as Gyros, Moussaka, that oven-baked casserole of layered eggplant and spiced meat topped with a creamy béchamel sauce, dolmades, the stuffed grape leaves and of course the creamy yoghurt based cucumber sauce Tzatziki.
But what about Kleftiko? The magnificent slow cooked lamb dish was created by the Klepht and traditionally cooked for hours in a pit in the ground and is a signature dish in Greece. In the 19th century, the Greeks fought against the Ottomans in the Greek War of Independence. During this period a group of “klephts”, also spelt “kleftes”, descendants of the Greeks, fled into the mountains to avoid the Turks but would steal from them in order to survive. The name Kleftiko literally translates as “the thief’s meal” as “klephti” is the Greek word for “thief”. Cooking their meal in the ground was a convenient method to not have the smell and smoke detected, and of course their haul, until the end of the day when the cooks would return and dig up their meal from the earth.
Even though traditionally the lamb was stolen, these days it is much easier to replicate the delicious meal with a nice grass-fed piece of lamb and your wood-fired pizza oven. For the dish, you can either use a leg of lamb or a lamb shoulder, which is a great cut as it stays moist and tender and also cheaper than a leg of lamb. Just make sure your butcher cuts up the meat in chunky fist-sized pieces and that each piece has bone, meat and some fat on it. The dish is usually served with a Greek salad and a generous dollop of sheep’s yoghurt. Devoured with an ice-cold beer or even Ouzo on hot summer evenings you will be with no doubt transported to food heaven. Here is what you need for your family feast feeding four people.
Ingredients
- 1 kg of lamb,
- 1kg small potatoes halved,
- 100g crumbled feta cheese
For the marinade
- 1 tbsp. dried oregano,
- 2 sprigs of fresh rosemary or thyme,
- 3 bay leaves,
- 2 juicy lemons,
- 4 onions quartered,
- 1 small bulb of garlic,
- salt and freshly cracked pepper,
- olive oil
Method
Skin and chop the garlic, add the dried oregano and fresh herbs, a dash of olive oil and salt and pepper to taste. Rub the paste all over the lamb pieces and let sit in the fridge overnight.
Fire your wood fired pizza oven to a temperature of about 450 degrees, let the flame die down and push all embers to the side of your oven using an oven trowel. Put half of your potatoes and onions on an oven proof tray and place your meat on top. Nestle the remaining vegetables around it, add the bay leaves, squeeze over the lemon juice and drizzle everything with olive oil. Cover with tin foil to keep the meat and vegetables moist and let cook for about 3.5 hours to let the fat render into a lovely gravy that gets soaked up by the potatoes.
Check the temperature every now and then but make sure not to open the door too often as to not let the heat escape. The cooking time of the dish depends on the thickness of the meat, the tray and the intensity of the heat. If you want your meat to be browned, take off the foil after about 3 hours and also add the crumbled feta to the vegetables around it. The dish should be ready when the meat is falling off the bone.
