Phil's lamb kleftiko
The pressure’s on in the kitchen, as we task Phil Vickery with preparing a Greek feast for ABBA legend, Bjorn. He’ll be hoping to impress with his delicious lamb jleftiko.
Phil's lamb kleftiko
Serves: 4 – 6
Ingredients
1 lean shoulder of lamb roughly 2.5kg, bone in
For the marinade
Juice 2 lemons
6 cloves garlic, chopped
1 tbsp dried oregano
Salt and pepper
100ml Greek olive oil
1kg medium sized peeled potatoes, cut into long quarters
4 beef tomatoes, cut into quarters
2 red peppers, de seeded and cut into quarters
200mls water
1 x 10g lamb stock cube
200g cubed feta cheese, optional
Method
Make deep incisions into the whole shoulder right down to the bone, every 3-4 cm in a criss cross fashion
Mix all the ingredients for the marinade together well and pour over the lamb, covering both sides and rub in well. You can leave to marinate overnight if you have time
Preheat the oven to 180C, gas 4. Place the potatoes into a deep baking dish or tray, then add the tomatoes and peppers. Place the marinated lamb on top plus any marinade that’s left over.
Pour in the water and the stock cube crumbled up and a little more salt and pepper. Cover with baking parchment and foil, then pop into the oven and cook for 2 - 2 ½ hours.
After 2 ½ hours, remove the foil and parchment, turn the oven up to 220C gas 7 and carry on cooking the dish until it takes a nice colour, around 30 minutes
Once browned remove the lamb from the tray and rest, add the cheese (if using) to the potatoes and warm through
Serve in thick slices with the peppers, potatoes and tomatoes. I serve a Greek salad separately.
My Greek salad
Serves: 4
Ingredients
500g best tasting ripe tomatoes, roughly chopped
1 small red onion, finely sliced
2 tbsp red wine vinegar
6-8 tbsp extra virgin olive oil Greek
20 black olives pitted Greek, halved
200g feta cheese cubed
Ground pepper
2 tbsp chopped parsley
Juice 1 lemon
Method
Mix all together really well, leave for 20 minutes and then serve