Ultimate One-Pot Dishes: A feast of simple, delicious one-pot wonders for the whole year round by Alan Rosenthal

Author:Alan Rosenthal [Rosenthal, Alan]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
ISBN: 9781473529243
Publisher: Ebury Publishing
Published: 2015-09-30T21:00:00+00:00

KLEFTIKO

Slow-baked shoulder of lamb with lemon, garlic and oregano

Kleftiko literally means ‘stolen meat’ and owes its name to shady goings-on in the Greek countryside. Bandits who didn’t own their flocks would steal sheep and cook the stolen meat in underground clay pits to prevent any smoke being seen and thereby avoiding being caught. It’s easier to get your lamb from the butcher or the supermarket!

The dish is so simple yet absolutely delicious. The meat falls from the bone with a tap of a spoon and the juices left in the pan are impossibly good. It’s really important to seal your pot as tightly as possible to keep all the moisture from evaporating away.

Serves 5–6

1.5kg lamb shoulder, bone in, cut into 5–6 pieces (get your butcher to do this)

8 garlic cloves, halved

grated zest and juice of 3 lemons

3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

salt and freshly ground black pepper

1 tbsp dried oregano or a few sprigs of fresh

3–4 potatoes (about 500g), peeled and halved (try to use waxy ones like Cyprus potatoes)

2 onions, peeled and quartered

Preheat the oven to 150ºC/300ºF/Fan 140ºC/gas mark 2. Trim the pieces of lamb of as much fat as possible, reserving a couple of small pieces of fat. Heat a large, heavy based, flameproof casserole dish that has a lid and melt the reserved fat on a medium heat for 2–3 minutes. Place the lamb pieces, a couple at a time, fat-/skin-side down in the pan and brown them for 3–5 minutes until coloured and the fat has mostly melted. Remove and set aside in a bowl or on a plate and do the same with the remaining pieces. Pour away any fat accumulated in the pan.

With a knife, make 2 or 3 holes in the flesh of each piece of lamb and stuff with some garlic.

In a large bowl, combine the lemon zest and juice, olive oil, some black pepper, a few generous pinches of salt and the oregano. If you’re using fresh oregano leaves, crush them a bit in your hands before adding to help release their flavour. Then rub this all over the lamb pieces, potatoes and onions.

Pour the whole lot back into the casserole dish used for browning the lamb. Scrunch up a large piece of baking parchment and push it onto the lamb, potato and onion mixture, tucking the sides around the edges of the ingredients. Then cover the pan with tin foil as tightly as you can, secure with the lid, and pop in the oven for 3½ hours. Don’t be tempted to have a peek during the cooking time!

Remove the pot from the oven and carefully lift out the pieces of lamb and the potatoes and onions. Try to skim as much fat as you can from the juices in the pan, or pour the juices into a bowl and store in the fridge overnight, allowing any fat to solidify. Whichever method you have chosen, put the fat-free juices together with the pieces of lamb, potatoes and onions back in a pot and bring up to heat in the oven or on the hob.

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