Helen's Summerstyle Leg of Lamb
Most people have probably tried the Greek 'Kleftiko' lamb, a slow roasted dish that when done properly is probably the very best way to cook this kind of meat. The downside is the preparation involved - typically you have to cook the lamb for up to 8 hours or so, and the final quality can vary between fabulous and horrible. Well here's a variation direct from www.helensrecipes.com that solves the problem, and will make your friends think you have spent an entire season in Greece, learning their cooking style! The lamb will fall off the bone and be full of flavor, it's simple to prepare as are most of my dishes, as I believe good food shouldn't take hours and hours of preparation.
You will need:
Leg of Lamb (will feed 8-12 people)
Celery x 4 - use strips then cut them into chunky slices
Lamb Stock Cubes x 2
8 leaves of mint
Fresh Rosemary
Carrots
Garlic cloves - slice them into small pieces
Salt & Pepper
Side Dish
Olive Oil - enough so you have a semi wet mixture
Whole Red onion chopped finely
Peas - allow a handful per person part boiled but still al-dente
Mint - 1 cup
Flat Leaf Parsley - 2 cups
Garlic Clove
Salt & Pepper
Pre heat the oven to 220 degrees. Take the lamb and put in a large deep roasting tin. Using a sharp knife make holes in the leg - you should have around 12 evenly spaced around the circumference. In the holes put a slice of garlic and a sprig of rosemary. Around the lamb put the celery and carrot chunks - remember this is only used for flavor so be as rough as you like. Put the sprigs of mint around the lamb and then pour 2 pints of lamb stock over the lamb. Season with salt and pepper and place in the oven. The lamb should be covered in the stock to a depth of about 2/3 of the lamb. After 30 minutes of cooking turn the oven down to 150 degrees, then baste the lamb every 40 minutes or so. You'll need to be at home for this since the lamb will take 6-7 hours to cook. 3 hours into cooking you will need to turn the leg over in the roasting pan.
Once cooked place to one side and leave for 15 minutes to absorb the juices. Take the roasting tin and all the juices and filter through a fine sieve. This is what you will use for the stock. Put this back into a pan and reduce down, you may need to add a little cornflour to thicken depending on how you like your stock. The Greeks like it quite thick, I'm told by my www.helensrecipes.com staff.
You can prepare the side dish at any time as you only need to reheat it for a few minutes. In a blender put all the side dish ingredients and roughly blend (blitz function) - note this should not be a puree - you need to keep some texture.
I love to serve this dish with baby new boil potatoes which have been left to cool. Put a few in the middle of a plate and place some lamb on the top, then drizzle the pea and mint around the plate.
If it's dinner for the family I would suggest some roast potatoes, lamb covered in thick gravy and the pea and mint as a side.
Enjoy!
About the Author
Famous chef to the stars Helen Porter, cooks fab dishes for www.helensrecipes.com the totally free recipes site for cooks under pressure!