Looking for an unctuous Big Green Egg Leg Of Lamb Kleftiko Recipe? Look no further! This is a mouth waterer and very tasty!
Step 1 For The Perfect Big Green Egg Leg Of Lamb Kleftiko Recipe Slow Cooked – Which Lamb Joint?
Leg of lamb is the traditional join for a lamb kleftiko, and when done well, has enough fat to ensure it stays moist and falls apart, without being too fatty to cover the vegetables below it in too much (like a shoulder of lamb would do).
Step 2 For The Perfect Big Green Egg Leg Of Lamb Kleftiko Recipe – Lamb To Room Temperature
As with cooking any meat, you need it at room temperature before you start, so an average sized leg of lamb will take around 2 hours to reach room temperature.
Note, however, in my case, I was running late (as always with cooking) so it didn’t have any time to rest, came straight out of the fridge, got stabbed a few times, covered in the marinade then whacked straight into the Big Green Egg, so you can skip this part and the marinade part and still haev a lovely Lamb Kleftiko!
Step 3 For The Perfect Lamb Kleftiko Recipe – The Marinade
For the marinade I used:
- 6 peeled garlic cloves
- 4 rosemary sprigs, stalks removed and chopped up finely
- oregano (2 teaspoons)
- sea salt flakes
- black pepper
- the juice of one lemon
- olive oil (2 tablespoons)
First, put all of the dry ingredients into a pestle and mortar and crush them all up together. Then add the olive oil and the lemon juice and stir it all up together to make a nice mushy paste.
Stab your lamb several times (about 10-20) with a big, sharp knife, then push all of the marinade into the cuts, spreading the remaining marinade over the top of the lamb.
Leave this to marinade for as long as you can (be bothered to), ideally overnight (back in the fridge covered in cling film) or not at all if you are in a rush – it still tastes amazing).
Step 4 For The Perfect Leg Of Lamb Kleftiko Recipe – Setting The Big Green Egg Temperature
Now, while your lamb is marinading for as long as you can bear, get the Big Green Egg up and running. Add your lumpwood charcoal, put one of the Big Green Egg Firelighters on top in the middle, leave the lid and all vents wide open and let it get going for ten minutes.
Once you see the orange glow in the middle, shut the lid (don’t add any shelves yet), leave the top vent and bottom vents wide open, and leave for another 10 minutes (by which time you should be up to around 200 degrees centigrade.
Add your Conveggtor and silver shelf and close the lid. Shut the top and bottom vents to 75% closed and you should get to around 140-150 centigrade.
Adjust as necessary.
Step 5 For The Perfect Leg Of Lamb Kleftiko Recipe – The Veg
While your Big Green Egg is warming up, chop up some potatoes into your average roast potatoes sized chunk, peel some shallots, grab some chanteney carrots (I don’t usually peel these).
Lay some baking paper/ parchment (long enough to wrap over the veg and the lamb) across the bottom of your roasting tray, then throw in the vegetables. Sprinkle with olive oil, salt and pepper, then whack your marinated leg of lamb on top.
Pull together the baking parchment then tie it in whichever places hold it together and create a seal in the bag (this will ensure the flavours all circulate around the lamb).
Step 6 For The Perfect Leg Of Lamb Kleftiko Recipe – Be Brave
Burp the Big Green Egg, add the sealed juicy package, close the lid and just check every 30 minutes or so that the temperature is around 140-150C.
Here is the bit where you need to be brave…..
If you have done your job well, you will not get much of a smell coming out of the Big Green Egg like you usually do. This is because it is all sealed in – that lovely marinade you made is doing its job and covering the lamb and veg with the garlicky, lemony, rosemary juiciness.
Don’t go peaking at the lamb!
After around 2 to 3 hours, depending on the size of your joint, (as long as you can be bothered to wait/as much time as you have), go for the big reveal as below:
I removed the lamb instantly, popped it on a carving board and sealed it in tin foil.
I then left the veg and spuds in place, threw on some feta cheese (definitely do this part) shut the lid, turned up the heat way too high (300C) and charred them a bit too much for my liking (and definitely my wife’s).
Next time I would add more olive oil, get the heat to around 220C then just give them 10 minutes to brown a little.
If I had time, I would remove the Conveggtor, pop the ceramic grill on and reverse sear the lamb too, before then resting for as long as possible.
Step 7 For The Perfect Lamb Kleftiko Recipe – And Finally – The Reveal
It was delicious!
Even with all my failings, it was great.
Now you can learn from my mistakes and do it even better!
