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Image of the tray full of the cooked kleftiko

Slow cooked lamb kleftiko tray bake

Course Main Course
Cuisine Mediterranean
Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 3 hours
Total Time 3 hours 15 minutes
Servings 6
Author Eleni Georges

Ingredients

  • 2 kg lamb large cooking pieces, forequarter or leg, see notes
  • 750 g potatoes, peeled and quartered
  • 3 carrots, peeled and chopped
  • 3 onions, peeled and quartered
  • 2 celery stalks including leaves, chopped

Spice mix

  • 3 tbs dried oregano
  • 2 tsp cumin
  • 1 tsp cinnamon
  • 4 bay leaves
  • 1 1/2 tbs salt
  • 1 tsp black pepper

Instructions

  1. Preheat the oven to 170°C. Combine all the spices together in a small bowl. Place all the ingredients in a large baking tray and sprinkle the spice mix on them. Rub the spices well on to each piece.

  2. Re arrange the ingredients so that the lamb pieces are on top and everything else lies underneath them. That way all the vegetables will be super flavoursome and moist.

  3. Cover the tray with baking paper, followed by two layers of foil. Make sure the food is sealed well. Place the tray in the oven and cook for at least 3.5hrs.

  4. Serve warm combined with some salad, yoghurt and a side of pikla!

Method update July 2021

  1. If you have time, season the meat with the spice mix only and allow it to marinate for a few hours. That way the meat absorbs more salt to get more flavour. After that time arrange the vegetables on the bottom of the tray and the meat on top just like the method above. The meat releases all that flavour onto the other vegetables during cooking and the potatoes don't end up too salty.

Recipe Notes

The size of the cooking pieces are usually large, as big as a closed fist. 

Sometimes I might add ½ cup of water if there isn’t much fat on the lamb but honestly the majority of the times it is absolutely not necessary.