Hello people of YouTube! Welcome back to my kitchen! Today, I'm very excited to show you an all-time favorite traditional dish…Greek lamb kleftiko! Juicy leg of lamb and potatoes covered with flavorful marinade and slow-cooked in parchment paper. Gather around the table to enjoy this perfection! And let's begin! This is a very classic Greek dish that everybody knows, Greek lamb kleftiko! So, my friend Lakis, do you know why they call it lamb kleftiko? -Hmm, no. -I will tell you why. Akispedia…from Wikipedia. So, in “ancient” Greece when there were wars everywhere, people wanted to cook to eat but they couldn't because if they would start a fire, everybody would notice where they were. Right? So, they were cooking the lamb underneath the surface with mud on top so no smoke could be detected from the enemies. You got it, Lakis? It's time to cut this bad boy into pieces. Of course, you will buy Greek lamb because Greek lamb is the best quality lamb all over the world and because the Greek lambs eat Greek herbs and grass, that's why. I love this recipe. I will cut into pieces. You will just tell your butcher to do exactly the same thing. I'm doing that because I'm showing off and I like to do that. Finished. One, two, three, four, five. So, my lamb is ready. My potatoes are almost ready because I have to cut them in half. Let's prepare this lovely lamb kleftiko. I need parchment paper and I will put my meat on the parchment. And then, I will cut my baby potatoes in half. Of course, in ancient Greece we didn't have baby potatoes, just know that. We had normal potatoes, but I'm using baby potatoes because now it's not the ancient times, it's modern. So, we're using the normal potatoes which everybody loves. And I will cut my potatoes here or if they are very small, I will leave them whole. I've already washed them because we don't want the mud of the baby potatoes inside the recipe. I think those potatoes are enough. Now, we have to prepare the lovely marinade for the meat. It's very easy. You have to make sure that you will follow exactly my instructions, ok? I need a mixer. The first ingredient we have to add in this recipe is garlic. Garlic is the key ingredient for this recipe. So, I have four cloves of garlic and I will add them into my mixer. You can also use a mortar and pestle. The second ingredient is…What is it, Lakis? -Oregano? -Rosemary, of course! Rosemary is the best friend of lamb. No other herb has the same relationship with lamb. My rosemary is in and I will add my olive oil. Don't be stingy. Add olive oil because we need that. Salt, chili flakes because we want it to be a little bit spicy The next ingredient may surprise you and you could be like “Really?”! Cinnamon, ok? You've never heard about cinnamon with lamb, but we have to add a little bit of cinnamon to spice up our lamb here. The next ingredient is 1 tablespoon of honey because we want to glaze our lamb. We're almost done. Greek honey, the best honey all over the world. We have three things that are the best all over the world, I have to admit and I have to say: honey, olive oil, and yogurt. Lemon juice goes inside. Why do we have to add lemon juice, my friend Lakis? -For the acidity. -And what does the acidity do to the meat? -For the acidity. -And what does the acidity do to the meat? -I have no idea. -Well, the lamb is quite fatty. When we have a fatty food, a fatty meat, a fatty fish, we always need acidity to break down this fattiness. You understand? Always remember when you have something fatty, add a little bit of acidity have to make sure that it will be balanced, ok? Now, I also added pepper and I will mix everything. Perfect, ready. I have to tell you that in ancient Greece they didn't have a mixer, probably. They didn't do the same procedure as me, but you have a mixer, so you can use it. Ι need a pan with a rack on. Even if you don't have a rack, it's okay for this recipe but we will cook the lamb inside the oven for at least three hours, three and a half. And probably, if you don't have a rack and your oven is too hot, maybe the meat will burn a little bit on the bottom side. Do we want that? I will take some aluminum foil. I will put it here. Don't worry, I will put some more. I will transfer my parchment here with the lamb and the potatoes. It's time to add my marinade which is extremely sexy and yummy . Actually, this marinade is everything for this recipe. I need my glove because I want to massage my meat and my potatoes. Make sure that the marinade goes everywhere because we need this loveliness to go everywhere. And it's time for the cheese. Cheese time! In this recipe, we will use a classic Greek cheese called “kefalograviera”. Easy to say, hard to find. So, if you don't find this cheese, you can use gruyere cheese, it's good. I will cut this cheese into big chunks. If your cheese is quite salty, do not add a lot of salt inside the marinade because the cheese will season the meat and the potatoes. So, I added a little bit of salt in this recipe because my cheese is quite salty. Chunks of cheese in there. And I want this lovely flavor from the butter, so I will cut it into small cubes, and I will add a little bit of butter also. I know that I'm Greek and you probably think I'm only using olive oil, but I proved you wrong. Today, I'm going to use a little bit of butter to make sure that everything is sexy and perfect. This is it! I have to cover this bad boy with another piece of parchment and as you can see, I covered it very well because I want all the juices of the lamb to stay in. I'll add a little bit more aluminum foil and make sure that it's closed very well. It's cooking time! My oven is preheated to 170 degrees Celsius set to fan and I will cook this lovely lamb for about 3 1/2 hours. Then, I will uncover this beauty and let it cook for 30 more minutes at 200 degrees Celsius set to fan. Are you ready, my friend Lakis? Today, we are cooking in the oven so that the enemies will not find us. We don't have any enemies, everybody loves us. And everybody keeps laughing at me because when I'm saying “lamb”, it's like the lamp with the light. I will be back in four hours with the best meat ever. Are you ready? I'm going to drink my espresso and my cappuccino and my freddo espresso and my freddo cappuccino and then a hot chocolate and the cold chocolate and maybe…what else? A bloody Mary and a frappe. See you then! And the lamb is ready! And how do I know that the lamb is ready? Because everything here smells so nice! Oh my God, this smells unbelievably. It's scrumptious, it's delicious, it's sexy, it's tender, it's cheesy, it's peppery, it's rosemary, it's garlicky, it's buttery…what else? I have a nice platter here. Not splatter, platter. I have a nice platter. If you say it very fast like me when I'm speaking English, then you probably hear splatter. And I will transfer it here. Of course, I will serve it like that. I want to show you how it looks like. I will take off some of the aluminum foil because I don't want all these lovely juices to go away. Stay here. And this, my friends, is lamb “kleftiko”. Do you see that? The meat is so tender, it's just falling apart. Look at this. Amazing. Now, what do we need? Acidity, exactly. This is exactly the word I was looking for. The food is quite fatty, we have to admit that, but we can balance it with some acidity. Take some lemons, cut some wedges, and I will add some here and here. Probably, when you add a portion to a plate, you will add some lemon juice also because we want the lemon to balance our food. And of course, some rosemary on top. You can chop it. And you can always serve with some mustard. Now, I want to show you how the meat is melting. This is cheese, as you can see. And this is meat. Can you see that? It's just falling apart. I'm just shredding the meat without even touching it. I'm like Joey from Friends…I'm opening bras with my eyes, now I'm just shredding the meat with my eyes. I love lamb because even if you don't have any skills on cooking, you can succeed in having the most tender meat ever! Because it's quite fatty and it cannot be dehydrated inside the oven. It's always sexy and moist. Please, guys, try to make this bad boy, everybody will love it. And everybody will ask for this recipe. -They will be impressed! -What will be the answer to this question, my friend Lakis? The answer will be: This recipe is a recipe from my friend Akis. Who is Akis? Akis Petretzikis, the Greek chef. I don’t know him. It’s ok, you can find him on YouTube. Just search Akis Petretzikis and you will see him. And then, your friends will subscribe to my channel. Because it’s good to have more subscribers, good to have more comments, and good to have more shares. Right? Are you jealous? -Yes! -Shut down the camera and come to eat, my friend Lakis.
