Ingredients:
1.5 kg Free Range Lamb Knuckles
100 ml extra virgin olive oil
10 mls Butter
8 Shallots or small onions – peeled and left whole
6-8 Fat cloves garlic – left unpeeled
1 Clove Garlic – peeled and finely grated or crushed
2 Tbs Fresh Rosemary – removed from stalks and chopped
1 Tbs Fresh Lemon Thyme – picked from stalks
4 Sprigs Fresh Oreganum - left on the stalks
1 Fresh Bay leaf – use dried herbs if you don’t have access to fresh but remember to use much less of the dried
1 Lemon – juice and finely grated zest
8-10 Baby Potatoes – washed I used regular potatoes as that was all I had in the house. Just cut them into quarters or smaller depending on size
250ml Boiling Water
10mls NoMU Lamb Fonds - stirred into the boiling water. I love this product but if you don’t have access to it use your stock of choice
10ml Runny Honey
Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
You will need:
A deep large casserole dish or oven proof saucepan with a good fitting lid
Aluminum Foil
Method
1. Preheat the oven to 150 degrees Celsius
2. Heat half of the oil and all the butter in a large, heavy frying pan over a medium heat
3. Add the lamb a few pieces at a time and brown on all sides. Remove from pan and drain on paper towel
4. Line your casserole dish with a large sheet of aluminum foil so that it overlaps on all sides
5. Place your browned meat into the casserole, sprinkling over a good grinding of salt and pepper
6. Add the potatoes and onions to the dish and tuck in the whole garlic cloves
7. Sprinkle over the zest, crushed garlic, herbs, lemon juice and drizzle over the honey
8. Tuck in the herb sprigs, pour over the hot stock
9. Bring the sides of the foil up around the contents to make a an airtight parcel
10. Place another sheet of aluminum foil over the top so that it slightly overlaps the edges of the casserole dish
11. Place the lid on tightly then pop it into the preheated oven for 6 hours. Don’t open until the 6 hours are up
12. Remove from oven, open up the parcel and drain off the liquid into a smallish saucepan skimming off most of the fat and oil
13. Reduce rapidly over a high heat until thickened into a nice rich sauce
I served my Kleftiko simply, over a bed of just al dente Risoni pasta, some fresh Italian Parsley and a lemon wedge….HMMMMMMM!!! Sticky, moist, lemony, falling off the bone, rich and delicious! Be sure to squeeze the sweetly roasted garlic out of the skins onto your meat and ENJOY!!
browniegirl xx
In some souvlaki shops the meat is skewered and sometimes you can get ground beef, which is generally known as beefteki. In some upscale souvlaki shops you can get chicken souvlakis and even swordfish souvlakis (Very rare. I think there is a place next to MacDonalds at Syntagma where I saw it). Souvlaki comes in wax paper which keeps it all together and you eat it like you are peeling a banana. It can be messy but who cares? 
Souvlaki is strong and unless you are the most militant vegetarean you should not leave Greece without trying one.(You can get them without meat too.) 
next door. His name is Spiro and his picture is everywhere, happily posing with famous people, Greeks and international. In fact it is my personal goal to have my picture up there with Spiro one day since it is sort of Greece's answer to Gruman's Chinese Theater. So if you want to do a little active campaigning for me feel free to ask Spiro or the waiter when will he have Matt Barrett in one of his pictures. Generally you have to be a little more famous than I am but with the help of some of my readers maybe we can speed up the timetable and ensure my immortality. 
Mastic cultivation, along with its gathering and processing, takes place in all four seasons of the year and is similar to other traditional cultivations, such as the olive. And it has always been a family affair. 
The preparation for the cultivation of mastic begins in February of each year. First, the lower braches of the tree are pruned and then they are trimmed into a specific shape, in order to enable light to reach all of the branches and to make way for harvesting. 
