Kleftiko style slow roast leg of lamb

Serves 6

Preparation: 20 minutes. Cooking: 4 hours. 

The slow roasting of this Kleftiko style lamb produces  melt in the mouth meat suffused the flavour of herbs, lemon,  and cinnamon. The potatoes absorb the stock produced and have a fantastic flavour. 

Ingredients

• 1.5 to 2kg leg of lamb
• 2 lemons, cut into 6 wedges each
• 4 large potatoes, washed and each cut into 6 wedges  (do not peel)
• A few plum tomatoes
• Handful of sprigs of oregano or thyme 
• 0.25 tsp cinnamon (optional)
• 250ml white wine (or water)
• Glug of olive oil
• Salt & pepper

Method

1. Wash and pat dry the lamb. Make several deep slashes in the meaty parts with a sharp knife. 
2. Transfer the lamb to a roasting pan that has been lined with heavy duty kitchen foil. 
3. Squeeze half of the lemon wedges over the lamb and rub the juice all over the meat. 
4. Push the squeezed lemon wedges into the slashes in the meat (this makes the meat very lemony in places so skip it if that worries you).
5. Place the potatoes and tomatoes around the lamb, squeeze over the remaining lemon wedges and add them to the pan. 
6. Sprinkle over the cinnamon, the salt and a generous amount of pepper. 
7. Rub the herb sprigs in your hands over the dish to bruise some of the  leaves place the sprigs onto the lamb. 
8. Add the wine or water to the base of the pan. 
9. Seal with more heavy duty kitchen foil to retain the moisture while cooking (I triple wrapped mine). You want to allow an air gap between the meat and the foil and you must ensure the edges are airtight so that the moisture from the cooking lamb is not lost. 
10. Put the sealed roasting pan into an oven that has been pre-heated to 170C (160C for fan oven) and leave to cook for 4 hours. 
11. Remove from oven and let rest for 15 minutes before removing the foil and serving.