Lamb Kleftiko

At Elevated we’ve long been enamoured with the idea of kleftiko (rustlers or thieves) lamb and have even dug our gardens up to try cooking it the traditional way!  

Bandits would steal a lamb from a farm, slaughter it, dig a BBQ pit and set the coals on fire, then bury the lamb in the pit and cover it with mud so the smells of cooking lamb would not alert the farmer.  When we tried it, admittedly it was admittedly a bit of a faff, and James’s wife Laura is still not best pleased with the lumpy lawn, so help you avoid that, here’s we’ve gone for a more simple, but equally tasty version. 

Lamb is one of the most hypoallergenic foods out there in that there aren’t many people who are allergic to it which is why it used to form the basis of many exclusion diets for those suffering from IBS or food intolerances. It can be high in fat but the kleftiko way of cooking it means much of the fat is rendered out. 

Lamb does contain some levels of conjugated linoleic acid which some studies show is good for weight loss.  *If you do not have an earthenware pot, simply follow the same method, wrap the whole parcel in foil and place on a baking tray in the oven