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Greek Roasted Leg of Lamb
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Lemon Garlic Greek Roasted Leg of Lamb – Stuffed with Cheese and Spices

This lemon garlic lamb recipe isn’t you’re usual Greek-style lamb, even though it’s a very traditional, old recipe from northern Greece. It calls for making slits in the exterior of the lamb all over and stuffing them with a pungent mixture of Greek graviera or kefalograviera cheese, a lot of garlic, ground allspice and black pepper. It’s a dish we also make together sometimes as our farewell feast during my Ikaria classes.

Course main course
Cuisine Greek
Keyword authentic greek recipe, Diane Kochilas, dried herbs, easter, graviera, Greek Easter, Greek lamb, lemon
PREP TIME 30 minutes
COOK TIME 2 hours 30 minutes
SERVES 8

Ingredients

  • 1 lamb leg bone in, about 6 ½ - 7 pounds/ 3 kilos
  • 1 1/2 cups grated kefalotyri or other sharp hard, preferably Greek, sheep’s milk cheese, such as kefalograviera, ladotyri or hard myzithra (Pecorino and Parmesan also work well)
  • 15 garlic cloves
  • 3 tablespoons allspice berries
  • 6 tablespoons black peppercorns divided
  • ½ cup extra virgin Greek olive oil
  • 3 – 4 tablespoons coarse Greek sea salt as needed
  • For the Roasting Pan:
  • 3 onions sliced
  • 10 - 15 whole fingerlings or baby potatoes peeled or unpeeled (optional)
  • 2 - 3 carrots peeled and sliced thickly on the bias
  • 6 bay leaves optional
  • 10 thyme sprigs
  • 10 fresh oregano sprigs
  • 6 fresh rosemary sprigs
  • 2 cups dry white wine or more as needed
  • Finishing Marinade for This Lemon Garlic Lamb Recipe:
  • ½ cup extra virgin Greek olive oil
  • Juice of 1 ½ lemons
  • Sea salt and pepper to taste
  • 1 - 2 teaspoons smooth or grainy Dijon mustard optional

Instructions

  1. Preheat the oven to 450F/220C.
  2. Using a mortar and pestle, pound the garlic, allspice berries, and peppercorns with a little salt, in increments if necessary, until the mixture is a damp, chunky paste. Mix together with the grated cheese. Set the mixture aside until ready to use.
  3. Rinse and pat dry the lamb. Using a sharp paring knife, make about 25 incisions on all sides of the lamb. Take a large pinch of the cheese-garlic-spice mixture and stuff it into each of the incisions, as deeply as possible. Continue until the mixture is used up, making additional incisions if necessary.
  4. Rub olive oil over the surface of the lamb leg and season generously with salt and pepper.
  5. Place the vegetables under and around the leg of lamb in the pan. Season with salt and pepper. Strew the herbs all around the vegetables and stick a few sprigs into some of the incisions in the meat, too. Drizzle everything generously with olive oil. Pour the red wine over and around the lamb.
  6. Cover the pan with parchment or wax paper and seal with aluminum foil. Roast the lamb at 450F / 220 C for 20 minutes, then reduce heat to 350F/170C and continue to roast, basting every 15 to 20 minutes, for about 20 minutes per pound, or 2 to 2 ½ hours for medium-rare, or until a meat thermometer inserted into the thickest part of the leg reads 145F.
  7. Ten minutes before removing from the oven, whisk together the finishing marinade and pour it over the lamb. Continue roasting another 6 to 8 minutes.
  8. Remove and let the lamb rest for 20-30 minutes before carving.