Greek · Authentic-ish Greek
Kleftiko
405 kcal a serving, against 921 for the traditional version. That is 516 kcal off, or 56%, with 44.5g of protein. Serves 6. 4 hours.
What the traditional version is
A heavy joint of lamb shoulder cut into massive chunks, tossed with thick masses of olive oil, starchy potatoes and heavy cubes of salty feta. The whole lot is wrapped tightly in baking parchment and roasted for hours until it forms a deep, rich pool of grease at the bottom.
What changed, and what each change costs
Lamb shoulder down to lean lamb leg
Shoulder has brilliant flavour but carries a huge amount of fat. Leg is pure lean muscle. The tight parchment parcel traps all the steam from the vegetables, so the lean meat stays wonderfully moist without needing a heavy fat cap to protect it.
What it costs you. You'll miss the sticky, gelatinous edges that only come from slow-roasting a fatty joint.
100g of olive oil down to 15g
A traditional taverna cook uses vast amounts of oil to conduct heat and keep the potatoes rich. In a completely sealed paper parcel, steam and wine do that exact job perfectly well. You only need a tiny bit of oil to carry the garlic and oregano over the lamb.
What it costs you. The potatoes don't get that incredible deep-fried texture where they sit in the boiling oil pool.
Feta and heavy potatoes down to red peppers and fresh tomatoes
Feta just melts into the fat puddle, and a massive mountain of potatoes brings heavy starch. I've cut the potatoes in half and added vibrant vegetables instead. Tomatoes and peppers release sweet juices that build a brilliant, thin sauce.
What it costs you. More of a vegetable braise with lamb, then. Not a pure meat and potato feast, and I'm not going to pretend otherwise.
The numbers
| Per serving | Traditional | Lightened |
|---|---|---|
| Calories | 921 | 405 |
| Protein | 42.3g | 44.5g |
| Fat | 66.6g | 11.4g |
| Saturated fat | 25.5g | 3.5g |
| Carbohydrate | 33.7g | 26.5g |
| Protein per 100 kcal | 4.6g | 11g |
Every figure is computed from the recipe's own weighed ingredient list against public food composition databases. The appendix in Authentic-ish Greek prints the exact database row used for each ingredient, so any number here can be checked.
Allergens. sulphites.
The method is in the book
The parchment trick is simply fantastic. Lean lamb normally dries out when roasted for this long, but here it becomes incredibly tender and pulls apart easily. The fresh vegetables melt down to form a rich, sharp broth that coats the soft potatoes perfectly. You get all the classic Greek flavours and you don't miss the massive slick of oil at the bottom of the paper.
The quantities and the method for this dish are in Authentic-ish Greek, along with 56 more. Buy the paperback