Tradition in Greece treats the Easter lamb as sacred, asking cooks to use every part, from meat to offal to head, as a culinary tribute to the sacrifice at the heart of the Resurrection. That philosophy shows up across the country in dishes like gardoumpakia, kokoretsi, and mageritsa, and in older island cooking where lamb or goat often got stuffed with offal, grains, herbs, and aromatics, then sealed into a wood-burning oven to roast slowly overnight. One of the most elaborate examples comes from Karpathos: byzanti, or Byzantine stuffed lamb, a recipe shaped by Byzantine and Ottoman influences and reserved for major religious celebrations, especially Easter. Traditionally, a whole lamb gets filled with intestines, rice, herbs, raisins, pine nuts, onions, and spices, then carefully sealed with mud and cooked for hours. To make the dish more approachable while keeping its soul intact, this version reimagines byzanti as a roulade using deboned lamb shoulder stuffed with liver, rice, herbs, and warm spices. Cooks wary of organ meats can swap in mushrooms without losing depth. Serve it with roast potatoes, seasonal vegetables, and a sharp green salad, then let the table do the rest.

Serves 8
For the lamb:

 About 2 1/2 - 3 kg lamb shoulder, deboned and opened for a roulade (you can ask your butcher to prepare it)

2 garlic cloves, minced 

3/4 tsp dried oregano

Salt and black pepper

40 ml olive oil

Juice from 1 large lemon

For the stuffing:

400 gr lamb liver (and other intestines, if desired), cleaned and chopped

1 onion, finely chopped

3 spring onions, finely chopped

2 garlic cloves, finely chopped

1 small red bell pepper, chopped

120 g rice such as Greek Carolina rice, Arborio, or other medium-grain white rice

100 ml white wine

300 g chopped tomatoes

50 g raisins

50 g pine nuts

3-4 tbs dill, finely chopped

3 tbsp parsley, finely chopped

1 tsp ground cumin

1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp ground nutmeg

40 ml olive oil

40 ml softened butter

1 lemon

Salt and freshly ground pepper

Step One

For the lamb: Wash the lamb thoroughly and then dry it with paper towels. Mix the lemon juice, garlic, olive oil and oregano in a bowl and massage the lamb with the mixed ingredients. Season it generously with salt and pepper.

Place the lamb in a deep dish, cover and marinade in the fridge for at least two hours. Before cooking, remove it from the fridge and let it come to room temperature.

Step Two
For the stuffing: In a pot or deep skillet, heat 1 tbsp of the butter and 1 tbsp of the olive oil. Add in the chopped liver, and sauté for 4-5 minutes.

Add in the onion, the red pepper, and garlic, and sauté for a few minutes until softened. Add the spring onion, stirring for a couple of minutes, and then the uncooked rice, stirring again to coat the rice in oil.

Pour in the wine and after about one minute add in the chopped tomatoes and spices. Season with salt and pepper, lower heat and gently cook for about 10-15 minutes, until most of the liquid is absorbed.

Add in the dill, parsley, raisins, and pine nuts, remove from heat and let the rice mixture cool down a bit and set before you are ready to stuff the lamb (you can also make this ahead and use it at room temperature).

Step Three
Stuffing and Roasting: Preheat the oven to 200°C (conventional oven with the top and bottom heating elements). Cut a large piece of aluminum foil and lay an equally sized piece of parchment paper on top (large enough for the lamb).

Lay the meat at the center of the parchment paper and using a meat mallet, flatten it a bit to prepare it for stuffing, if necessary. Mix the remaining softened butter and olive oil in a small bowl. Brush the side of the meat facing up with the butter and olive oil mixture (reserve the rest for later).

Place the stuffing in the center of the lamb along its longer side. Roll it and tie it with string, then roll it into the parchment paper and seal it with the foil, folding the edges inward tightly to prevent the juices from spilling out during baking.

Place the rolled lamb in a deep roasting pan and roast for 1 hour. Then unwrap the meat and coat it with the remaining oil-butter mixture.

Reduce the oven temperature to 180°C. Return the lamb in the oven and continue roasting for another 15-30 minutes, until nicely browned. Remove from the oven and allow it to rest before slicing.