Greek Potatoes

 My greek sister-in-law makes the best roast potatoes but don't tell my husband that.  Mine never turn out quite like theirs, even after 45 years.  Being a local-alien I  use less lemon juice and certainly less olive oil.  The greek family just love lemon juice and they can never have too much.  A fresh lemon, sorry, fresh lemon-s, are squeezed over everything from a green salad to fried potatoes.  On the other hand the kiwi side of the family want just a hint of lemon, and we put ketchup on our fries.

First peel and cut your potatoes lengthwise, long wedges.  I par boil mine for 10 minutes especially when I'm cooking them with chicken.  They roast quicker and brown easier.  However, my greek husband and his sister would never do that.  They are traditional people and do as their Mama did.

These are the other ingredients.  Measures are to your taste.  I just eyeball them.  (No, I do NOT mean that we cook eyeballs with them JC.  But we could)

Place the potatoes in your baking dish.  

Drizzle with a good olive oil.  You'll be adding more later. 

Sprinkle over them 3 or 4 cloves of chopped garlic

 a tsp or more of dried oregano

 a few twigs of fresh thyme

 a squeeze of mustard

 and salt. 

 Get your hands in there and mix it all up, massaging the potatoes and distributing the herbs.  Add a cup of hot water or some kind of stock.  I use a stock cube mixed with hot water because that's what is on hand.

Now for the lemon juice.  Squeeze a lemon over the potatoes.  I have preserved lemons and always forget to use them.  I will next time and see how it tastes.  Don't overdo the lemon unless you're Greek.  A little zest will give more flavour too without the acidity.

Grind some fresh pepper over the potatoes and pour more olive oil over the whole lot.  Say a small wine glass. 

Cook about an hour at 200oC till golden brown.    After the first half hour take the dish out and turn them gently just to get them brown on all sides.  

My sister-in-law does not worry about browning her potatoes.   She wants them soft with plenty of oil and they are wonderful!

Her potatoes look like this

This is more or less how mine come out of the oven.

Kali Orexi