Greek Potatoes (Oven-Roasted and Delicious!)
These potatoes are a staple in our home. Whether accompanying roast lamb or chicken, or just on their own, we have them a couple of times a week. They are delicious and the ones that get overly-brown in the pan and stick a bit are MINE! Clean up is a little tricky with this recipe, unless you line your pans with foil, but I find that just filling the pan up with hot, sudsy water and forgetting for an hour helps a lot.
These potatoes are a staple in our home. Whether accompanying roast lamb or chicken, or just on their own, we have them a couple of times a week. They are delicious and the ones that get overly-brown in the pan and stick a bit are MINE! Clean up is a little tricky with this recipe, unless you line your pans with foil, but I find that just filling the pan up with hot, sudsy water and forgetting for an hour helps a lot.
- 1/2 cup olive oil
- 1 cup water
- sea salt
- 8 large potatoes peeled, cut into large wedges (about 6-7 wedges per potato)
- 4 cloves garlic minced (more garlic is a good thing, less garlic is a no-no for
- 1 tablespoon oregano (get the mediterranean, it's the best!)
- 1 lemon, juice of (up to 1/2)
- fresh coarse ground black pepper
- Carbohydrate 66.5255062501933 g
- Cholesterol 0 mg
- Fat 3.77431875003075 g
- Fiber 8.86425014747108 g
- Protein 7.731825000033 g
- Saturated Fat 0.57354750000798 g
- Serving Size 1 1 Serving (402g)
- Sodium 42.719000000045 mg
- Sugar 57.6612561027222 g
- Trans Fat 0.188673750005071 g
- Calories 319 calories
Step-by-step
- Preheat oven to 440F A reviewer has suggested spraying the baking pan with Pam - that sounds like a great idea!
- Put all the ingredients into a baking pan large enough to hold them.
- Season generously with sea salt and black pepper.
- Make sure your hands are very clean and put them in the pan and give everything a toss to distribute.
- The garlic will drop into the water/oil solution but its flavour will permeate the potatoes, and this way, it won't burn.
- Bake for 40 minutes.
- When a nice golden-brown crust has formed on the potatoes, give them a stir to bring the white underside up, season lightly with a bit more sea salt and pepper and just a light sprinkling of oregano.
- Add 1/2 cup more water if pan appears to be getting dry, and pop back into oven to brown other side of potatoes.
- This will take about another 40 minutes.
- Do not be afraid of overcooking the potatoes- they will be delicious.
- Note: I often melt a bouillon cube in the water; if you do, make sure to cut back some on the salt.
Crowding eight large potatoes into a standard baking dish guarantees pale, steamed wedges rather than the desired crisp exterior. Overloading the pan traps steam from the one cup of water and lemon juice, preventing the oil-water emulsion from reducing properly at 440 degrees Fahrenheit. Doubling this recipe requires splitting the wedges across two separate metal pans to maintain direct contact with the conductive surface, whereas halving it works well in a nine-by-thirteen-inch ceramic dish without altering the initial forty-minute baking duration. Starch release dictates the outcome when scaling quantities up or down. Rinsing cut potatoes removes surface starches necessary for crust formation, so keep them unwashed after peeling into six to seven wedges per potato. Garlic placement matters significantly; keeping minced cloves submerged in the bottom liquid prevents bitter charring while infusing the fat over the extended eighty-minute total cooking time. Stirring midway at the forty-minute mark requires care to lift the tender white undersides without breaking the developing crust. Additional water must measure precisely one-half cup if the pan runs dry, preventing scorching without flooding the starches. Leftover roasted wedges store safely in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to three days, though freezing alters the cellular structure and yields a mealy interior upon thawing. Reheating chilled potatoes in a four-hundred-degree oven for ten minutes restores surface crispness far better than a microwave.
