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Eleven years ago this month I started my food blog, “Marilena’s Kitchen“, as a place to create and save favorite recipes that I cook for my family. Since then, 1.8 million people from all over the world have visited this small, personal blog! For those of you who are following, or just visiting my blog, I have chosen to make your reading experience as pleasant and as uncluttered as possible, completely uninterrupted from annoying pop-ups, distracting advertising, and persistent sign-up forms.
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This week’s recipe: Greek Roasted Lemon Potatoes
The first recipe of the year is a beloved, traditional Greek recipe: Greek roasted lemon potatoes! Golden brown on the outside, tender, soft and creamy inside, incredibly flavorful, infused with the unmistakable Greek flavors of lemon, garlic and oregano. This recipe is simplicity at its best!
What makes this recipe “authentically Greek”?
I always thought that it is almost impossible to mess up such a simple recipe like this. I have seen many online versions of this dish, however, that call for ingredients which are really not part of the authentic Greek recipe for roasted lemon potatoes!
- An authentic Greek lemon potato recipe does not call for fresh herbs, spices or flavorings other than Greek dried oregano
- When a recipe calls for just “1-2 Tablespoons” of olive oil, you know it will lack flavor. Pour on the extra virgin olive oil!
- An authentic Greek lemon potato recipe does not call for chicken stock, vegetable stock or white wine in the recipe, just water
- You do not “pre-boil” the potatoes before baking
- Greek roasted potatoes are not traditionally topped with Feta or Parmesan cheese
Ingredients for the Greek Roasted Lemon Potatoes
- Potatoes: medium-sized baking potatoes, cut into 1″ wedges
- Oil: plenty of good extra virgin olive oil (preferably Greek), to add flavor and richness
- Garlic: at least 2-3 cloves
- Lemons: juice and zest of at least one lemon
- Herbs: only dried Greek oregano
- Seasoning: a generous amount of sea salt and freshly ground pepper
- Mustard: a great flavor addition, but you can omit it if you don’t like the flavor
- Hot water: the extra moisture prevents them from drying out
How to serve with Greek Roasted Lemon Potatoes:
- Serve them with any grilled meats, your favorite roasted chicken, roasted lamb or, Greek meatballs or, next to any Sunday meal
- Next to seafood, like pan-seared cod, oven-roasted branzino, or, Greek-style shrimp
- 2½ - 3 lbs. medium-sized potatoes, (I prefer Yukon Gold potatoes because they hold their shape when baked)
- ⅓ cup Greek extra virgin olive oil
- 3-4 medium garlic cloves, peeled and smashed (or roughly chopped)
- 1½ lemons (zest and juice)
- 1 tsp. dried Greek oregano
- 1 tsp. sea salt
- ½ tsp. freshly ground pepper
- 1 tsp. mustard (I used Dijon mustard for this recipe)
- ½ cup hot water
- Preheat the oven: Place a rack in the middle of the oven and preheat to 400°F .
- Prep the potatoes. Wash, peel, and rinse the potatoes. Dry them and cut them into 1" wedges. To get a head start, you can prep the potatoes, cut them, and place them fully submerged in a bowl with cold water several hours ahead of cooking them.
- Cover and roast. Place the potatoes in a 13"x 9" x 2" deep baking dish (preferably metal, not glass as they will stick less). Toss them well with the olive oil, garlic, lemon juice and zest, oregano, salt and pepper, mustard, and water. Cover with foil and roast for about 30 minutes.
- Roast uncovered. Remove the pan from the oven, take off the foil, shake the potatoes gently to make sure they are not stuck to the bottom. Return the pan to the oven and continue cooking uncovered for another 20 minutes or so, depending on the size of the potato wedges. At this point, test the potatoes, they should be fork tender. Taste and adjust the seasoning if necessary.
- Place under the broiler. If the potatoes do not have enough color, place them under the broiler for a few minutes to get a little crispy at the edges. This is an optional step.
-- If you prefer the potatoes to have a crunchier outer layer, cut each wedge in half.
-- At the end of the cooking time, the pan juices with the olive oil will concentrate and become intensely flavorful, almost like a sauce, to spoon over the potatoes.
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