Roasted Potatoes, with Herbs

Red Potatoes

by Cat, Dec 2008 (photo, right, from Wikimedia Commons

The fragrance of potatoes roasting with herbs, garlic and olive oil pervades the kitchen and excites digestive juices long before the meal is served. It may take a while for them to roast, but it is so worth the wait.

Includes: 1. Greek-Style Roasted Potatoes with Lemon, Garlic & Oregano; 2. Roasted Potatoes with Rosemary and Garlic

Greek-Style Slow-Roasted Potatoes

This recipe was inspired by the wonderfully flavorful potatoes served in the Greek restaurants I used to frequent in my former home of Portland Oregon, and is adapted from my recipe for Greek-Style Slow-Roasted Chicken or Game Hen. It is excellent served with any Greek recipe, but also with roast chicken, turkey, beef or lamb.

If serving with roast leg of lamb, be aware that it takes a lot longer to roast the potatoes than the lamb, about 4 – 5 hours for potatoes vs 45 – 60 minutes for lamb, so start the potatoes early.

Ingredients & Equipment:

• 4 – 6 yellow or russet potatoes, scrubbed and quartered
• juice of¼ lemon (about ½ tsp)
• ¼ – ½ cup water or homemade chicken or veggie broth
• Dressing:
• 1 sprig (or more) fresh oregano
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• juice of 1 lemon
• Unrefined sea salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste
• ⅓ cup olive oil
• Equipment:
• Casserole dish or roasting pan

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 300°F.
2. Make dressing: Add ⅓ of the garlic paste, pepper and chopped oregano leaves to lemon juice in a small jar. Shake to combine, then add oil and shake again.
3. Prep potatoes: If you want to shorten roasting time, parboil potatoes for about 10 minutes before quartering them.
4. Add juice of ¼ lemon to some water in a bowl. Scrub then quarter the potatoes, placing them in the lemon water until ready to assemble.
5. Remove potatoes from lemon water and place them, skin-side down, in baking dish. Shake dressing again and pour over potatoes, followed by the water/broth.
6. Roast, uncovered, 3.5 – 5 hours, turning & basting every 30 minutes after the first hour, until tender and golden, adding more water if necessary to keep potatoes from drying out.

Roasted Potatoes with Garlic and Rosemary 

This is a wonderful Mediterranean way to prepare potatoes.  Excellent with roast leg of lamb, grilled lamb chops, or grilled fish.  I like to use new potatoes (white or red), fingerlings, or red potatoes for this dish, but baking potatoes (russets) can also be used.

For a change of pace, you can use different herbs, such as marjoram, oregano, thyme or parsley.  Or use 1-2 Tbsp dry white wine instead of lemon juice.

Serves 4 – 6.

Ingredients & Equipment:

• 12 small potatoes, scrubbed
• ¼ cup olive oil
• 1-2 cloves garlic
• Unrefined sea salt
• 1 Tbsp chopped fresh rosemary (or ½ Tbsp crushed dried rosemary)
• ½ lemon (optional)
• freshly ground black pepper
• oven-proof casserole dish or baking pan in which potatoes can be arranged in a single layer

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 400⁰F.
2. Scrub, but don’t peel potatoes.  Steam (or immerse in boiling water) for about 5 minutes.  Dry them off, then slice in half if very small, or quarters if larger.  Place in casserole dish; add olive oil.
3. Mince garlic finely on a wood cutting board.  Sprinkle ¼ tsp sea salt over garlic, then press with the side of a wide knife blade.  Repeat pressing until the juices are released.  Scrape pressed garlic over potatoes.
4. Toss potatoes in the garlic and oil, then add the rosemary and season to taste with pepper and additional sea salt.  Try to arrange with the skin-side up.  Optional:  Squeeze juice from the half lemon over all.
5. Place in oven (uncovered) and roast until tender, about 40-60 minutes.  About 10 minutes before they are done, carefully turn them over so the skin-side is down.

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