GREEK STYLE ROASTED POTATOES

Oregano, garlic, olive oil and lemon juice.  Four ingredients that make a spud taste awesome!  Peel, mix and roast.  Simple and yet so flavorful.  This way of cooking potatoes is very popular in Greek homes.  The ubiquitous Greek roasted potato!  Every Greek or friend of a Greek has either eaten them, or cooked them, or both.  A good accompaniment with Greek roasted potatoes is feta cheese. That, some olives and a salad are an excellent and inexpensive meal. I made the potatoes in the picture to accompany a chicken dish, but they tasted so good that I hardly ate any chicken.  Didn't miss it, either. 

Greeks like to roast potatoes in the same pan with chicken or meat, but they also roast them plain, to serve as a side dish or as a main meal. 

With this recipe I always use Yukon gold potatoes.  I've used other types of potatoes in the past, but ever since I discovered the Yukon gold variety I've used nothing else.  They have an extraordinary flavor, sweet and buttery.  I promise you:  This recipe + Yukon gold potatoes = a super-delicious eating experience.  

Ingredients:

3 pounds Yukon gold potatoes, peeled and cut into wedges

1/4 cup olive oil
4 or garlic cloves
2 teaspoons dried oregano plus a little more to use as a topping
Salt and pepper to taste
1/4 cup chicken broth
juice squeezed from one large juicy lemon

a handful of grated pecorino Romano cheese (maybe a little feta cheese, too)

Directions:

• Preheat the oven to 400°F.
• Smash the garlic cloves and peel them.  Remove the green sprout from the middle of each garlic clove. Do this because the sprout will turn a funny grey color when it's roasted (as I have learned from experience),  and I don't think you're going to like grey stuff mixed in with your potatoes, even if you know it used to be some harmless little garlic sprout.  Once the sprouts are discarded go ahead and mince the garlic.   
• In a large bowl toss the potatoes with the olive oil, the oregano, the minced garlic, and the salt and pepper.  Come on, Get your hands in that bowl and get the tossing action going! 

Start mixing!

• Now spread the potatoes out in a baking pan.  They have to be in one layer, so choose a pan that can accommodate them that way.
• Bake them for 25 minutes, then take them out of the oven.
• Add the chicken broth and the lemon juice.  Grab yourself a spoon and toss those potatoes once again.  

To the partially cooked potatoes I added chicken broth and lemon juice.  This time around I crumbled up some feta cheese and added that also.  

• Put them back in the oven to finish cooking.  This should take about a half hour to 40 minutes.  Check them and you'll know when they're done. They will be tender in the middle and browned around the edges.  
• Take them out of the oven, place them on a serving dish and sprinkle a little oregano and the handful of pecorino Romano cheese over the potatoes.  
• How about the feta cheese?  If you like you can crumble a little feta cheese into tiny pieces and sprinkle that on top as well.  Or, you can mix in a little crumbled feta cheese when you add the chicken broth.  Or, you can have the feta on the side, which is my favorite way to have these potatoes.  
• Serve them right away while they are still warm, and enjoy, enjoy, enjoy!