Greek Potatoes

Before traveling to Greece, I don’t think that I had any clue that there was such a thing as “Greek Potatoes.”  In fact, no, I definitely did not have any idea that I would come home from Greece craving their oh-so-savory Mediterranean style roasted potatoes.

To our surprise, most restaurants in Greece tried to serve us french fries with whatever we ordered.  (Yes, tried.  We politely declined.)  Even though mostly everything we ordered in Greece was some type of fresh local seafood, yep, they wanted us to enjoy it with a huge plate of french fries.

Thankfully though, by the time we got settled on Paros (and also found one of our most favorite restaurants in Greece), we discovered Greek Potatoes.  On our first visit to Taverna Mira, we planned on ordering the whole local fish, which not surprisingly came with french fries.  So we decided to ask if they could roast some potatoes for us instead.  And while our waitress did seem a little confused why we wouldn’t want french fries, she offered to ask the kitchen.  Luckily the chef agreed to make us roasted potatoes as long as we wouldn’t mind the wait.  Mind the wait?  We were sitting at a waterfront table, enjoying a carafe of the local wine while watching the sun set.  We were planning on staying as long as they let us.

So we waited.  And like all good things in life, it was completely worth the wait.  When our food arrived, we were most excited to try the fish, but we ended up being most enticed by the potatoes.  We knew that the fish would be really good (and it was), but we had never had potatoes like these.  Yes, we’ve had our fair share of roasted potatoes, but these were different – salty, briny, tangy – there was something different about them.

Greek Potatoes for 2 (if you are really hungry) 
or for 2 (with leftovers) 
or for 3-4 people (as a small side)

Preheat your oven to 450°

1 1/2 - 1 3/4 lbs. Yukon Gold Potatoes: scrubbed, cut into 1 inch pieces and tossed with:

3 tbsp. Extra Virgin Olive Oil

1 1/2 tsp. Kosher Salt

2 1/2 tsp. Dried Oregano

Roast for 20 minutes on a cookie sheet.  Flip them over, taste for salt and adjust, 
and then roast for another 15-20 minutes until browned and crispy.

In the bottom of a large mixing bowl, whisk together 1 tbsp. Extra Virgin Olive Oil and 
1 tbsp. Dijon Mustard.  Toss the hot potatoes into the mixture, coating evenly. 
Let the potatoes rest for 5 minutes, then enjoy!

So we slowly (not really) ate the potatoes, picking apart what we thought that they had done, and we took careful notes.  These potatoes needed to be replicated a.s.a.w.r.h. (as soon as we returned home).

It turns out that recipe testing roasted potatoes is actually a pretty enjoyable process; well, that is, except for that one batch of over-salted ones (whoops).  It took me just a few tries to get a recipe worthy of our nights on Paros and at Taverna Mira, but I would have happily tried much longer.  After all, these are potatoes from the Gods.