Oven potatoes rarely turn out properly crisp, and the reason is almost always the same: they go into the oven raw and dry. Potatoes need two things — a roughed-up surface and fat that gets into that roughness. Olive oil does this better than any other fat, because it stays stable at 200 °C and carries aromas that butter lost long ago.
Serves 4 as a side. 15 minutes of work, 50 minutes in the oven.
| Amount | Ingredient |
|---|---|
| 1 kg | Floury-to-waxy potatoes |
| 5 tbsp | Extra virgin olive oil |
| 2 tsp | Dried oregano |
| 3 cloves | Garlic, unpeeled |
| 1 | Lemon, halved |
| 1 tsp | Salt, plus salt for the cooking water |
| — | Black pepper |
Wash the potatoes, do not peel them, and parboil in salted water for 8–10 minutes — they should soften on the outside and stay firm inside. Drain and let them steam dry for 2 minutes.
Return the potatoes to the sieve or the pot and shake for 30 seconds, until the surface is visibly rough and slightly floury. This is the step almost everyone skips — and it decides whether they turn out crisp. Halve larger potatoes first.
Mix 4 tbsp of olive oil with oregano, salt and pepper in a bowl. Add the hot potatoes and toss gently until every side shines. Hot food takes up oil differently from cold.
Spread on a tray, not piled up, with space between them. 35–40 minutes at 200 °C, top and bottom heat. Turn once after 20 minutes. Tuck the unpeeled garlic cloves between them — otherwise they burn.
Take them out, squeeze the lemon over and drizzle with the last tablespoon of raw olive oil. That oil is never heated, so it brings back the aroma the oven took away.
Here both things happen at once: the oil is heated to 200 °C and afterwards poured raw over the finished potatoes. It has to be stable enough not to turn bitter, and aromatic enough to still say something at the end. That is exactly what a Koroneiki from Pieria is made for.
For this tray the 1 litre bottle is enough — or the bulk pack from 3 litres if oven vegetables are on your table several times a week.
Two days in the fridge. Reheated at 200 °C for 8 minutes they turn crisp again — in the microwave they go soft and taste of nothing.
Usually because they were neither parboiled nor roughed up. Without a rough surface the oil has nothing to cling to.
Extra virgin olive oil — it is stable at 200 °C. “Mild” olive oil works too, but carries less aroma.
Yes, but they need 10 minutes longer and soak up more oil.
