Roasted Potatoes with Lemon (Greek Patates Lemonates)

The perfect, traditional Greek lemon potatoes, ideal for your Sunday family roast. Crispy on the outside, fluffy on the inside with a delicious lemony flavour..Greek lemon potatoes are perfect on their own served with some crusted bread to dig into all the delicious juices or accompanying roast lamb, chicken, pork, a juicy burger or steak, and the list goes on. 

Selecting the right potato variety for your Greek lemon potatoes is crucial if you want to achieve that perfectly crispy on the outside and fluffy on the inside texture. The ideal type is Maris Piper as they are one of the most starchy kind and will become quite crumbly when baked. There are two ways that you can bake your roast potatoes:

You can parboil them, i.e. cut them up in wedges, boil them in a pan until right before they are ready and then sift using a colander. Then drizzle with some semolina and the lemon sauce. Alternatively you can cut your potatoes up in wedges, dress and bake them straight in the oven. The second approach will take a little longer as the potatoes need to bake for longer but I have found that it gives them crispier edges, while the parboiled version allows for more of the lemon sauce to soak in and tend to be flakier.

The special sauce that we will be using to garnish our favorite Greek lemon potatoes is nothing else than a mix of lemon juice, dried oregano, minced garlic and some semolina. Semolina is made from ground up durum wheat and is perfect for making roasting dressings. Semolina will coat the potatoes and will harden up when cooking, forming a nice crispy skin around them and adding to the crunchiness of the maris piper potato. 

7 large potatoes (maris piper)
3 cloves garlic, minced
¾ cup extra-virgin olive oil (150 mL)
¾ cup water (150 mL)
1 Tbsp. dried oregano
2 lemons, freshly juiced
1 tsp. semolina
sea salt
black pepper, freshly ground

Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C/180°C fan, Gas Mark 6).

Cut the potatoes into wedges and place them on a large metal roasting pan. Into a bowl add the remaining ingredients (including the semolina and the water) and blend; pour the semolina-lemon mixture over the potatoes and season well with salt and pepper.

Bake for 40 minutes, until a nice golden crust has formed on the potatoes; turn them out of the oven, toss them a little bit to bring them upside down, sprinkle with a pinch of oregano and put back into the oven for another 30-40 minutes.

If all of the liquid has been absorbed and the pan appears to be getting dry, add ¼-½ of a cup of extra lemon juice, before they have fully browned.

Don’t be afraid of over baking them - they will become even more delicious the longer they cook.