Wild Woman Kitchen

Directions

• 1.5 lb of potatoes are about 6 medium ones. You can pretty much use any type of potato you already have except the thick skinned russets. You want to be able to eat the skins. When estimating the number of potatoes to cut, keep in mind they need to be distributed evenly in one layer at the bottom of your baking dish.
• Preheat the oven to 450°F.
• Add the potatoes to a saucepan of salted water that tastes like the ocean and bring to a boil. Parboil until about 3/4 cooked, about 5 minutes. Gently pierce a potato with a knife tip. It should insert but have resistance and not fall off the knife. If they’re too cooked they won’t hold their shape when cut. Rinse under cold water to stop the cooking process. Drain.
• Meanwhile, whisk together olive oil, lemon juice, zest, garlic, mustard, a scant amount of sea salt and some freshly ground black peppercorns. Do not over season, you’ll have a chance to correct it later.
• Line a baking dish with parchment paper.
• For this or any dish to be successful you’ll need good knife cuts. That means the pieces of potato need to be as close to the same size as possible. I had potatoes that were a little smaller than medium sized and oblong. I cut a slice from each end and then made slices through the middle roughly the size of the width of the potato. I then cut those in half. That got me pretty close to having the same size pieces.
• Add the oil lemon mixture to the potatoes. Use a fish flipper to toss them to rough up their surfaces. Arrange the baking dish, cut sides down. Roast in the oven for about 25 minutes. Flip after 10 minutes to ensure they get brown all over. The fish flipper will help get them turned over. Keep an eye on them, you don’t want any black surfaces.
• With 5 minutes to go, check the potatoes by cutting one to ensure they won’t be overcooked. This is a good time to correct the amount of salt and pepper. Sprinkle them with oregano and toss again, even if you need to remove them from the oven. If fresh herbs get added too soon they’ll burn. Don’t worry if they’re not as brown as you expected. It’s more important to cook the potatoes and oregano properly.