Oven Fried Potatoes with Oregano and Lemon/Patates Lemonata

These were really nice! Unfortunately, though, they stuck to the baking dish and were already a bit dark by the time the 45 min were over. I'm not really sure why that happened but I guess we'll start checking earlier next time (i.e. tomorrow). We might also try using a ceramic baking dish; DH thinks that'll help.

Served with Greek Village Salad, Bread Skordalia and plain fried fish, a very nice combination.

Edited the next day: We gave it another try, this time in a white ceramic baking dish. It went well during the first ten minutes (which was the first time I checked) - the oil didn't spatter as the day before, the fries didn't colour at an alarming rate, and they didn't stick to the pan. I checked again another 20 minutes later, by which time they had begun to stick, and that only got worse. BUT at least they hadn't got burnt and I was able to leave them in the oven the whole 60 min in total.

I'm wondering now whether it was the colour and material of the baking dish (dark grey metal vs. white ceramic) that retained a different amount of heat. Also, next time I'd check every ten minutes to prevent them from sticking to the pan. Has anybody else had similar problems?

Edited 20 June 2014: This has become my go-to-recipe for fries. Using a sheet of parchment paper did the trick, even if it means taking care that the oil and water mostly stay above the parchment paper. They're normally done withing 45 min.

For the FIFA 2014 challenge I slightly changed this recipe to make Fish 'n Chips with mashed peas for England - I omitted the thyme and lemon juice, and added a good slug of vinegar right at the end (though it probably would have been better to do so 10 min before the fries were done).

I've never had oven fried potatoes with lemon juice. I'll be having them again though as these were delicious. My son and son in law loved them too. They both love salt and vinegar potato chips and said these reminded them a bit of those.

I'm editing this to include my notes to Zosia.

I was skeptical at first about the water and amount of olive oil. Despite this all was absorbed or evaporated and resulted in mostly crispy potatoes after drizzling with the lemon juice for the final cook time. I loved the crispest ones the best that were closest to the edges of the pan. I did make a mistake and lined my pan with cheep aluminum foil thinking clean up would be easier but for some reason they stuck in places and I lost some of potato goodness. I did remove the foil before the final bake time with the lemon juice.

With a moist interior and crispy exterior, these were quite delicious especially with the added brightness of lemon juice, but I did make adjustments to the recipe.

Like Peckish Sister, I used Yukon Gold potatoes and keeping her comments in mind, used only ½ the water (1/4 cup); I also reduced the oil to 2 tbsp. After 30 minutes, the water was gone, the potatoes were lightly coated in oil (I wonder if I could have gotten away with using even less) and fully cooked, and starting to brown and crisp. They required only an additional 10 minutes after the lemon juice was added before they were ready to serve.

I really liked this method - at that high temperature, it seemed as though the potatoes first steamed in the liquid before starting to brown, avoiding a dry interior. I'll definitely use it again.