Moss Style Potatoes - My First Dish

Well it was time to try my first recipe in my new Dutch oven. I decided that I should probably try something that I liked and new how to cook very well indoors. Moss Style Potatoes was the answer. Basically, they are a form of Greek Style Potatoes but with no lemon. So I was set. I washed my pot with nothing but water, lit some charcoal, and started preparing the recipe.

I have included the ingredients that I used below. The brand names are my personal preference, but I'm sure others would work just as well. Also, I have not included measurements. Frankly, it just depends on how may potatoes you have and your preferences. In the instructions below I will make some basic recommendations.

• 7-14 potatoes, peeled and cut into bite size chunks
• Jane’s Crazy mixed-up salt
• Jane’s Crazy mixed-up pepper
• Cavender’s Greek seasoning powder
• Olive oil
• Thyme – I used the dried kind from a jar
• Garlic – Either freshly minced or pressed or the pre-minced kind in a jar
• Fresh Leek

When I cook this in the house I normally use only 5 potatoes, but I tried 7 in the Dutch oven. I believe that in this size oven you could easily double that with no trouble.

1. Peel your potatoes. Rinse and dry them and then cut into large bite size pieces. Put them in a large bowl.
2. Using one hand to continuously churn the potatoes, begin adding ingredients to the bowl with the other hand.
3. First drizzle in enough olive oil to thoroughly coat the potatoes.
4. Add garlic. For 7 potatoes I would use a whole bulb/head of garlic or about 3 tablespoons of minced garlic. Adjust from there based on how many potatoes you are cooking.
5. Put in the Thyme. I just sort of crush the little pieces in my hand and sprinkle in enough so there is a little bit on all of the potatoes. Maybe a teaspoons worth.
6. Add a ridiculous amount of the Greek seasoning. You will think you are putting in too much…you are not.
7. Also add quite a bit of salt. Either Jane’s or as I was out of it at this time I used regular Morton’s sea salt.
8. I put in some pepper to taste, Jane’s is pretty good. I usually don’t use much.
9. Often I add some chopped up Leek, but I didn’t have any this time, so I didn’t.
10. Mix it all together good and you are ready to cook.
    

I put my oven on top of about 10 smallish briquettes and let it preheat for a few moments. Then I dumped in the potatoes and spread them out evenly. I put the lid on and added 18 small briquettes to the top.

I rotated the pot and lid a quarter turn every fifteen minutes to try and ensure even heating.




I first opened the oven to stir the potatoes after about 35 minutes. They were already getting pretty soft, much quicker than in the oven at home. Maybe because the steam is kept inside the Dutch oven so well.




Then I opened to stir the potatoes again after about 50 minutes of cook time. They were actually done at this point, but I let them cook a full hour before removing, just because that is how long I normally cook them.





At an hour I decided to take them off.


THEY WERE VERY GOOD.



Next time I cook them I think I will make sure to get some leek. Also, I do like to take a slice off of the end of a lemon and squeeze it hard to spray the potatoes on my plate with a little lemon juice even though I do not cook it into the meal.

I was also impressed with how the food did not stick to the pot. Excellent! Cleanup was also not too bad. I was able to heat some water in the pot and lightly scrub it with a nylon pad and it looked like new. I coated it with oil and put it away. I can’t wait to fire it up again.


As an experiment, I also cut up a few potatoes and coated them with olive oil and threw them in the refrigerator to see if the oil would keep them from turning brown. It seems to work pretty well for up to about 24 hours. Then they start to have a little bit of discoloration. So, it may be possible with this recipe, to prepare it at home, throw it in a cooler and prepare it at camp the first night with no trouble.