Hasselback Potatoes

Today’s recipe is one of the simplest and most versitile you’ll find. Hasselback potatoes have a beautiful presentation and will be the talk of any dinner party, yet take mere minutes to prepare. We first noticed this recipe on Orangette, and if you haven’t yet visited Molly’s blog, I urge you to do so. She is an amazing writer and you can feel her love of food in every post.

I prefer to get my potatoes from Olsen’s. Located at the majority of Seattle’s farmers markets, Olsen’s sells a wide variety of gourmet potatoes. I will often pick up a mixed bag of red, white, and purple or blue potatoes and make roasted potatoes on the grill, or use only blue potatoes for a dramatic side dish of mashed potatoes.

For this dish, however, all you’ll need are a couple of decent sized potatoes. Any type will work. I love Yukon Gold’s in this recipe, but Russets work just as well.

Hasselback Potatoes

Serves 4

• 4 large potatoes (any type)
• Any of the following ingredients or combination of ingredients:
  • Garlic
  • Butter
  • Rosemary sprigs
  • Hot peppers
  • Bacon
• Olive oil
• Sea salt

1. Scrub your potatoes and grab a wooden spoon and a sharp knife.
2. Place a potato in the the bowl of a wooden spoon, much like you’d carry it if you were running a "hot potato" race.
3. Make 6-10 slits in the potato. Cut about 3/4 of the way through the potato. If your potato is well proportioned to your spoon, you’ll cut straight down until your knife hits the sides of the spoon, thus not cutting all the way through the potato. Alternatively, thread a metal skewer through the potato about 3/4 of the way down and cut until your knife hits the metal.
4. Slice the garlic cloves, the butter, the hot peppers, or the bacon. Cut the rosemary sprigs into half inch pieces.
5. Carefully insert any of the above ingredients into the slices of the potato.
6. Preheat your oven to 400.
7. Place the potatoes, cut side up, on a baking sheet rubbed with a bit of olive oil.
8. Sprinkle with sea salt and drizzle with more olive oil.
9. Bake for 50 minutes, or until potatoes have reached desired tenderness. The potato will fan out as it bakes, creating a dramatic presentation.

Patricia’s Notes: You can really do just about anything with this recipe. I typically have alternated garlic and butter, or garlic, butter, and rosemary within the potato slices. Just about any flavored ingredient that you can think of that would survive the oven cooking can be used. If it can go on a potato skin, it can go in these potatoes, with the exception of cheese. If you do want to top the potatoes with cheese, bake them for about 40 minutes and then add some grated cheese on top during the last 10 minutes of cooking.