Gorgeous & Delicious Hasselback Potatoes!

For a chubby girl who perpetually struggles to keep her weight under check, I do have a hard time staying away from potatoes. I mean, who doesn’t love them? I cook potatoes in some form or the other, atleast 3 times a week. Hubby too worships them and thus, it is safe to say that this is one vegetable that will never be banned from our household.

I made these gorgeous, crispy hasselback potatoes as an accompaniment to my veggie burger dinner a couple of days ago and the combination proved to be a great hit for a relaxed Saturday night meal. Usually, we would just have the fries. Well, I know… potato – potaaahto! I told you we love them.

Now, I always say this when my dish comprises of roasting potatoes in the oven. Be it potato gratin, roasted rosemary baby potatoes or these hasselbacks, all the recipes with tell you to pop them straight into the oven raw. I personally think that it takes too long for raw potatoes to get fully baked in the oven and it’s wasteful to use the oven heat for two hours, only to bake a couple of spuds. So, what works great for me is- blanching them for a few minutes beforehand. Having said that, if you are even a little unsure of trying this, you can go straight to the traditional way. It’s completely your choice!

So, give this recipe a go and enjoy guys!

Ingredients:

– 2 large potatoes, cleaned and unpeeled

– 3 tbsn of butter

– 2-3 cloves of garlic, grated

– Few sprigs of rosemary

– 1 tbsn olive oil

– Salt and Pepper to taste

Method:

– Preheat your oven to 200 degrees C.

– Blanch your potatoes for just 2-3 minutes in salty water and set aside to cool. Skip this step if you are wary of this uncommon method and want to toss your potatoes straight into the oven raw. 

– Once cooled, using a sharp knife, carefully make vertical slices throughout your potatoes, making sure not to go all the way through. If you want, you can keep your potato between the handles of two wooden spoons for this step, which will ensure that the knife doesn’t accidentally go till the bottom of the spud while cutting it.

– Rub each potato with olive oil, salt and pepper and place them on your baking tray lined with greased aluminium foil. Bake in oven for 15 minutes.

– Make your basting sauce. In a sauce-pan, melt your butter. Keep the heat on low and add rosemary and garlic to the butter. Simmer for a minute and switch off the gas. Let the rosemary stay in the sauce to infuse it further with its flavor.

– Take your potatoes out of the oven and with a knife, gently separate the slices a bit from each other.

-Taking an oil brush, baste the potatoes, making sure you get the flavorful butter between each slice. Pop them back in the oven to roast further.

– Roast the potatoes until they are fully cooked and crispy, making sure to baste them with more infused butter every 10 minutes. It took my potatoes 30 more minutes after the initial 20, to get that beautiful crispy, brown exterior.

– Place little bits of cheddar or mozzarella cheese in between the slices and keep them in warm oven till the cheese melts. You can play with all sort of toppings with these delicious potatoes. Enjoy as an accompaniment to your meal or just as a snack!

Notes*-

– You can substitute potatoes with sweet potatoes in this dish, but taste and the cooking time may vary.

– If your slices start falling apart from one point as they cook, you can insert a tooth-pick through all the slices at the bottom of the potato, to keep all the layers together. I did!