Photo from Wander-crush.com
Looking for something new to add to the dinner party or just a festive, but easy new way to serve potatoes, or sweet potatoes? Look no further – this recipe transforms your everyday potato into something magical with minimal prep. These have become a favorite of many over the past few years. Some call them crispy Swedish Potatoes, but most often that are called Hasselback potatoes after the Stockholm restaurant that started serving them in the 40’s. It works great with sweet potatoes too. Go basic or play with the herbs and spices you use.
Ingredients
- 1 fist-sized sized potato per person or go larger and just give it more baking time (baking or sweet potato)
- Cooking fat (lard works great, but could be schmaltz, roast pork fat, butter or olive oil), roughly 1 Tbsp per potato (you will probably not use all of it)
- Garlic cloves, sliced
- Salt (infused or smoked salts dress the recipe up nicely)
- Herbs of your choice, rosemary, thyme…or you could go spicy
Instructions
1. Heat the oven to 425. Melt the fat if needed.
2. Slice the potatoes by putting them on a cutting board with another cutting board or wooden spoon snug up against the potato to help catch the knife and keep you from cutting all the way through the potato. Make cuts close together across the potato, as if you were cutting discs for chips, but do not cut all the way through (the spoon or cutting board should make this easier).
3. You will need a baking dish with sides (a cookie sheet with low sides works fine) that will fit all the potatoes with some room between them, they won’t get crispy if they’re too crowded. Coat the bottom of the dish and brush the tops of the potatoes with fat and stuff some garlic slices in between the potato slices.
4. Every ten or fifteen minutes brush or baste the potatoes with fat again. The last time you baste them, sprinkle them with salt. You can also add pepper or other herbs and spices. Bake the potatoes until they are easily pierced with a knife and are golden to crispy on the edges, usually 40-60 minutes.
5. Serve alone for a festival-food snack or as a side.
Donna’s hasselback potatoes, tatsoi and pork chops with black currant gastrique