Hasselback Potatoes

Fancy looking potatoes, aren’t they? You’d never think how incredibly easy they are to make.

When I was leafing through Falling Cloudberries, I couldn’t help sticking a note against the recipe for Hasselback potatoes once I read the note from the author that said “Hasselback Potatoes are gorgeous: they have style and show up with beautiful crust and structure.” And from experience, you and I can both vouch for our love for all things potato, and all things crispy on the outside and comfortingly tender on the inside.

Its potatoes! Its oven roasted! And just as a bonus, you get to top it with hand pounded pesto! Okay, so my food processor bailed on me just when I wanted make the sauce, but just like all other things that result from accidents or improvisations, I’m really happy to have discovered the goodness of making chunky pesto sauce in my mortar and pestle. Try it, you will be surprised.

Next time, I’m going to sprinkle on some bread crumbs and parmesan cheese before I put them into the oven. Oh it’s going to be lovely. I can already imagine it.

In case you’re wondering about the name, it takes its name from Hasselbacken, the Stockholm restaurant where it was first served, or so goes the internet legend.

Hasselback Potatoes
Adapted slightly from Falling Cloudberries (USA | UK | India)

6-7 large potatoes
4 tbsp butter, cut into tiny cubes
2 tbsp olive oil
3-4 cloves of garlic, thinly sliced
salt

Pesto Sauce Recipe (I added ingredients to the mortar in the same order)

1. Preheat the oven to 225C/440F
2. Scrub the potatoes clean, we’re going to be leaving the skin on. Oh yes, crispy, golden skin at the end of 40 minutes.
3. Boil them in salted water for 10-15 minutes. This will make sure the potatoes are absolutely clean as well as reduce the cooking time in the oven. If you’d like, you can skip this step, and cook the potatoes in the oven for 1 hour.
4. Now, slice a thin layer off the base of the potato so that it won’t roll while you are slicing through.
5. Cut across the potatoes at a 3mm/0.2inches interval, making sure that you don’t cut all the way through, but leave 1/3rd (about 1 cm) of an inch of potato.
6. Lay the potatoes on a baking sheet.
7. Place the sliced garlic in between the layers of potatoes, and push the cubes of butter in at equal intervals.
8. Give it a good sprinkle of coarse salt and then drizzle the olive oil over it and put it in the oven for 40 minutes, or 60 minutes (if you haven’t parboiled them).
9. While the potatoes are in the oven, baste the top of the potatoes with the olive oil from the pan to make the outside extra crispy.
10. Remove from oven and eat warm spooned with some pesto sauce!