Hasselback Potatoes are one of those wonderfully easy and visually impressive vegetable dishes that most people love. And I have been making them for years, but today I made them with a purpose in mind and that was to try out my new set of knives – ceramic knives. For those of you that are old hands at hasselback potatoes you would know that a sharp knife is tantemount to their success – you need to be able to cut the potatoes in very thin and precise slices in order to get the fanning out effect that will give you a crispy exterior and a soft fleshy inside.
My new knives were sent to me by a lovely lady from Ceramichef who thought that I might like to try them. For those of you that are new to ceramic knives let me just say that they are quite amazing. I think I have chopped, sliced and diced anything I could get my hands on and after a day of wielding them around the kitchen, decided that the Santoku Knife was my favourite. To say they are sharp is an understatement, they are also precise and incredibly lightweight.
And so back to the potatoes – if you are a fan of the traditional roast potato then you will most certainly love this Swedish version – delightfully golden and crispy and quite beautiful in presentation.
Ingredients
9 medium oval-shaped potatoes, about 125 grams/4.4 ounces each, or 18 new potatoes, approximately 60 grams/2.1 ounces each
30 grams/1 ounce butter
4 tablespoons olive oil
Sea salt
For larger potatoes, preheat oven to 210c/425f. For roasting new potatoes, preheat to 200c/400f.
Put each potato in the bowl of a wooden spoon, like you would carry an egg in an egg-spoon race, and cut across at about 3mm/1/8 inch intervals.
Put cut potatoes on the baking pan on the stove with the butter and oil and heat till sizzling.
Turn potatoes well, putting them in upside down (i.e., cut-side down) first, then right side up, and spoon the fat over them.
Sprinkle each potato well with salt and put in oven. Cook large potatoes for about an hour and 10 minutes, testing to see whether the flesh is soft. (Forty minutes for the new potatoes.)
Transfer to warmed plate and serve.
Notes: You can also add garlic to this recipe – finely slice a couple of cloves of garlic and place a slice in between each slice of potato prior to baking.
Source: Adapted from Nigella Lawson
© 2011, Michelle. All rights reserved.
These look terrific. I have always wanted to try them. How do you keep from cutting straight through?
Hi Andrea, and thank you for your comment – I completely forgot to explain in my post but will make the changes. If you place the potato on a wooden spoon, the edges of fthe spoon will stop you from cutting through as they provide a small ledge. You can also place chopsticks on either side of the potato which does the same thing. xx
These are absolutely beautiful. I have some fresh chives in my garden. I think it would add to the sculpture of these to have some pieces popping out. Can’t wait to try it. Thanks.