Hasselback Potatoes With Garlic Butter And Herbs

Choose potatoes with clean, unblemished skin, wash and peel ( if you do not wish to retain skin, If retaining then pat dry completely so the moisture is all absorbed and keep aside). Hasselback potatoes taste best with skin though.

Preheat the oven to 200 degree Celsius or 420 degree fahrenheit.

Put the peeled potatoes in a pan full of water so the potatoes don’t brown.

You can par boil the potatoes till they are just tender enough for the fork to go in when pricked (optional)

In a bowl melt the butter to room temperature and beat it with a spoon. You can microwave for 2 seconds for it to melt completely. Add the olive oil to it and mix. Mixing these two give a nice flavor to the potatoes.

Finely chop the fresh herbs and garlic. You can slice the garlic fine. If using roasted garlic, roast it in the oven or gas stove and then slice/chop. I love garlic so put a little more than usual, you can cut it down or omit if you wish.

Mix the fresh herbs, a little salt and pepper and chopped / dices garlic in the butter, oil and mix them well to make a smooth garlic and herb infused butter.

( I do the steps 5-7 a few hours before making the Hasselback so that the garlic and herbs release all their flavor in the butter oil mix)

Line an oven proof dish or baking tin with aluminum foil / parchment paper and smear it with some herb infused butter.

To prepare the potatoes, dab the peeled potatoes dry, cut a very thin slice for the base so that the potato doesn’t roll over and rest it in a serving spoon. This will ensure that you don’t cut through the whole potato till the end.

Now slice the potato till the knife hits the edge of the spoon. You can make as thin or thick slices as you wish. Repeat with all the remaining potatoes (I have no knife skills so this is the best way to ensure nice, equal thin cuts)

Smear half of the prepared butter mix all over the potatoes. gently push the butter, garlic, fresh herbs in the crevices with a sharp knife but don’t push to hard. We will add more at half way through the baking.

Arrange the potatoes in the baking dish and sprinkle salt and cracked black pepper generously. Using freshly cracked pepper gives this dish a unique rich spicy flavor which is not achieved by the powdered pepper. If you have used salted but

Put the baking dish in the oven and bake the potatoes for at least 20 minutes. You can grill them too.

Take out the baking dish and baste the potatoes with more of the butter or just olive oil. Make sure it goes well into the layers as it will help the layers to spread open.

At this point the slices will begin to fan out in an arch so do insert the extras like ham, bacon, cheese or whatever you choose carefully between the layers. Take the help of the knife to carefully nudge the layers open a bit for stuffing.

Bake for another 30-40 minutes or till the outside it crispy brown and the flesh is tender soft. Pierce the potato between the layers to check if the potato is done. Your baking time may vary with the size of potatoes.

Serve it immediately with a dip of your choice. I use sour cream or hung curd dip