Hasselback Potatoes with Chive Sour Cream

I wanted something new to do with potatoes--I love mashed, fried, boiled, roasted, baked, grilled, and shredded potatoes as much as the next person, but some days you just want something a little different.

I had these cute little potatoes ready to be turned into something new, and I settled on hasselback potatoes.

Hasselback potatoes are whole potatoes that have cuts going the entire length of the potato. You need to be careful not to cut through the whole potato, though--by keeping the potato whole, you'll have a nice series of slices but still an entire tater.

Cutting is really the most difficult part of this. You need to get a "feel" of how far is too far to cut. I cut until I start feeling resistance from the potato--then I stop. If you go any farther, you'll likely cut through the whole potato.

Here's what the potato should look like when you're done. I made cuts probably about every 1/4 inch.

If you do accidentally cut all the way through, just smush the two cut ends back together and pretend it never happened.

Now, you've gone to all the effort to make those nice slits--might as well stuff them with seasoning! Grab yourself a garlic clove.

Smallish potatoes, huge garlic clove. These cloves are seriously getting ridiculous.

Slice the garlic into very thin slivers.

Stuff a sliver of garlic into the potato; I put a piece of garlic in every few potato cuts.

Hm. Time for a manicure. Or something.

Here's what a finished potato looks like.

You want to get the garlic in as far as you can, but don't manhandle the potato, or you may end up snapping that little bit of uncut potato that's holding everything together.

Drizzle some olive oil over the top of each potato.

Then give the potatoes a good salting and peppering.

Then each potato gets a pat of butter. The butter will melt into the potato cracks while baking, making each slice a little golden brown.

Pop 'em in a 425F oven for about 35-45 minutes (depending on the size of the potatoes.)

With all those delicious ridges, how could I not make a topper to go with these potatoes? I have a ton of chives growing right now, so I threw some in a bowl with some sour cream.

Mr. Kim Chee put some of this bacon salt in my Christmas stocking last year. I hadn't thought of anything to use it on until now.

It basically smelled...like Bac-os and salt. If you've got fake-o Bac-o, I don't see the harm in adding some.

Yes. I eat fake bacon. Sometimes.

So in went the bacon salt, and some pepper.















Stir the sour cream mixture together, and slap a big dollop onto your potato of choice.

These potatoes are great. They're like baked potatoes, only crisper. They're like sliced fried potatoes, but creamier. The cutting was a bit of trouble, but apart from that, they're easy and require very little attention. Your kids will love them because they won't need any help cutting their own dinner. And your guests will be impressed with the effort!

Recipe: Hasselback Potatoes

potatoes
garlic cloves, sliced very thinly
olive oil
butter
salt and pepper

Make cuts every 1/4-inch down each potato, being careful not to cut all the way through.

Tuck garlic slices in every third cut in the potatoes.

Drizzle potatoes with olive oil. Salt and pepper, to taste. Top each potato with a pat of butter. Bake at 425 for 35-45 minutes, until done. Top with Chive Sour Cream (recipe below.)


Recipe: Chive Sour Cream
1/2 c. sour cream
1 tbsp. fresh chives
salt and pepper (bacon salt if you've got it!)


In a small bowl, combine all ingredients.  Mix well.