Hasselback potatoes are a type of recipe that I save away and think, ‘Yeah, someday those will be good.’ Then someday comes and goes and the recipe sits on my shelf for three years without ever being tried. Well, in search of a very cheap and convenient recipe I finally decided on Hasselback potatoes. Unfortunately, I think I should have kept this recipe on the shelf.
Preparation: H
I knew from the start that these potatoes were going to take a little longer than regular mashed, fried or baked potatoes but I was willing to try them because I had seen a lot of good things about them on various foodie websites. The recipe recommended parboiling the potatoes for a few minutes prior to baking to shorten baking time; potatoes take a while to cook. After parboiling the potatoes, cutting them was really hard. The wet but simultaneously hard potatoes kept slipping under the knife and they were hot, so they were really hard to hold. Parboiling the potatoes also caused a lot of the skin to rub off which is not good because the potato skin is what gets super crispy. After you get them cut and put in the oven, they still take about an hour to get soft enough to be appetizing.
Taste: HH
No matter what fancy things you do to potatoes they still taste very much the same. I knew that from the start, but for being such a pain to make I had hoped for an interesting texture, a surprising crunchiness or something to make the preparation time well spent. But nothing about this recipe stood out as anything but ordinary.
Leftover potential: [three out of five] Potatoes are pretty durable in texture and flavor if eaten a few days after cooking, so they would keep well in the fridge. Reheating these potatoes won’t really take away from the taste, they’ll just be softer.
Leftover potential: HHH
Potatoes are pretty durable in texture and flavor if eaten a few days after cooking, so they would keep well in the fridge. Reheating these potatoes won’t really take away from the taste, they’ll just be softer.
Brush a baking pan with olive oil and rub with garlic. Set aside.
For the garlic-flavored butter: Finely mince the garlic. Place the garlic, the no-salt seasoning, 1 teaspoon of table salt and white pepper in a mortar and pestle. Blend the garlic into a thick paste and mix with the creamy, softened butter.
Par-boiling the potatoes: Wash the potatoes (no need to peel). Place them in a large pot. Fill it with cold water until the potatoes are barely covered. It’s important to start with cold water so the potatoes cook evenly. Bring to a boil, add 1 teaspoon of salt and reduce the heat to medium-high (if you cook the potatoes at a roaring boil, they might fall apart). Cook for about 5-6 minutes. The potatoes should still be firm. Drain the potatoes thoroughly and let them cool a little. Cut the potatoes in half if some are bigger than the others. Once the potatoes are cool enough to handle, cut a thin slice on one side to create a base, so the potatoes remain stable while roasting in the oven.
Preheat oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit.
Prepping the potatoes: Let the potato stand on its base and cut it into about 1/8-inch thick slices, making sure you don’t cut all the way through the base so all the thin slices remain attached. Create the thin packed layer of potatoes, opening them like a fan.
Get the rest of the recipe and ingredients from phamfatale.com.
Lauren Gocken is a senior in secondary education. Please send comments to edge@kstatecollegian.com.