mini garlic & parmesan hasselback potatoes

Name: mini garlic & parmesan hasselback potatoes
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 40 min
Total time: 55 min
Ingredients: 20 ‘new’ or small potatoes (welled washed/scrubbed & dried); 4 or 5 cloves garlic (crushed); 3 to 4 tablespoons olive oil; a large knob of butter (about 30 grams); salt & black pepper; 1 ounce parmesan cheese (grated); fresh herbs to garnish - basil (chives, oregano etc. (optional))

28 May 15

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If you love crispy, tasty potatoes (that aren’t fried), you’re in luck. You’ve got to try these mini garlic and parmesan hasselback potatoes – little roasted potatoes all prettied up and smothered in garlicky, cheesy heaven!

I’ve met a few people who aren’t that keen on potatoes, but I really can’t imagine anyone not loving these mini garlic and parmesan hasselback potatoes!

What kind of potatoes do you need to make hasselback potatoes?

Here in the UK there’s a cute little potato called the Jersey Royal. They’re grown in an especially rich soil on the island of Jersey in the British Channel Islands (close to France!) and so end up sort of melt-in-your-mouth creamy and almost buttery in texture.

I know, they sound delicious, don’t they? And this is NOT even a sponsored post for Jersey Royal farmers (apparently there are only about 20 of them!) … although I think it should be!

What I’m definitely NOT saying is that you need Jersey Royals to make these garlic & parmesan hasselback potatoes. Oh no no. Any small potatoes work.

But any of the multitude of types of small ‘new’ waxy potatoes that you don’t have to remove the skins from before cooking are PERFECT for making these mini garlic and parmesan hasselback potatoes.

They end up:

crispy
creamy
buttery
garlicky
cheesy
good looking (!)

In other words, heaven on a plate.

Don’t you agree these hasselback potatoes are pretty good looking?

How do you make hasselback potatoes?

These certainly aren’t culinary rocket science, and I bet you can pretty much guess how they are made.

All you have to do to make them is make deep cuts all the way across each potato at about 3 or 4 mm intervals. Go quite deep, but of course take care not to cut all the way through the potato and cut it in half, although believe me you probably will do that to one or two in your excitement to get the potatoes cooked and in your mouth as fast as possible!

How long do you bake hasselback potatoes for?

You need to put aside a good 10 minutes or so to prepare all the potatoes, but then all you have to do is baste them and throw them in the oven for 40 to 45 mins. Not literally like I did the first time I made them, though. I slid them into the oven a bit too enthusiastically and they toppled all over the oven.

Oops!

Of course you can make hasselback potatoes in the traditional way with bigger potatoes, but if you do make sure you increase the cooking time to about an hour and 10 minutes.

Look how they ‘fan out’ in the oven … perfect for stuffing cheese into!

How to make hasselback potatoes crispy and delicious!

The key to getting these super tasty and crispy is to baste once at the beginning with your oil/butter and flavours and then baste them again half way through cooking. The potatoes sort of fan out as they cook, so the second ‘basting’ gets right inside and helps them crisp up even better.

I chose to baste my potatoes with garlic and parmesan and leave it at that, but these options would be great, too:

– paprika & thyme
– plain salt & pepper, but with a splodge of sour cream or Greek yoghurt, cheese & chives on the top at the end
– cumin, a pinch of cayenne pepper (just a pinch!) & fresh coriander at the end (maybe with a splodge of lime-infused Greek yoghurt to serve, too …mmmm!)
– rosemary & black pepper

I’m sure you can think of other ideas to try.

How do you serve hasselback potatoes?

I’m pretty sure these mini garlic and parmesan hasselback potatoes would be very popular if they were handed around as appetizers at a party.

We usually eat them as a side dish with a salad and quiche, but they’d be great with a steak or grilled chicken… or even just on their own with a few dollops of sour cream on top!