Hasselback Potatoes

Have you heard of Hasselback potatoes?  I hadn't before I came across a recipe on the internet.  I'm always looking for new ways to cook potatoes, so I was intrigued.  The special feature of Hasselback potatoes is that you cut thin slits into the potato width-wise, being careful not to cut entirely through the potato so that the thin pieces stay attached to one another.  During baking, the thin potato pieces fan out and you end up with a fancy baked potato that looks like you spent a lot more time on it than you really did.  Even better than the looks is the taste, which I think is a big improvement over a regular baked potato.  The skin turns out nice and crispy, and the thin pieces of potato are perfectly bite-size.

As you can see from the picture, I like to pour honey mustard sauce over mine.  (I'll post the recipe for that next.)  To make the potatoes even tastier, you can put small pieces of bacon or Cheddar cheese in the slits.  Writing about Hasselback potatoes makes me want to bake some again, but not until the current heat wave passes and it's cool enough for me to want to turn on my oven.  If you have central air conditioning, you can make some immediately or anytime you want.
    
Hasselback Potatoes

Ingredients:

• 1 medium (about 8 oz.) Russet potato per person (plus 1 extra just in case one of the potatoes doesn't turn out).  The potatoes need to be Russet; I've tried Yukon Gold and white potatoes, and they don't turn out as well.
• 1 tsp. of olive oil per potato
• sea salt and pepper
• 1 to 1 1/2 slices of bacon per potato.  A few brands of bacon that do not contain corn products are Applegate Naturals Sunday Bacon, Classic Sliced Dry Rubbed All Natural Uncured Bacon, and Hormel Natural Choice 100% Natural Original Uncured Bacon.
• OR slices of sharp Cheddar cheese 

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Add enough water to a large pot so that the potatoes will be fully immersed when they cook in it.  Place the pot over high heat to bring the water to a boil.  (Do not salt the water.  I discovered that if you do, your potato skins will not turn out crispy.) While the water is heating, rinse the potatoes and make slits in them width-wise that are about 1/8-inch apart but not all the way through the potato.  If you aren't great at precision cutting, you can do what I do, which is to place the handle of a wooden spoon on either side of the potato, so that the handles stop you from cutting all the way through the potato.  (See this site for a picture and further instructions.)

Once you have make slits in the potatoes and the water has come to a boil, place the potatoes in the water and boil them for 5 minutes. (Some recipes don't include this step, but I've found that the potatoes take less time in the oven and the potato skin turns out better if you parboil the potatoes first.) Remove the potatoes from the pot to a plate to drain the water a bit. Then place the potatoes, cut side up, in a Pyrex pan.

If desired, cut small pieces of bacon or Cheddar cheese to place in the slits.  The potatoes taste great without the bacon or cheese, but if you happen to have bacon or cheese on hand, I highly recommend adding them.  Since the girls and I have to avoid dairy products, I either make the potatoes plain or with bacon.  If using bacon, cut the pieces of bacon in half length-wise first; then cut the bacon into pieces width-wise to fit the width of the potato.

Once you've placed the bacon or cheese pieces in the potato slits, drizzle each potato with about 1 tsp. Of olive oil. Sprinkle them with salt and pepper. Bake for 1 hour or until the potato flesh is tender.  (They might need about 5 more minutes.)  Serve with ketchup, honey mustard sauce, sour cream, or whatever sauce your heart desires.