Cheesy Hasselback Potatoes

I’ve seen this style of potatoes floating around for a while on the internet and finally decided to see what all the fuss was about.  Hasselback Potatoes are the Swedish version of baked potatoes. These baked potatoes fans were popularized as the namesake dish of the restaurant at the Hasselbacken Hotel in Stockholm, Sweden.

They are basically a potato that is sliced thinly and baked until the outside edges get nice and crispy, kind of like french fries, and the inside is nice and tender like a baked potato; the best of both worlds!  I left my potatoes unpeeled to keep the vitamins, and they were still good. When I cut them, I find it easier to place a bamboo skewer (much easier than using the bowl of a spoon) across the very bottom of the potato and sliced the knife all the way down until it hit the skewer...it was very easy to slice all the potatoes that way without cutting all the way through. 

These maybe one of my favorite new ways to make baked potatoes. It’s the evil twin of baked potato. A delicious evil twin.  In addition to being pretty amazing just like that, the space in between the slices are perfect for holding things like melted cheese. For my first hasselback potatoes, I adapted the recipe from http://www.sheknows.com and re-modified by me. Slices of warm, buttery potato coated in cheese and smoked beef with every bite…..umm so delish! You can use whatever spice combination you like depending upon your tastes.

You can read in Indonesian here

Ingredients:

• 4 large russet potatoes, scrubbed clean of any dirt (I use 8 medium yellow potatoes
• 8 tablespoons butter, cut into slices (1 stick)
• Olive oil
• 200 gr cheddar cheese, grated (you can use your favorite cheese)
• 4 slices smoked beef, cooked crispy, blotted dry and chopped
• 4 green onions, chopped
• Sour cream, recipe follows
• Salt and ground black pepper
• Garlic powder

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Place a potato on a clean, flat surface horizontally. (If potato rolls and does not want to sit straight, slice a tiny bit of potato off the bottom so it has a flat surface to sit on.)
2. Using a large sharp knife, slice slits into the potato about 1/8 inch apart, being sure not to cut all the way through the bottom of the potato. (Do this with each potato.) 
   
3. Place potatoes slit side up, into a roasting pan with low sides and drizzle the potatoes with olive oil. Top each potato with a good pinch of kosher salt. Place pan in the preheated oven and bake for one hour.
4. After the hour is up and the potatoes are cooked through and crispy looking on top, place butter slices and some cheese into the slits of the potatoes. (There are no rules here, simply stuff as many slits as desired generously with butter and cheese, adding more or less depending on your preference.)
5. Place pan back into the oven and cook an additional 5-10 minutes or until the cheese and butter are melted and bubbly.
6. Remove from the oven and top with sour cream, bacon and green onion. Serve.

Herbed Sour Cream:
1/2 cup sour cream
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh parsley leaves
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
Combine ingredients in a small bowl. Season, to taste, and refrigerate until use.

Bahasa Indonesia

Bahan:

• 4 kentang russet yang besar, cuci bersih dan tiriskan (saya menggunakan 8 kentang kuning ukuran sedang)
• 8 sdm mentega, iris tipis
• Minyak zaitun
• 200 gr keju cheddar, parut 
• 4 lembar smoked beef, iris kotak-kotak kecil, tumis sebentar
• 4 ikat daun bawang, iris halus
• Sour cream
• Garam dan merica hitam
• Bubuk bawang putih

Cara:

1. Panaskan oven 200^o C. Letakkan kentang di atas permukaan datar secara horizontal. 
2. Kerat-kerat kentang setebal 1/8 inch dengan menggunakan pisau tajam. Pastikan keratan tidak terlalu dalam sehingga kentang tidak terputus. Lakukan untuk semua kentang.
3. Letakkan di atas loyang yang telah dilapisi aluminium foil. Olesi kentang dengan minyak zaitun. Taburkan garam, merica hitam, dan bubuk bawang putih di atasnya. Masukkan oven dan panggang selama 1 jam.
4. Setelah satu jam, kentang akan matang dan terlihat renyah di permukaannya. Keluarkan dari oven,  letakkan irisan tipis mentega dan parutan keju di celah-celah masing-masing keratan. Taburkan juga keju parut di atas kentang. (Tak ada batasan di sini, Anda dapat memasukkan sebanyak mungkin keju dan mentega sesuai selera Anda)
5. Masukkan kembali ke dalam oven dan panggang kembali selama 5-10 menit atau sampai mentega dan keju meleleh.
6. Keluarkan dari oven, olesi permukaannya dengan sour cream, daging asap, dan irisan daun bawang. Sajikan selagi panas'hangat.

Herbed Sour Cream:
1/2 cup sour cream
1/2 sdt bubuk bawang putih
1 sdm daun parsley, iris halus
Garam dan merica hitam yg ditumbuk kasar
Campurkan semua bahan, beri bumbu, dinginkan sampai saat digunakan.