Hasselback potatoes – are they worth the hassel?

What a lovely Saturday we had with husband. We went out on Friday night first time in months, and slept late on Saturday morning as a consequence. I know you people with kids will hate me for this, but I’m talking early afternoon. It was perfect. 

I then made us a tomato and parmesan omelette and toasted some bagels. We left to book my car an MOT and tyre change and onwards to Portobello road market. We argued most of the way because I was driving. Husband tends to give me lots of advice and I am not the quietly absorbent kind of fertile ground for his non-stop commentary. He is a very good driver and I am not particularly, but what is the harm in not changing the gear all the freaking time or parking nose first. And the mirrors, all the time he's going on about the bloody mirrors. I do check them and not only when applying lipstick.

I love the craziness of the Portobello market, particularly the northern part where the music is playing, you see all kinds of people and smell the occasional spliff. I used to live in the area when we first started dating so it brought back old memories. I remembered the time we went to walk around the Notting Hill Carnival and he bought me one of those cut open coconuts to drink.

This time no coconuts, but I found some heirloom tomatoes, which I always love because they look so pretty. And I bought some colourful bowls which I will give as presents to family we will be visiting during our holiday in Finland later this summer.

We had a little coffee break in the Daylesford organic food shop and café on Westbourne Grove and I bought a couple of jars of organic English mustard which will also make nice gifts as we visit people on our holidays in Finland. Finns love their sausages grilled, cooked on an open fire or on the sauna stove and a nice mustard will always go well with a sausage.

When we got home the skies opened and I thought I might need to change my dinner plan, but it didn’t rain for long. I lit the barbecue to grill some salmon and prawns. I also roasted some asparagus and hasseback potatoes.

I have wanted to try these for a long time. I love potatoes in almost all shapes and forms. The only way I actually don’t love potatoes is deep fried chips. I don’t like anything deep fried really. Oven fried home-made chips of course are a completely different kettle of chips. 

These ridgeback potatoes look a lot of fun, there is a promise of crispy outside and soft and lovely inside. I made a dill butter I brushed them with to keep in tune with my midsummer seafood grill theme. They were lovely and not a lot of hassle actually, so I will be making them again.

Hasselback new potatoes with dill recipe

8 medium sized new potatoes

Olive oil

40g butter

2 tbsp fresh dill

Salt

Black pepper

Heat oven to 200C. Cut the potatoes in about 3mm slices leaving them intact in the bottom – I used a serving spoon to stop me cutting through. Put the potatoes on a baking dish or tray and brush them on all sides with olive oil. Season with salt and pepper. Bake them for about half an hour until the slices start to separate and fan out a little. Now is a good opportunity to brush them again with oil, or in my case the dill butter trying to get the butter in the inside of the folds as well. 

You can add any herb or even garlic if you like in the oil or butter. I also added a sprinkle of salt, as I had seasoned them very lightly in the beginning. Bake for another 20-30 minutes (depends on the type and size of the potatoes, if you are using larger potatoes you may need an extra 10-15 minutes). 

You can also make the process quicker by parboiling the potatoes which I did before cutting them, which makes the whole cutting process a lot more fun.