Hasselback potatoes

 

I'm a slap dash cook and not really into making fiddly things. Despite all the yummy-looking recipes, I've never bothered with hasselback potatoes. However, the sou chef knife engineer gets pretty excited when I set him to work slicing, and the more precise the better. 

He cut these big russet potatoes cut into 1/8 inch slices in no time. The trick is not cutting all the way through, so the thing holds together. I guess the idea is to make a homely potato look pretty. 

Just butter and salt to start, then after about 45 minutes in the oven, add some cheese (or whatever) on top. Then bake. And bake. 

And bake some more...

Looks pretty good, but after 2 long hours in the oven they were still hard and rubbery. A flop. I honestly don't know what the big deal is on these. Give me a fluffy plain baked potato anytime. Or better yet, a tray of creamy, cheesy, scalloped spuds.

Switching gears. Today is St. Nicholas Day. For a scary Santa trip down memory lane, click here for a post written way back in December 2011. How did I come up with that weird stuff? :-)