For The Secret Recipe Club

“Hasselback Potatoes”

The “Hasselback Potato”, also known as an Accordion Potato, is essentially a Swedish recipe which has travelled over time to various parts of the world. The recipe has its roots in Sweden and is named after Hasselbacken, a Stockholm restaurant which first served the preparation in the 1700s. After becoming a favourite of the people in Stockholm and Sweden, the popularity of the dish spread. The potatoes are a common household preparation and are served in restaurants and eateries around the world. (iFood TV)

Baked potatoes, Jacket Potatoes and Baked Spuds, one of my favourite “to go to” meals, winter or summer and a meal that is a complete meal in itself. I remember coming home from school and asking mum what was for tea, and if she said jacket potatoes, the world seemed a brighter and more comforting place! Mum is a but of a whizz with baked spuds, and yes, you do NEED to follow some basic ground rules; NEVER cook them in the microwave, unless you are a fan of slimy, wet and irregularly cooked spuds, and always cut out any “eyes” before baking them. I DO bake mine in my combination microwave oven with the convection setting, as it’s like a mini oven, which is very energy-efficient when there are just the two of us at home. And, finally, make sure they are thoroughly dried if you wash them first.

Mum’s method is to rub them in oil (or butter) and then sprinkle some sea salt over them before baking; she then bakes them in the oven until the outside is crisp and golden brown, and the inside is a soft and fluffy “mashed potato” kind of texture – her spuds were then served straight from the oven with a big pat of salted butter inside, with grated Cheddar cheese on the side and a bowl of salad – pure culinary magic and still one of my favourite meals. Today’s recipe for Hasselback Potatoes with Bacon and Cheese is another wonderful way of baking spuds and is an adaptation of a recipe I discovered over at Lauren’s amazing site, called “From Gate to Plate”, which was my assigned blog for March’s Secret Recipe Club. Her original recipe is called Parmesan Dill and Bacon Hasselback Potatoes, and I just amended it a bit to suit what I had in my garden and fridge.

For those readers who do not know what the Secret Recipe Club is, it’s a group of food writers and food bloggers who are assigned to another member from their group secretly (hence the name). That person selects a recipe (or more) to make, photograph, and then will write a post sharing their secret partner’s recipe. Everyone in the group posts on the same Monday together and gets to see who had their blog and what recipe(s) they chose. It’s a wonderful way to meet people and discover new recipes, plus you gain new followers too. When I popped over to Lauren’s site, I was very tempted with lots of recipes, especially her Homemade Fried Cheeseballs, Roasted Garlic and Parmesan Hummus,  Fresh Lemon Hand Pies  and her wonderful looking recipe for Deep Dish Skillet Meatball Pizza. Lauren is from Iowa and is a certified chef with a passion for baking and pastry and with dreams of opening her own restaurant and bakery, one day!

She loves Butter, Pinterest, Bacon, Strawberries, Football, Vanilla, Basketball, ,Warm Rains and Rhubarb, as many other things which you can read on her About Me Page. I was drawn to her Hasselback Potatoes recipe as I happened to have some fabulous British baking potatoes in the pantry, as well as bags of fresh parsley in the garden and a big chunk of mature Cheddar cheese in the fridge; Lauren’s original recipe calls for Parmesan and dill, but I had to adapt it to suit the ingredients I had on hand. I mixed some grated Cheddar cheese with cream cheese, cooked bacon and chopped parsley to serve, and the potatoes were crisp and golden on the outside with a fluffy interior, which soaked up all the melted cheese – they were simply divine and made a fabulous supper for the two of us when served with a seasonal side salad.

You can find Lauren’s original recipe here, and she made her recipe to celebrate Bacon Month, which sounds like my kind of month, being a bacon lover! I hope you enjoy my recipe for Hasselback Potatoes with Bacon and Cheese, as shared below, and please do keep popping back to see all my new travel news as well as lots of new recipes. Karen 

Hasselback Potatoes with Bacon and Cheese

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Serves	2
Prep time	10 minutes
Cook time	50 minutes
Total time	1 hour
Meal type	Lunch, Side Dish, Snack
Misc	Child Friendly, Serve Hot
Occasion	Casual Party, Christmas, Halloween, Thanksgiving
Region	Swedish
By author	Karen S Burns-Booth

A delicious way to jazz up the humble baked spud - these Hasselback Potatoes with Bacon and Cheese are easy to prepare and would make a great supper dish for two. (Recipe adapted from "from gate to plate")

Ingredients

• 2 x large potatoes, washed and dried
• a little rapeseed oil
• 6 rashers of smoked streaky bacon (grilled or fried and crumbled)
• 60g grated Cheddar cheese
• 4 tablespoons cream cheese
• 2 tablespoons chopped parsley
• salt and pepper to taste

Note

A delicious way to jazz up the humble baked spud - these Hasselback Potatoes with Bacon and Cheese are easy to prepare and would make a great supper dish for two. (Recipe adapted from "from gate to plate")

Directions

Step 1	Pre-heat oven to 220C.
Step 2	Using a sharp knife make slits in the potatoes about 1/4" thick, making sure to not cut all the way through the potato.
Step 3	Rub the oil over the potatoes, then season with salt and pepper.
Step 4	Place on a baking tray and bake in pre-heated oven for 40-45 minutes or until the skin is crispy and the potato is cooked.
Step 5	Mix the grated Cheddar cheese, cream cheese and parsley together, then add 3/4 of the cooked, crumbled bacon.
Step 6	Remove from oven, and spoon the cheese, bacon and parsley mixture in between the cut slits. Scatter the remaining bacon over the top and return to oven, bake until the cheese has melted which will take about 5 to 10 minutes.
Step 7	Serve immediately with extra grated cheese, chopped parsley and butter. Wonderful when served as a main meal with salad.