Hasselback potatoes with blue cheese and hazelnuts
Want to put an elaborate Christmas dinner on the table without a care in the world? Jamie Oliver will help you get well on your way with a book full of Christmas recipes. Lots and lots of Christmas recipes. A whole turkey, stuffed pumpkin or a curry for Christmas. Why not? Or these crispy Hasselback potatoes with blue cheese and a crunchy hazelnut topping.
Jamie writes about this recipe in his book: “These little sexy potatoes are enormous fun to make and look fantastic. A lot of people have never heard of them, and the different flavours really penetrate deep inside. Your guests won’t stop talking about them.”
Method
Preheat the oven to 180 °C/gas mark 4. The fun and special thing about this side dish is all the slices you make in the potatoes without cutting all the way through, like an accordion. Not only does it look beautiful, it also ensures that they absorb the flavours optimally and become extra crispy. Preferably use small potatoes and wash them well. Larger ones should be cut in half and placed flat-side down.
The easiest way is to place the potato on a chopping board between the handles of two wooden spoons, so you don’t cut all the way through it while slicing. Make a cut every ½ cm across the entire surface, repeat with the remaining potatoes and place them in a large roasting tray. Strip half of the thyme leaves into a mortar, add the turkey fat or oil and bruise them. Spoon the mixture over the potatoes, making sure the fat gets well into the cuts, and season with sea salt and black pepper. Bake for 1 hour, or until golden brown and cooked through.
Meanwhile, tear the bread into pieces in an oven dish, add the hazelnuts and roast them in the oven for 10 minutes. Remove them, leave to cool and tip them into a food processor. Strip in most of the remaining thyme leaves, add a pinch of sea salt and black pepper and half of the cheese, and blitz to coarse crumbs.
After an hour, sprinkle the crumbs over the potatoes and crumble a little of the remaining blue cheese over each one. Toss the remaining thyme sprigs with a little oil and scatter them over the top nonchalantly. Return the potatoes to the oven for another 10 minutes, or until the cheese has melted, and serve them at the table.
Get ahead
You can prepare the potatoes up to the point where you bake them and finish them with the toppings. On the day itself, you only need to finish baking them and serve them piping hot and crispy.
Image: © Jamie Oliver Enterprises Limited, 2016
Jamie Oliver’s Christmas Cookbook
Jamie Oliver
€29,99
Fontaine
