I have only made hasselbacks once before now, a few years ago, and it was a disaster. They took forever to prepare and while painstakingly slicing the the potatoes I cut through most of them. Plus someone had told me that the best way to prepare them was to put a sliver of cold butter between each slice (lies! lies!), making it the most time consuming (and frustrating) food prep ever.

Well, clearly I didn’t do enough research because I have since come across several recipes that mention THE SPOON and also that any ol’ kind of fat is fine, so I have opted for a 50/50 blend of melted butter and extra virgen olive oil. One thing I’ll do differently next time (and so should you) is only use half the fat at first and spoon over the rest after about half an hour in the oven, so avoid the butter getting too browned. They still turned out great but I was basting with the very browned fat at “half time” and think it’s better to add it fresh at that point. Also, best to use potatoes that are close to the same size. I was working with what was left of my “lockdown potatoes” .

I am SO going to make these again (and soon) because they keep well in the fridge for a few days (bring them back to room temp and then quickly reheat in the oven). You can also add different toppings, like cheese, garlicky bacon bits, whatever. I mean, they’re potatoes. Everything is great with them. Someone on Twitter told me that they call these “armadillos”, which I think is an even better name for them.

Ingredients and instructions below

• 6 medium potatoes (scrubbed with skin on)
• 60 ml (1/4 cup) melted butter
• 60 ml (1/4 cup) extra virgen olive oil
• sea salt
• freshly ground black pepper
• maldon salt (optional, for finishing)
• zest of one lemon (optional, but if used, pared and sliced rather than grated)

Heat oven to 200C (180C fan).

Place a potato on a large serving spoon and cut across at 3mm (1/4 inch) intervals. The spoon helps from slicing all the way through (there should be a 3mm “base” of solid potato at the bottom to hold the slices together). Do the same with the rest of the potatoes. Gently fan them open a bit, being careful not to break the base. Place them in a roasting pan.

Mix the melted butter and olive oil together. Spoon half the mixture over the potatoes, making sure it gets into all the slices, turning once or twice so the potatoes are well coated. Season with sea salt and freshly ground black pepper. If using lemon peel, slip a few pieces into each potato.

Place in the pre-heated oven for half an hour. By this time the potatoes will have fanned out more. Remove them and spoon the other half of the melted butter and olive oil over the potatoes and return to the oven for another 30-40 minutes. Test with a sharp knife – they are done when it slides in smoothly. Finish with more black pepper and maldon salt.

this is ALL the butter and olive oil – better to just use half to start with

half-way done

served here with grilled secreto Ibérico, garlicky portobellos, peas and salsa az