Salt & Vinegar Hasselback Roast Potatoes

Salt & Vinegar Hasselback Potatoes. A lifelong roast potato obsession which has resulted in crispy crunchy ridges + a fluffy potato interior + sharp vinegar notes to cut through all the buttery rich crunch. Roasting potatoes was an obsession that started when I first watched Jamie Oliver and saw his technique on how to make the ‘Perfect Roast Potato’. Boiling the potatoes first and chuffing up the outside; genius. Absolute genius. Add plenty of rosemary and garlic and you’ve got heaven on a plate.

Hasselbacking the potatoes (i.e. cutting thin lines into the potatoes half way through) was something I discovered about 15 years ago when I was thumbing through some old 80s cooking magazines. I thought they looked divine and my whole family enjoyed them too.

The concept of salt and vinegar potatoes never crossed my mind until I saw it appear on the lovely Heidi Sze’s Instagram account. She’s also a dietitian and has the most beautiful blog called Apples Under My Bed. Her version can be found here where she develops a stronger vinegar flavour to her potatoes by cooking them in vinegar alone. I still wanted the flavours from the roasted onion oil and thyme to shine through so I added water to my boiling liquid. I also thought adding the hasselback ridges to the potatoes would make them seem more like my favourite salt and vinegar potato chip so I could cloak these under the guise of a ‘healthy potato chip’? Either way, they’re absolutely delicious and terribly addictive. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.

Ingredients:

1.5kg potatoes, peeled

¼ tsp salt

2 cups white vinegar

2 cups water

50g butter

¼ cup roasted onion flavoured olive oil

5 sprigs of thyme, leaves removed

1-2 tsp stock powder (you can use salt if you wish, just use a bit less)

Pepper to taste

Method:

1. Slice the potatoes into even sized rounds about 1-2cm thick. Try to keep the width similar to prevent any burning whilst they are baking.
2. Place the potatoes in a pot and add the ¼ tsp salt, vinegar and water. Let the potatoes sit in the vinegared water for 1 hour. After an hour, place the pot on the stove and cook the potatoes in the vinegared water for 10-12 minutes until the potatoes have just started to soften and are cooked.
3. Once the potatoes are cooked, drain the water and allow the potatoes to cool slightly until they’re able to be handled and hasselbacked.
4. Preheat the oven to 200◦C while you prepare the potatoes.
5. To hasselback the potatoes, place the potato with the flat side down on a board and make even cuts along the potato. I like to make about 10-15 cuts per potato. Ensure each cut goes at least halfway through the potato so you get lots of crispy edged exposure. However, don’t cut all the way through as you want the slices to all stay together on the potato.
6. Place the butter and roasted onion olive oil on a large baking tray and place in the oven until the butter has melted. Rub the hasselbacked side of the potato into the oil so the oil gets into all the cuts. Flip over so that cuts are facing up and each potato is touching the tray but with enough space in between so they are not sitting on top of each other. Sprinkle over the stock powder, thyme and pepper.
7. Cook for 25-30 minutes. After this time, the bottoms should be golden, if not cook further until golden brown. Flip and cook for a further 30-55 minutes so that all sides are golden brown. (You may need to cook longer or shorter depending on your oven, but continue to cook until the potatoes are golden brown.)
8. Enjoy!