The soft cheese, spicy salsa and smoky chorizo make for a superb flavour combination.
Recipe and styling by Illanique van Aswegen
Photograph by Adel Ferreira
Loaded hasselback potatoes with buche, tomato salsa and chorizo crumbs
Ingredients
HASSELBACK POTATOES
- 6 (about 1,1kg) medium potatoes
- 115g salted butter, melted
- 5ml (1 tsp) garlic, finely chopped
- 2,5ml (½ tsp) paprika
- sea salt flakes, to sprinkle
- 240g Pépé Charlot Buche (or chevin goat’s-milk cheese)
TOPPINGS
- 180g baby tomatoes, halved
- ½ (about 55g) red onion, peeled and finely chopped
- 15ml (1 tbsp) sweet chilli sauce
- 15ml (1 tbsp) chives, finely chopped
- 5ml (1 tsp) lemon juice
- salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
- 200g chorizo, diced
- 60ml (¼ cup) sour cream, to serve
- handful fresh coriander leaves, to garnish
Instructions
For the hasselback potatoes, preheat the oven to 220°C. Line a baking dish or tray with baking paper.
Cut slits into the potatoes, 0,5cm apart, ensuring you don’t cut all the way through the bases (see ‘Cook’s tips’ for a trick), as you want them to keep their shape. Combine the melted butter, garlic and paprika. Brush half of the mixture all over the potatoes, making sure you get some in between the slits. Place the potatoes on the lined baking tray and bake in the oven, 45 minutes. Turn the oven down to 180°C. Brush the remaining butter over the potatoes and sprinkle a little sea salt over each one. Bake for a further 30 minutes until tender on the inside and crisp on the outside. If the potatoes need a bit more cooking, cover the tray with some foil and bake for a further 15 – 20 minutes.
Cut the buche into 12 slices. Halve the slices and place 4 halves into a few random slits in each potato. Return to the oven, 5 minutes.
For the toppings, make the salsa by stirring together the baby tomatoes, red onion, sweet chilli sauce, chives and lemon juice. Season to taste.
Heat a pan over medium heat. Once hot, add the chopped chorizo and fry, 5 minutes. Remove the chorizo with a slotted spoon, place in a food processor and blitz for a few seconds until crumbly.
To serve, top each hasselback potato with a dollop of sour cream. Add a spoonful of tomato salsa, a sprinkle of chorizo crumbs and garnish with coriander leaves.
Notes
Use two chopsticks as a guide when cutting the slits into the potatoes. Position the chopsticks on each of the long sides of the potato and gently cut the slits. The chopsticks will prevent you from cutting all the way through. Baking potatoes will work best for this recipe, but regular potatoes will work just as well – they might just need a little bit of extra baking time. Check the potatoes regularly to see how far they are and adjust the cooking time accordingly.
Imka Webb is a freelance digital marketing expert and the digital editor of Food & Home Entertaining magazine. www.imkawebb.com
