April 14 - 17 I wish these potatoes didn't sound so much like David Hasselhoff

April 14   Dinner with The Neighbours
April 15   Pork tenderloin with a pomegranate sauce (supperworks) hasselback potatoes and asparagus
April 16   Sushi at Nami
April 17   Last minute late night pasta with tomato, cream and basil

I mean, what did these delicious, elegant potatoes ever do to deserve having a name that sounds like David Hasselhoff invented them? Nothing, that's what. Okay, this version is a little cheesy, but the similarity ends there. They are Swedish potatoes and their proper Swedish name is Hasselbackspotatis but that isn't any better. 






I was looking for something I had never done before and there aren't many potato treatments that I haven't tried, in one way or another. After reading a million recipes for these potatoes and realizing that they were all pretty much the same I was just going to wing it but I did like the addition of some cheese in the one I found on Family Fresh Cooking so I chose it to be my guide. I used normal paprika instead of smoked and added fresh thyme because I love any potato with thyme. I also thought that the garlic mixture would be delicious with asparagus and I was right. I made the olive oil mixture the day before and let it sit overnight (I added the cheese just before making them though) and so it was really steeped with flavour.
 All three of us loved these potatoes and agreed that they would be perfect for fancy pants dinner parties and they were certainly worth the tiny bit of added effort it took me to prep them. I saw another recipe were they were served in a little pool of some sort of melted butter sauce and I want to try that the next time I make them. They would be good with a little bit of sour cream or creme fraiche and maybe even some crispy fried pancetta crumbled on top. Bottom line is that these are definitely going into the dinner rotation.

Hasselback Potatoes and Asparagus

adapted from this recipe on Family Fresh Cooking

4 yukon gold potatoes

2 cloves of garlic, sliced as thinly as possible

4 tbls olive oil

pinch kosher salt

grind of black pepper

pinch of paprika

about a tbls of fresh thyme plus a few more sprigs

about a tbls of coarsely grated parmesan

1 bunch of asparagus

Preheat the oven to 425F with rack in the centre

Starting on one end of the potato, make cuts in the potato that stop about 1/4" from the bottom of the 

potato being careful not to cut down all the way through.

Mix the garlic, oil, paprika, salt and pepper, fresh thyme and parmesan in a small bowl. Gently open each slice so you can spoon in a tiny bit between all the layers - again, be gentle so you don't snap any of the potato slices off. After you have filled all of your potatoes, rub the out sides with some of the oil and stick some small thyme sprigs between some of the layers. Sprinkle some more paprika and kosher salt over the tops of the potatoes.

Put them on one side of a baking tray. On the other side, lay out your asparagus and throw on whatever oil mixture is left in the bowl and roll your asparagus around in it making sure it's all coated.

Roast in the oven for about 15 minutes. After that time, remove your asparagus and set aside and put the potatoes back in. Roast the potatoes for another 25 to 30 minutes, until they look really nice and brown and crispy.