Victoria Cooks Rouxbe Hasselback Potatoes

Not my picture. I forgot to take one of my potatoes, so this is Rouxbe's pic.

I FINALLY made this roasted potato recipe. I swear I bought these potatoes two or more weeks ago. I've had them sitting on my counter for forever. But they didn't seem to be going bad, and I've been too tired and unmotivated to cook (#storyofmylife)!

However I noticed a few days ago that the potatoes had begun to sprout, so I knew I needed to use them soon. That's how I roll--I wait until my produce is on the verge of going bad, and THEN I cook it. Seriously, everything I cook is sort of questionable. I live life on the edge!

So here's the recipe I followed:

Ingredients:
2 lbs white potatoes
2 to 4 tbsp butter
1 to 2 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
few sprigs of thyme or rosemary (I used dried herbs because I'm not fancy enough to use fresh yet)
3 small bay leaves


Instructions:
1. Preheat the oven to 375° F (190° C).
Note: When choosing the potatoes, try to make sure they are all roughly the same size.
2. Using a small pairing knife, cut each potato across the width, into about 1/4" -inch slices. Stop just before you reach the bottom, so the potato stays intact at the base.
3. Place the potatoes onto a tray.
4. Rub a bit of room temperature butter onto each potato. Drizzle with the olive oil and toss gently to coat. Season well with salt and pepper to taste.
5. Scatter a few sprigs of thyme or rosemary onto the surface of the potatoes and place a few bay leaves on top.
6. Place into the oven and bake for approximately 25 minutes, or until they start to slightly brown underneath.
7. Once the bottoms of the potatoes have browned slightly, flip them over and return to the oven for another 20 minutes or so, or until a knife inserted into the potatoes easily glides through.
8. To serve the potatoes, drizzle with any melted fat from the baking tray or with more extra-virgin olive oil. Toss and season with more salt and pepper, if desired. Transfer to a dish and serve immediately.


My Thoughts:
So I liked this recipe just fine. The herbs smelled amazing and the potatoes were pretty tasty. I do feel like they could have been more flavorful though. Or maybe I just feel that way because I did not eat them with anything, just by themselves, and they would have been better as a side to something. I would maybe make these again, but I think I'd do more next time to make sure the fats and seasonings got in between each slice of the potato because the outer part was much more flavorful than the inner part, and I ended up adding more salt, pepper, and even shredded cheese to give it more flavor. But that actually might be quite a bit of work... at that point maybe it would be better to just cut all the way through and toss the potato slices in a bowl of butter, oil, and herbs... maybe THAT's what I'll do next time.

Hubby's Thoughts:
He said he liked it! But he might have also just been hungry. But hey, I'll take it! He ate just potatoes with me and didn't request anything else for them! He didn't even put on any of the shredded cheddar cheese like I did. He did add a little bit more salt to some of the potatoes, but I do agree it could have used more salt in between the potato slices instead of just on the outside.
He said they tasted kind of like french fries and considered trying them with ketchup, but opted not to in the end (probably because our ketchup is cold from being in the refrigerator and he doesn't like cold ketchup).