Hasselback potatoes with chipotle butter
These Hasselback potatoes with chipotle butter are a deliciously spicy potato dish that would work as a side for roast chicken or grilled meat.
The Hasselback potato has so much X factor going on for itself I’m surprised I don’t make them all the time. I tend to default to my best-ever roast potatoes when entertaining but these are more versatile and a variety of flavours can be used.
Here I have added chipotle butter with a chipotle in adobo sauce which I made from scratch. The recipe is from Abigail Donnelly and was published in the November 2015 issue of Taste magazine. It’s delicious.
Chipotles, and especially those preserved in a spicy adobo sauce have been a favourite ingredient of mine for many years and luckily you can procure this fairly easily in South Africa now. Finding the actual dried chipotle chillies is another story. I bought mine while in NYC last year and when I saw Abigail’s recipe, I knew immediately it was the one I wanted to use. I had bought 12 chillies back which also happened to be the exact quantity required for the recipe. Serendipity I tell you, and I love the use of maple syrup here, it adds a delicious sweet depth to offset the heat.
Not only is the chipotle butter lovely to use on the potatoes, but it is wonderful to replace butter in burgers, sandwiches and toast. Add a poached egg to your buttered toast and you will be winning at breakfast for sure.
Cutting fine slits into the potatoes is the trickiest part as one has a tendency to want to slice right through. Cut 3/4 of the way through the potato ensuring that the base remains intact. You can place a chopstick on either side of the potato and this prevents you from slicing all the way through. Melt the chipotle butter brush the cut potatoes generously and season well with sea salt and black pepper.
Halfway through the roasting time, you will need to re-baste with the chipotle butter. The slices will have started to open and you can really get the butter into the grooves.
After about an hour of roasting at 200C / 400 F the outer bits will be golden and crispy and the inner part lovely and soft. I find that Hasselback’s crisps up more when cooked with olive oil, but butter adds a lot more flavour.
Recipe for chipotle in adobo sauce from Abigail Donnelly – Food editor of Taste Magazine
*An Add-in later: I have made this a second time and used 10 x chipotle chillies as I found 12 too hot. I also increased the tomato puree to 2 cups. I just cooked it for a little longer to thicken and it came out just as nicely with a little more sauce.
Makes 2 cups (about 500ml)
Ingredients
- 10 chipotle chillies dried
- 2 cup tomato puree
- 1 tsp ground cumin
- 1 shallot very finely chopped or half a small white onion
- 4 garlic cloves finely chopped
- 1/2 cup white vinegar
- 2 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce
- 1/4 cup maple syrup
- 1/2 Tbsp salt
- 1 tsp freshly ground black pepper
Instructions
- Place the chillies in a bowl and add enough boiling water to cover them. Soak for an hour.
- Place 4 of the chillies in a blender with the tomato puree, cumin and half the soaking liquid, and blend until smooth. Pour this into a pan.
- Add the shallot, garlic, vinegar, Worcestershire sauce, maple syrup, salt, pepper, remaining chillies and soaking liquid.
- Place over low heat and simmer gently for 30 minutes. Stir occasionally to ensure the sauce does not stick to the pan.
- Transfer the sauce to a sterilised jar and seal. You could follow my instructions on how to safely preserve by checking my recipe on how to make cranberry jelly or BBQ sauce
- The adobo will keep for a few weeks in the fridge once opened.
- To make the chipotle butter – simply stir about 2 tablespoons of mashed up chipotles in the adobo sauce with about 100gms of softened (room temperature) butter. Just add as much as you like for your taste preference.
Notes
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great recipe. I wonder if you were supposed to have declared those chilis when you brought them through Customs/Quarantine.
Wonder if you this site who post worldwide
Wow ! I have got to say, these sound and look really fantastic. I have only done Hasselback potatoes once in my life (can you believe it ?) And, trust me, they were just done very basically. Your butter can only take Hasselback potatoes to another level, for sure. They look so devouring. 🙂 Love the pics.
Hi Stephen, Im not sure they would have been allowed no, but what are rules if they can’t be broken sometimes ;-). Im afraid I don’t understand your last sentence there?
Thanks Lynne, Im not sure why we forget about the hasselback as they are delicious. My stepmom has a recipe where she cooks them in stock i think. I must get that from her.
Fantastic recipe. Now one of my fav potato recipes.
Re: Stephen’s question. As long as they are dried you can bring them in. Fresh is a no no
Thanks Pattie. I brought so many dried fruit and nuts in on this latest trip.
They look absolutely delicious – I must try them! A good tip for cutting hasselbacks is to push a skewer through lengthwise near the bottom, which then stops the knife going all the way down. (Or some people sit them in a wooden spoon, but I’ve found that this way the ends still fall off!)
Hi Jane – that is a fantastic tip thank you for sharing. I had seen the tip about placing the spud in a large spoon and then cutting through. This only works if the potatoes fit snuggly in the spoon and most were are too big for this to work. I will use the skewer next time for sure.
I love hasselback potatoes, what wonderful flavors!
Easiest way not to slice through: place two wooden chopsticks flat on your work surface, place potato between them and slice. The potato does not move about as it does in a spoon and the slicing is more even than using a skewer. Perfect cuts all the way, yet the bottom stays together, every time. Voila!
That is Awesome advice Monsieur, thnak you!
These potatoes are ridiculous! I need them in my life!
Made chili hasselbacks the other night. I have never had much bother slicing potatoes partially, but I did use the skewer method and it works well. Will try the chop sticks tonight!!!!
Looks delicious! Thanks for the recipe.
Good comments on slicing the potatoes with a skewer, chopsticks or large wooden spoon (although I would be afraid of slipping with the knife on the spoon) but have the most success by slicing a small section off the bottom of the potato lengthwise (for stability) and placing the potato between two plastic cutting boards -you can add a wet paper towel under the boards to keep from moving around. Just have to use caution on the ends, but all the other slices are easy to do.
Thanks Don what a great tip
What is the potato cutting technique is requires?
Hi Natalia, if you place a chopstick on either side of the potato it stops the knife going all the way through. Otherwise Google – ‘how to cut a Hasselback potato’ and there are numerous other ways of doing it too.