Cheesy Hasselback Potatoes

Potatoes are such a versatile food.  There are so many different ways to prepare them – mashed, cubed and roasted, French fried, baked whole, I could go on and on.  I recently discovered Hasselback potatoes.  What a beautiful presentation!  The potatoes are sliced almost through to the bottom and slathered in butter and olive oil.  What could be better than adding cheese to the mix?  In this case, two kinds of cheese, cheddar and Parmigiano-Reggiano.  (Please use the real stuff for these potatoes.  You won’t regret it.)

Ingredients

4 medium baking potatoes (about 4” long each)

4 T butter

4 T Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese (thin slices work best)

½ t salt

¼ t garlic powder

¼ t black pepper

4 t olive oil

½ cup cheddar cheese

Sour cream, optional for topping

Directions

Preheat oven to 400ºF.

Clean and dry the potatoes.  Starting from one end of the potato, cut almost all the way through the potato, making slices about every ¼”.  Slice the butter and Parmigiano-Reggiano into thin slices.  Using one tablespoon each of butter and cheese for each potato, alternate placing them inside the slices of the potato.

In a small bowl, mix together salt, garlic powder, and pepper.  Place potatoes on baking sheet and sprinkle seasoning mix over potatoes.  Drizzle potatoes with olive oil.

Bake for 35 – 45 minutes, until potatoes are tender.  Remove from oven and top with cheddar cheese.  Place back in oven for an additional 10 minutes to melt the cheese.  Remove from oven.  Top with sour cream, if desired, and enjoy.