Hasselback Potatoes with Pesto
Welcome to my new series on the blog: sides. To me, sides are extremely important, I sometimes eat more of them than the main meal. I've been known to go to a restaurant and make a meal out of a few sides. So I thought, I can't be the only one who values them so much? So where best to start than with potatoes, comforting, cheap and so versatile.
Serves: 3Prep Time: 5 minsCook Time: 35 mins
Ingredients
- 1.3kg of new/small potatoes
- 3 decent handfuls of fresh basil
- Sea salt
- 80ml Olive oil plus extra for dressing potatoes
- 25g pine nuts
- 50g of grated Parmesan
- 2 garlic cloves
- Juice of half a lemon
Directions
- Using a sharp knife, make slices in to the potatoes a few millimetres apart and nearly all the way to the bottom of the potato but making sure you don't cut through.
- Put them on to a baking tray, sprinkle with a little olive oil and a decent sprinkle of sea salt, toss to coat. Then make sure all potatoes are facing cut side up.
- Bake in the oven on 180c/gas mark 4 for 35 minutes.
- Whilst they are in the oven, make the pesto. Add basil, lemon juice, pine nuts, parmesan, garlic cloves and pinch of salt to a blender. Turn to blitz and slowly add olive oil through the top. Will take about a minute to combine, scoop out in to a serving dish.