Air-Fry Tiny Hasselback Potatoes
If you have a deep fat fryer, you know it makes a potato bomb . The super-hot air circulating inside the tabletop convection oven allows you to quickly cook a wide variety of ham: fresh, frozen and leftover (yes, even leftover fries ).
In my eyes all the potatoes are beautiful, but now I am obsessed with leg-cut fry (“hasselbackspotatis” if you are a Swede). I started calling them “little hassle” and “little hassle” because they are tiny, cute, and slightly tedious to prepare, but no bigger than regular-sized round-neck potatoes.
The key to a good hasselback potato is to cut super thin slices about three-quarters of the length of the tuber before cooking. This is only a nuisance if you try to cut it off, relying solely on your knife skills to keep the blade from going all the way to the cutting board. If you are capable of this, great. I’m very impressed. But most people don’t, and for these people (myself included) I recommend using chopsticks.
Place chopsticks on either side of the potatoes to prevent the knife from cutting through completely. You don’t even need to keep the chopsticks next to the potatoes – as long as they are somewhere in the path of the knife, everything is fine. Slice with a cutter (I found the large knife cumbersome when working with these little guys), allowing the stick to stop the blade in the right place.
After your legs are processed, add a little fat to it and season heavily with salt (or whatever else you want). I am currently taking a combination of bacon fat, garlic salt, and MSG. There is no need to measure the oil or grease level; drizzle, toss into a bowl to cover, and leave excess (in bowl).
After the potatoes are oiled and seasoned with oil, place the potatoes in a 400 ℉ deep fat fryer for 15-17 minutes, until they turn brown and crisp. (If all you have is a normal sized oven – your problem! – add about 15 minutes to the cooking time.) Remove the crunchy, textured, little wonders and dip them in different items . The golden off-the-shelf slices grab and grip the sauces, providing excellent textural contrast. Try them hot from the deep fryer, but don’t worry if they cool a little – they make a great tapas-style snack at room temperature.