Potatoes are my favorite vegetable. Wait…are potatoes vegetables? I’m not sure. But I am sure that these potatoes are tasty! They’re stuffed with lots of garlic. Garlic makes everything taste good. Everything.We served these with homemade pesto, which is another favorite. Traditional basil pesto was our go-to pesto in the past, but surprisingly spinach cashew pesto is really delicious too. Who knew!? We’ve eaten this pesto atop chicken and pasta as well and it’s great! Buy a big bag of fresh spinach and make a large batch. Just freeze the pesto in individual containers and defrost for quick weeknight meals. This post has a lot of pictures so let’s get to it!
Here’s what you’ll need for the potatoes
Slice the potatoes leaving room at the base
Thinly slice the garlic
Insert garlic between the layers, you may need to shove them in
Season with salt and pepper
Drizzle with olive oil
Top with a thin pad of butter
Roast in the oven, 1 hour
While those cook, start the pesto. Here’s what you’ll need
Throw spinach, cheese, cashews and lemon juice in the food processor
Oops! Don’t forget the lemon zest
Let the food processor do the work. Slowly add olive oil
When it’s smooth, taste and season with salt and pepper
This pesto is perfect for the potatoes or anything you can think of!
Top potatoes and serve.
Hasselback Potatoes with Spinach Cashew Pesto
Ingredients
For the Potatoes:
- 4 russet potatoes (we used 6 red potatoes)
- 1 garlic clove per potato
- 2 tbsp unsalted butter
- 3 tbsp olive oil
- coarse sea salt and pepper
For the Spinach Cashew Pesto:
- 2 loosely packed cups of spinach
- 2 garlic cloves
- 1/4 roasted cashews
- 2 tbsp fresh lemon juice
- 1/2 tsp lemon zest
- 1/3 cup freshly grated Romano cheese
- salt and pepper to taste
- 1/3 cup olive oil
Instructions
For the Potatoes:
- Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.
- Thinly slice garlic cloves. Set aside.
- Rinse and scrub potatoes well. Slice into the potatoesbut not completely through them. Slice potatoes, creating very thin roundsconnected at a base. Slide garlic slices in between potato slices. You mightactually need to shove them in. Just be careful not to tear the bottom.
- Place potatoes on a baking sheet and generously sprinklepotatoes with salt and pepper. Top each potato with a thin pad of butter anddrizzle with olive oil.
- Bake for 1 hour, or until tender on the inside and crispon the outside. Remove the pan about every 15 minutes to baste potatoesin the oil and butter, this will make them crispy and flavorful. When cookedthrough, remove from the oven and let cool for 10 minutes.
- Top with spinach cashew pesto and serve.
For the Spinach Cashew Pesto:
- Place garlic cloves, spinach, nuts, lemon juice, lemonzest and Romano cheese in the bowl of a food processor. Blend until spinach isbroken down and, while still blending, slowly pour in the olive oil. Turn offfood processor, taste and add