Hasselback Sweet Potato with Bacon, Sour Cream and Chives

Baked potatoes are always good. And then there’s hasselback baked potatoes - a ridged version that you can dress up by sticking all sorts of interesting things between the slices. Like bacon. And cheese. And garlic. You get my drift: yummmmm. They make a pretty handsome dish too. 

Ingredients (serves 2):
2 large sweet potatoes
6 strips bacon
50g grated cheese (I used Gouda)
150 g sour cream
1 tsp chives to top

Garlic herb butter:
1 tbsp olive oil
3 tbsp unsalted butter
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 tbsp fresh garlic
1/2 tbsp fresh parsley
Pinch of nutmeg, paprika, salt and pepper


Preheat the oven to 220 degrees Celsius.

Instructions:
1. Clean and pat dry the sweet potatoes. Slice the sweet potatoes into about 3mm slices, as uniformly as possible, without slicing all the way through to the bottom (leave the bottom 1/4 of the potatoes unsliced so that the slices don’t separate from the potato altogether).

2. Stir together the herb butter ingredients.

3. Line a baking tray with foil and grease the foil. Place the potatoes on top. Take half of the herb butter and brush it on top of the potatoes and in the slits. Place in the oven and cook for about 30 minutes.

4. Remove from oven and brush with the remaining garlic butter. Take the bacon and place it in some of the slits, spacing it a bit (not every slit). Return to the oven for another 30 minutes or so, until the slices have crisped slightly and the potatoes are fork-tender.

5. Sprinkle the potatoes with the cheese and return to the oven for a few more minutes until the cheese has melted.

6. Remove from oven and top with the sour cream and chives. Serve hot.