Jamie Oliver Essex Hasselback Hotpot Food

HASSELBACKS

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F/gas 4.
• The fun and unique part of this side dish is that you need to slice multiple times through the potatoes, but - importantly - without going all the way through, giving you a kind of concertina-style potato. This looks beautiful but also makes them wonderfully absorbent of flavour and amplifies their crispiness. Try to choose small potatoes, give them a wash, and if you have any larger ones, cut them in half and use the flat side as a base.
• To make this process as simple as possible, place a potato on a board between the handles of two wooden spoons, so that when you slice down into the potato the spoons stop the blade from going all the way through.
• Carefully slice at just under ½cm intervals all the way along. Repeat with all the potatoes, placing them in a large roasting tray as you go.
• Pick half the thyme leaves into a pestle and mortar and pound with the turkey dripping or oil. Spoon over the potatoes, making sure the fat gets down into the cuts you've made, then season with sea salt and black pepper.
• Roast for 1 hour, or until the potatoes are golden and tender.
• Meanwhile, tear the bread into a baking dish, add the hazelnuts and toast in the oven for 10 minutes. Remove and allow to cool, then tip into a food processor, strip in most of the remaining thyme leaves, add a pinch of sea salt and black pepper and half the cheese, and pulse into coarse crumbs.
• When the hour is up, sprinkle the crumbs over the potatoes, then finely crumble a little bit of the remaining blue cheese on to each one.
• Dress the rest of the thyme sprigs with a tiny bit of oil and sprinkle randomly on top. Return to the oven for a final 10 minutes, or until the cheese starts to melt, then serve.

ONE-PAN LAMB WITH HASSELBACK POTATOES

Steps:

• Use a small, sharp knife to make at least 30 small, deep, incisions all over the lamb. Halve the garlic bulbs, so at the top the cloves fall away and at the bottom, they remain attached. Peel and slice the tops that have fallen away and keep the other halves for later. Use your fingers to push the slices into each slit. Next, pull off small sprigs of rosemary and thyme, keeping the stalks on, and poke them into the slits, too. Can be done a day ahead, then cover the lamb and chill. Remove from the fridge 1 hr before roasting.
• Heat oven to 210C/190C fan/gas 7. Sit each potato between the handles of two wooden spoons and cut widthways at 3mm intervals - the spoon handles will stop you slicing all the way through. Slot a bay leaf into the middle slit of each potato. Tip the potatoes into a large roasting tin with the halved garlic bulb and the rest of the rosemary and thyme. Drizzle with half the oil and season, then toss to coat and turn the potatoes so they're all cut-side up. Nestle the lamb in the middle of the tin, pushing the potatoes to the outside, then rub the lamb with the rest of the oil and the lemon juice and season generously.
• Roast for 1 hr 30 mins, basting the potatoes and shaking the tin occasionally, until the lamb is dark brown and the potatoes are crisp and golden. The lamb will be pink in the middle but cooked. For rare, cook for 10 mins less, and for well done, 15 mins more. Remove the lamb from the tin and leave to rest for 15 mins, putting the potatoes back in the oven if you need to. Serve drizzled with our green olive & herb dressing.

HASSELBACK POTATOES

Steps:

• Heat the oven to 200C/180C fan/gas 6. Use a metal skewer and insert through the back of one of the flatter sides of the potato. It should go through most of the potato. Place on a chopping board, skewer-side down, and slice through the potato (be careful not to cut all the way through on both ends). You can also put each potato in-between two handles of wooden spoons, and cut through to the spoon, if this is easier for you. A sharp knife will help to make slices a few mm apart. Remove the skewer and repeat with the remaining potatoes.
• Put the potatoes cut-side up on a shallow baking tray and drizzle over the oil. Rub each potato with your hands to coat well in the oil, getting some in between the slices. Toss in the bashed garlic, rosemary, and season well. Roast for 50 mins - 1 hr until the potatoes are tender throughout and the tops are golden and crisp. Baste with any oil in the pan halfway cooking to get extra crisp potatoes.