An old classic from my (Magnus) childhood was the hasselback potatoe. It was a definitive Saturday dinner favourite for sure. After going paleo I have however completely forgot about it and it has actually not been something that I have missed, but the other day I got the idea of doing a hasselback variation on beetroots.
The great thing with the hasselback concept is that the small cuts in the top are roasted and creates a nice crispiness that is otherwise hard to achieve unless one cuts really thin slices and cooks them like chips… An other nice feature is that the cuts also increase the effective surface of the vegetable which in turn means that there are more opportunity to expose the vegetable for spices or butter(!) to really get out as much taste as possible.
Start by turning on the oven at 210 °C, then cut the beetroots in half. Next up is doing the hasselback cuts.
After having done some hasselback potatoes in my days I have come across a nice and simple way of efficiently making the cuts.
- Pick a tree tool with a thin flat handle from the kitchen drawer (or wherever you have store your kitchen tools).
- Place the the beetroot alongside the flat tree handle.
- Use a sharp knife to cut down through the beetroot to the tree handle. Make sure to keep the knife level with the cutting board so that you don’t cut through the beetroot the whole way.
The tree handle is then helping to avoid cutting through the whole beetroot and creates a nice and even depth of the cuts.
Next, when all the beetroots are cut place them in a ramekin. This time we added some chopped garlic as well. Then season richly with salt and pepper and top with a click of butter on each beet root half. Place the ramekin in the hot oven for roughly 45 minutes.
To go with the beetroots we made some minced meat patties with fried onion and mushrooms together with a small green salad.
Do you have any old time favourites that might inspire your cooking? Please let us know!
Happy paleo,
Cecilia & Magnus
Paleo Concept 