Hasselback potatoes

Preheat your oven to 200C.

To prepare the potatoes, scrub and cut: the easiest way I have found is to lay the potato lengthways on a board and place two chopsticks on either side. Using a sharp knife and holding the potato in place with the sticks, make crossways cuts 3mm apart, cutting just down as far as the sticks. You could alternatively place them on a wooden spoon, or I have also seen them speared with a skewer about 5mm from the base, sliced across and the skewer removed. Anything that stops the knife slicing clean through the potato will do.

Place the potatoes on a parchment-lined baking tray. Brush the spuds generously with melted butter and olive oil. Season well with the salt and pepper.

Bake for 50 - 70 minutes, basting every 20 minutes until the slices spread apart and are golden in colour.