2000s Recipes + Menus
Roasted Potatoes with sour cream
Serves6
Since these potatoes are “hasslebacked,“ or sliced accordion-style, before baking, the scallions and bacon fat really penetrate; the sour cream and bacon are the icing on the cake. (The dish has been known to elicit marriage proposals from strangers and tears from bacon lovers.)
June 2007
- bacon slices (6 ounces)
- 1/2 cup sliced white parts of scallions plus 1/3 cup thinly sliced scallion greens (from 1 bunch)
- 3/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
- 6 medium russet (baking) potatoes (2 1/2 pounds)
- 1 8-ounce container sour cream
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Special equipment:
12-inch-wide heavy-duty foil
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Cook bacon in a 12-inch heavy skillet over moderate heat, turning over occasionally, until browned and crisp, 6 to 8 minutes. Transfer bacon to paper towels to drain, then carefully transfer drippings from skillet to a small heatproof bowl and stir in white parts of scallions, salt, and pepper.
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Put oven rack in middle position and preheat oven to 450°F. Tear off 6 (1-foot-long) sheets of heavy-duty foil.
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Make deep crosswise cuts in potatoes 1/4 inch apart, leaving bottom 1/4 inch intact (do not cut all the way through). Place each potato on a sheet of foil and drizzle each with 1 tablespoon bacon-dripping mixture, separating slices to allow some to drip into cuts. Gather up foil around potatoes, crimping foil to tightly enclose.
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Roast potatoes until tender, 45 to 50 minutes.
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Just before serving, stir together sour cream and scallion greens and crumble bacon over mixture.
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Carefully open foil packets and transfer packets to a platter.
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Serve potatoes with sour-cream topping.
Cooks' notes: Potatoes can be roasted on a grill prepared for indirect-heat cooking over medium-hot charcoal (moderate for gas). Sour-cream topping, without crumbled bacon, can be made 2 hours ahead and chilled, covered. Just before serving, crumble bacon over topping.