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Hasselback potatoes with ‘cheese’ sauce

Name: Hasselback potatoes with ‘cheese’ sauce
Yield: Serves 6
Ingredients: 500g baby new potatoes; 3 tbsp rapeseed oil; 1 tbsp dried rosemary; 2 tsp sea salt; 1 tsp cracked black pepper; Finely grated zest 1 lemon; 1 garlic clove, crushed; Handful fresh chives, chopped, to serve; Handful dried cranberries to serve; For the ‘cheese’ sauce; 80g raw cashew nuts, soaked in freshly boiled water for 15 minutes; 120ml filtered cold water; 120ml cold non-dairy milk; 2 tbsp tapioca starch (see Know-how); 3 tbsp nutritional yeast (see Know-how); 1 tsp tahini; 1 tsp white miso; Pinch each sea salt and white pepper

By: Gaz Oakley

Published: 7 Feb 19
Updated: 18 Mar 24

What’s better than crispy hasselback potatoes? Spuds smothered in a silky cheese sauce, that’s what. And this whole dish is vegan too. You can’t go wrong.

This recipe is from Gaz Oakley’s cookbook, Vegan Christmas (Quadrille £15).

Easy
December 2018

Test kitchen approved

Serves 6
Hands-on time 20 min, oven time 30-35 min

What’s better than crispy hasselback potatoes? Spuds smothered in a silky cheese sauce, that’s what. And this whole dish is vegan too. You can’t go wrong.

This recipe is from Gaz Oakley’s cookbook, Vegan Christmas (Quadrille £15).

Nutrition: per serving

Calories: 224kcals
Fat: 8.5g (1.7g saturated)
Protein: 8.7g
Carbohydrates: 25.7g (4.4g sugars)
Fibre: 5.2g
Salt: 1.8g

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Ingredients

500g baby new potatoes
3 tbsp rapeseed oil
1 tbsp dried rosemary
2 tsp sea salt
1 tsp cracked black pepper
Finely grated zest 1 lemon
1 garlic clove, crushed
Handful fresh chives, chopped, to serve
Handful dried cranberries to serve

For the ‘cheese’ sauce

80g raw cashew nuts, soaked in freshly boiled water for 15 minutes
120ml filtered cold water
120ml cold non-dairy milk
2 tbsp tapioca starch (see Know-how)
3 tbsp nutritional yeast (see Know-how)
1 tsp tahini
1 tsp white miso
Pinch each sea salt and white pepper

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Method

Heat the oven to 200°C/180°C fan/gas 6. Grab a wooden spoon and sit a potato in the bowl of the spoon. Starting at one end, cut across the potato widthways at 3mm intervals. The spoon will stop you cutting right through the potato. Carry on until you’ve sliced all the potatoes, putting them into a roasting tray as you go.
Mix the oil, rosemary, salt, pepper, lemon zest and crushed garlic in a small mixing bowl, then use a pastry brush to brush the mixture all over the potatoes, making sure you get down into the cuts. Once all the potatoes are coated, bake for 30-35 minutes or until golden (see tip).
While the potatoes are in the oven, whizz together the ‘cheese’ sauce ingredients in a blender or food processor until smooth, then pour into a small saucepan.

Heat the sauce over a low heat, stirring constantly, until it’s thick and creamy (see Make Ahead).
When the potatoes are cooked, sprinkle over the chives and dried cranberries and serve straightaway with the sauce on the side or drizzled over the top.

Recipe from December 2018 Issue

Nutrition

Nutrition: per serving

Calories: 224kcals
Fat: 8.5g (1.7g saturated)
Protein: 8.7g
Carbohydrates: 25.7g (4.4g sugars)
Fibre: 5.2g
Salt: 1.8g

delicious. tips

If your potatoes are large, cook them for up to 15-20 minutes longer.
Roast the potatoes and make the cheese sauce up to a day ahead. Cool, cover and chill separately until needed. Reheat the potatoes in a low oven and gently reheat the sauce until piping hot to serve.
Nutritional yeast is available from Ocado, health food shops or online at Amazon. It’s made from deactivated yeast and adds a nutty/cheesy savoury flavour, a little like parmesan.

Tapioca starch or tapioca flour is made from the root of the cassava plant and used as a thickener. You can buy it in larger supermarkets, health food shops or online at souschef.co.uk. If you can’t find any, use 1 tbsp cornflour instead.