Baked Potato Fans

I think these might also be called "Potatoes Anna" or something, but I've always called them Potato Fans. I think it's a fun and slightly different way to bake potatoes and they get all those nice crunchy edges because of all the slices.

They are also one of those super easy dishes that look fancy and make people you serve them to feel really special. It'll just be our secret how easy they are.

This isn't much of a recipe, more of a technique that once you learn you can just whip them up in no time, changing the potato and cheese to whatever you want that night.

This is also real food, folks, with just three ingredients: butter, Parmesan (or other cheese), and potatoes. I used red potatoes here, but any potato works so use what you have. If they're small, I plan on two potatoes per person, large potatoes just one.

I needed to use up these potatoes, so I made up 11 to have some leftovers.

Start by melting about 3 tablespoons of butter (more or less depending on the number of potatoes you have).

This trick makes it easy to cut the potato into the "fans" without cutting all the way through. Place the potato on a large wooden spoon.

This one's been used a lot as testified by the chunk out of the end. Nothing but the best here at the cottage.

With the potato sitting on the spoon, take a long knife and cut down until it touches the edges of the spoon. Voila, perfect slices that stop just short of cutting through.

Using the spoon takes all the guesswork out of partially cutting the potatoes and makes it go quickly.

Place the potatoes on a lined or greased baking sheet and lightly pull the pieces apart to fan them. They won't all look perfectly fanned, but that's OK.

Pour a little of the melted butter over each potato, distributing it evenly.

Then sprinkle on grated Parmesan, about a tablespoon for each (small) potato.

Now here is where you decide how much time you'd like to spend on these. I'm just happy to see some cheese on the tops, with enough to melt into the crevices. But you could spend the time to push some of the cheese into each fan if you really wanted to "cheese it up."

Bake in about a 375 degree oven for about 30 minutes.

How's that for definitive? That's because I will often cook these at the temperature the oven is already at for some other part of the meal. At 400 degrees, I'll start checking for doneness at 20 minutes. At 35o degrees, I'll let them go for 40 to 45 minutes.

And again it depends on the size of the potatoes.

See what I mean by being more of a technique? But that also means they're really flexible and easy to fit into a menu. That's a good thing.

A little crispy, a little cheesy, a little creamy inside.

A lot good.

-Jami

This post is linked to the Grocery Cart Challenge Recipe Swap.