We’re now getting into the party season and that brings up the frequent question – whether to others or our own internal dialogue – of what should I bring? The sweets are everywhere this time of year, but as much as I like to do pastry-type stuff, sometimes a change of pace is welcome. I found this on thekitchn.com, and immediately latched on, believing it would be a hit.
And it was. It holds well at room temperature, except for the dip, and seems, to judge from the folks around me, pretty irresistible. Bacon. Potatoes. Sour cream. Hot sauce. Life is good, no?
You do need thick-cut bacon for this, and make sure you have toothpicks on hand; you’ll need them to do the wrapping. Also be aware that all this bacon gives off a lot of fat, so a sheet pan is going to be tricky to handle. I used two standard 9×13 baking pans, and was glad I did.
Commenters talked about using sweet potatoes or autumn squash or even Tater Tots (which would eliminate potato prep entirely) instead of white potatoes, but you’re on your own there. And there’s no reason you couldn’t try something else in the sour cream instead of hot sauce – I used regular old Tabasco. I do think the suggestion of putting salt in the sour cream is superfluous; it’s bacon, for heaven’s sake. The original recipe asks for 1 ½ teaspoons of minced fresh rosemary. I substituted crushed dried rosemary instead.
BACON-WRAPPED POTATOES
1 pound small or medium red potatoes
2 ½ tsp. kosher salt (use less if it’s regular salt), divided
1 Tbs. olive oil
½ tsp. dried rosemary, crushed
freshly-ground black pepper
1 lb. thick-cut bacon
8 oz. sour cream (reduced fat is fine)
1-3 tsp. hot sauce, to taste
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees and make sure you have a rack at the middle level.
Cut the potatoes in 1-inch cubes or slightly smaller. Don’t worry if the shape isn’t perfect, the scraps will work, too. Put them in a medium pan, cover with cold water, add 2 teaspoons of salt and bring to a boil. Once it begins to boil, cook only until fork-tender, perhaps 4 minutes. Drain and put in a large bowl. Add the remaining ½ teaspoon salt, the olive oil, the rosemary and shower with a generous amount of pepper before tossing the mixture to make sure each potato gets anointed with the mixture. You may prepare this beforehand if it’s easier.
Open the bacon and before separating it into strips, cut the mass of strips into thirds. Each third will wrap a piece of bacon. Pay attention to the bacon – one end will surely be fattier, the other end will be leaner and the middle third could be either one.
Wrap the bacon strips around the pieces of potato, securing with a toothpick. Space them an inch or two apart in the baking pan. If you, like me, are using two pans – and this makes about three dozen, so you probably will – life will be a little easier if you keep the leaner-baconed ones in one pan and the fattier-baconed ones in the other. The middle cut ones are your call.
Bake for 15 minutes. They won’t be done, but this is the time to flip each one over to attain maximum crispness. Return to the oven and check in another 15 minutes. Remove the ones that are sufficiently browned for your taste and put them on paper towels set over old newspapers so they can drain the last bit of grease. Return the rest to the oven for another 5 or even 10 minutes. You may want to check more frequently, which is okay, but remember, opening the oven frequently will lengthen the total cooking time.
While they’re baking, stir the hot sauce into the sour cream. Taste and see if it could benefit from more black pepper. You can always add salt after you try one of your creations when they cool off.
About 36 bites, and they’re just fine at room temperature.