You know those times when you’re just… over plain baked potatoes? They’re good, they fulfill the requirement, but they can feel a bit plain. Enter the scored potato. They are still a potato, ah, technically, but by slicing them and adding some melted butter, they feel like a little more than a plain baked potato. At least they feel more interesting than the sad, nondescript foil-wrapped item you’ve been microwaving.
And this isn’t one of those recipes that requires 14 ingredients or some strange instruction. You need: 4 large baking potatoes (Russets are the way to go here), 2 tbsp of melted butter (you can do that now, because you’ll need it twice), a little paprika, about a tbsp of fresh parsley (chopped), salt and pepper. That’s it. That’s the list.
Now take the potatoes and cut them in half lengthwise, yielding 8 long halves that are sort of shaped like little boats. Here is the key part—score them. Meaning take a sharp knife and cut across the rounded top of each half widthwise, making about 6 cuts per half, but don’t cut all the way through. You are not looking to cut them apart—just give them a few little ridges. The slices should remain intact at the bottom, so you can sort of fan them out a little. They should appear vaguely like accordions. Or hedgehogs. Or very small, edible boats that got pretentious.
Now, lay them out cut-side-up in a shallow baking dish. It doesn’t have to be anything fancy, just something oven-safe where they aren’t packed together like sardines; you want a little space in between all of them.
