Potato might just be my favorite starch. I can totally eat it for dinner everyday because it can be cooked in so many different ways! What sparked me to make these Chinese Inspired Baked Potato Wedges was simply an instagram photo of some potato wedges someone took. That picture lit my fire, and I was on a mission to bring you some potato wedges baked with Chinese bacon, muenster cheese, and scallion!
On a side note, you know where I first tried oven-baked potatoes? WENDY'S. I remember when I was a kid, my dad would bring me to Wendy's once in a while, and I'd get the cheese and broccoli baked potato (if I wasn't already tired of their waffle fires with cheese sauce!) Wait. For those of you who grew up in America. Did the Wendy's here ever served waffle fries? Well, I loved them so freaking much, I still remember paying the person behind the counter at Wendy's $16 HK dollars for an order of waffle fries.
Potatoes rule!
These are Chinese bacon, or lap yuk 臘肉 in Cantonese. You can find them in most Asian/Chinese supermarkets. They're mostly air-cured with soy sauce and spices. I bought some that came in vacuum sealed packages. Sometimes you can spot them being hung unpackaged next to the Chinese sausages at the store. In many recipes or packaging, it would call for soaking the bacon for a few hours before cooking. However, for this Chinese Inspired Baked Potato Wedges recipe, I decided to skip the soaking step because I didn't think it was necessary since it'd need to be crisped in the oven anyway.
And why muenster cheese? Because why the heck not!? Try it next time when you make a grilled cheese. You won't be disappointed!
Potato wedges all lined up, ready to be baked!
Toss them with Chinese bacon, muenster cheese, and scallion. Then load it all up on an oven-proofed serving plate, and pop the whole thing in the oven for an additional 5 minutes until the cheese has melted.
VOILÀ! There you have it! Dunk them in a side of sour cream for some satisfying bites!
Chinese Inspired Baked Potato Wedges
You'll need:
- 3 medium Idaho potatoes, scrubbed
- 2 deli slices of muenster cheese
- ¼ cup sliced Chinese bacon
- ¼ cup chopped scallion (about 2 stalks)
- 2 tsp garlic powder
- 2 tsp salt, divided
- ½ tsp black pepper
- some extra virgin olive oil
Approach:
- Preheat oven to 425°F.
- Line a 9"x13" baking sheet with tinfoil, coat the lined pan with 1 tablespoon of extra virgin with olive oil.
- Julienne the muenster cheese into very fine strips. Then slice the Chinese bacon, and chop the scallion. Set all aside.
- Cut each potato in half lengthwise, then cut each half into 4 wedges that are about the same size. You'll have a total of 8 long wedges from each potato.
- Place the potato wedges in a medium mixing bowl, add 2 tablespoons of extra virgin with olive oil, 2 teaspoons of garlic powder, 1 teaspoon of salt, ½ teaspoon of black pepper. Toss it all together until potato wedges are coated.
- Line them up on the baking sheet with skin side down. Bake for 10 minutes. Then bake each cut side for 15 minutes, until golden brown.
- In a large mixing bowl, toss the potato wedges, Chinese bacon, muenster cheese, and scallion together with 1 tsp of salt. Then load it all up on an oven-proofed serving plate. Pop the whole thing in the oven for an additional 5 minutes until the cheese has melted.
- Serve hot with a side of sour cream.