Thursday, January 17, 2013

Baked Stuffed Potatoes

Potatoes have got to be one of the most versatile foods around.  Think about it, you can boil, fry, mash, bake, saute, stuff, smash, sky's the limit.     I made Baked Stuffed Potatoes for the January Boat Club the other day and they were good.  Even if I do say so myself.   And I know they were good cause out of the 5 pounds of potatoes I made, I only got to take home 1 1/2 potatoes. sigh.  But that's OK.  I watched people really enjoying them so that's a good thing.
Twice Baked Potatoes

5 Pounds Red Butter Potatoes, baked (mine were on the small side)
1 lb. grated Monterey Jack Cheese
1/8 lb. butter
1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
1/2 lb. sauteed Mushrooms
1/2 cup chopped cooked bacon, or more to taste
 2 Tablespoons EVOO
1 tsp. sea salt

I took the five pounds of Red Butter potatoes out of my pantry, dumped them into a sink full of water and scrubbed them very well.  After I dried them off, I placed them on a rimmed baking pan and poured some EVOO over them.  Rolled them in the EVOO to coat and then ground some sea salt over them.
Baked Red Potatoes

I baked the potatoes for just over an hour, checked them at the hour point for tenderness, OK, so I pulled one out of the oven and ate it.  It was lunch, so there!   They needed a few more minutes so I put them back into the oven.   While they were finishing baking, I grated up a pound of cheese, I used Monterey Jack Cheese cause that's what kind I had in the fridge.



Sauteed the mushrooms til they were golden brown, I wanted to get as much flavour out of them as I could.    And chopped up some extremely flavourful bacon I had on hand.


I pulled the potatoes out of the oven, and let them sit for a few minutes, just long enough to cool down so I could handle them.   I cut them in half, and scooped out the innards, leaving a rim around the edge.    The scooped out potatoes were placed in a large bowl, and when I finished scooping out all the potatoes I used my ricer and riced the potatoes.  ( My first time using it, and it was fun. Made the potatoes nice and even, no lumps).   I heated the butter and cream together and folded it into the potatoes.   Hint:  If you are making mashed potatoes, heat the milk or cream and butter together before adding to the potatoes, it makes for a lighter fluffier mash.

Folded the grated cheese into the potatoes, then added the mushrooms and bacon to it.   
I then mounded some of the mashed potato mixture into each potato half and topped them all with some more grated cheese.   Nothing like excess where cheese is concerned.  Just sayin...

 Don't they look purty?
I then baked them off for about 40 minutes, long enough for the cheese to melt and for the potatoes to be heated through. 
Stuffed Baked Potatoes
Wrapped them up well, and took them to Boat Club where they disappeared in short order.  I had a pan and a half with me, and only took home 1 1/2 potatoes.  (three pieces in other words).   Which was a good thing.


I just had to do a close up, you can see the steam rising from the the lovely gooey potatoes.

There's the latest Boat Club offering.   Now I have to start thinking about what to make for Tapas night.    I'm sure I'll come up with something.

In the meantime, have fun with your food, it tastes better when you're having fun in the kitchen. 
Sidsel Munkholm - Author
Sidsel Munkholm - Author

Sid loves to cook, feed people and have fun in the kitchen. She shares her successes and the involuntary offerings she sometimes gives the kitchen goddess as well. And she's still looking for the mythical fairy to help her clean the kitchen after a marathon cooking session. Currently working on a cookbook showcasing the recipes from her Danish heritage.

2 comments:

  1. Hi
    I just baked this. This is so yumm...My daughter loved it. Made minor changes to make it vegetarian. Thank you so much for this wonderful recipe!!!

    ReplyDelete
  2. So glad you liked them, and so easy to make vegetarian as well.

    ReplyDelete

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