Super Supper Spuds

Fresh from the oven

Well I feel like I will be preaching to the converted with this little gem. I love baked potatoes, I eat plenty of them at work for lunch, they have an oven so even though they are initially microwaved, if you go a bit late they have developed a lovely skin.
In my opinion modern potatoes are rubbish for jacket potatoes, especially so called "baking potatoes", their skins are as thin as new potatoes and even if you do bake them properly in the oven they are not the same as they used to be.

For Tony with a lamb casserole

I remember being here at the bungalow in the 70's in a red hot kitchen, the oven blazing away full of potatoes, especially around about Bonfire Night, with the back door open and steam pouring out into the frosty cold, crisp air, me and Paul competing against each other to spot fireworks, which in those days were usually bog standard boxes of "Standard" that barely made it over the roof tops, even of our bungalows. It would be a juggling act with a tea towel by mum to get the potatoes to the plates and we would stand in a line to slice them open, the thick, crunchy skin, making a pleasing cracking noise as our knives went in. Traditionally we made a criss cross pattern in the creamy white flesh of the potato and then precarious from hot knives, drop on knobs of lovely butter. A quick mash and they were ready to eat with well browned sausages and mushy peas with lots of mint sauce. Once the buttery mash had been eaten and scraped out of the skin, you were left with the best bit. Brown and crusty and blistered, I little spread of butter, squeeze the two sides together and you had a delicious treat....the skin!

For me with a salad or sorts!

Anyway enough of that nostalgia and back to the spuds of the last few weeks.
I've made these a few times recently as they went down so well. Once I did the potatoes in the microwave as I was short for time and I grilled the outside of the skins, while I made the filling and then grilled the filling. The other times, I left the potatoes in the oven while we went to ballet and once filled, returned them to the oven until the cheese went golden.

On their own or with some vegetables in a paprika sauce

So all you need to do is scrape out the cooked potato flesh, leaving the skin as intact as possible. Mash the potato with butter and milk and then add some grated cheese of your choice. Next add your flavouring - we have had bacon and then bacon with mushrooms and spinach. You could try adding some fried onions, pancetta, peas, tuna and sweetcorn - anything really. Mix it all in well and then pack the filling back into the potatoes, it should be slightly mounded. Top with some more grated cheese and either return to the oven until the cheese is bubbling and golden or stick under the grill before serving with either a lovely big salad or some vegetables.
Any that's it in a nutshell, I told you a was being speedy at the moment! I hope you enjoy these.