BAKED POTATOES TWO WAYS

Who doesn't love baked potatoes? In our household we have to make sure we don't eat too many. We love them. This recipe is easy to prepare and it turns out just fantastically delicious. Even if you don't like anchovies, you will like these potatoes.... 

INGREDIENTS

8 medium-sized potatoes, skin left on
olive oil
sea salt
Filling 1
4 rashers of smoked streaky bacon
8 fresh sage leaves
4 good-quality anchovy fillets in oil, drained
1 clove of garlic, peeled and sliced lengthways
1 lemon
Topping 2
200g light sour cream
100g finely grated gruyère cheese (or similar)
6 slices prosciutto
1 ripe tomato, deseeded & finely chopped
a handful of baby rocket leaves

METHOD:
Preheat oven to 200°C. Wash the potatoes well. 
Get 4 potatoes and stick one end of a pineapple or apple corer, into your potato and twist it round and round as you cut through, as if you were coring an apple. Keep the cores to use later.

Lay out the stuffing for each potato: a rasher of bacon topped with 2 sage leaves, an anchovy fillet and a sliver of garlic. Grate over some lemon zest. Fold and twist the stuffing together into a little sausage shape. 

Prick all potatoes a few times with a fork and rub them in a little olive oil and sea salt.
Stuff the bacon rolls into each potato. Don't worry if you have bits sticking out at either end.
Cut the potato plugs in half and stuff them back in either end of each potato to keep the stuffing in place. They will stick out a little but this is fine.

Place the potatoes on a baking tray and bake in the preheated oven for about an hour, turning them every so often, until crisp, golden and cooked.



In the meantime, prepare the topping. Combine the sour cream and gruyère in a bowl and season with a little freshly ground black pepper.
Cut the prosciutto slices in half crossways and lightly fry in a non-stick frying pan until crisp and golden. Drain on a paper towel.

When the potatoes are cooked, break the whole ones open, then dollop with the sour cream and cheese mixture, diced tomato and rocket before topping with the crisp prosciutto. Serve one of each per person.

SERVES 4

I love them as part of a baked dinner, here with onion gratin and sausages with homemade BBQ sauce. Both recipes in this blog.