Potatoes happen to be one of my absolute favorite foods. When we decided to go pescetarian for lent I knew that a few of our meals would be made up of loaded/stuffed potatoes. My dad often made huge baked potatoes and put broccoli and cheese on top for dinner. I really enjoyed those meals. As I was reading through my google reader I saw a post for Twice Baked Potatoes and I thought I MUST make those. I had never had twice baked potatoes before, if you can believe it, but it didn’t look too hard and the possibilities were immediately apparent. I see twice baked potatoes as more a general process then the following of a recipe. So I will describe the process which led to my twice baked potatoes but I have no amounts of ingredients or even any set ingredients. This is comfort food at it’s best so adapt it to what means comfort to you.
Preheat oven to 400 degrees
First you take a large potato, or two or three, and scrub them. Then poke them many times with a fork and put them in the oven, on the rack, and cook them till you easily stick a fork into them. This will take approx. 60 to 70 mins. Now set the potatoes aside for a few minutes till they are cool enough that you can work with them.
Meanwhile you should get together and prepare whatever ingredients you want to mix into your potatoes. I steamed some broccoli, caramelized some shallots, and got out the butter, sour cream, and cheddar cheese from the fridge.
When the potatoes have cooled a little bit cut them in half and scoop out the potato into a large bowl, leaving as little still in the skins as possible. Now add butter and sour cream to the potatoes and mash to a desired consistency. You want them moist and creamy but to still have a lot of body to them. Next add in the other ingredients, which in my case were broccoli, caramelized shallots, cheddar cheese, salt, and pepper. Now return the mixture to the empty potato skins and top with some more cheese.
Turn your broiler on and place potatoes under it untill warmed through again and cheese has melted and started to brown.
ENJOY!!!!
