Once-baked potatoes ready to slide into the oven for their second baking
A Russet potato loaded with cheese, milk, butter, sour cream, bacon bits, green onions and seasonings is the ultimate comfort food. The heavy use of dairy in cooking is a throwback to the fifties, the age of culinary innocence. The recipe is relatively foolproof. You simply bake, scrape, add a fluffy potato mixture, top with cheese and bake again. It’s hard to mess up, unless you mistakenly scrape the walls structure too thin, causing your potato boat to collapse. Even that doesn’t effect the taste.
Oil eight potatoes and prick with a fork. Bake at 400 degrees for 1 hour. Cut cooked potatoes lengthwise and scrape out the hot potatoes as soon as you can handle them. Put the potatoes in a large bowl. Leave about a quarter-inch of pulp for a sturdy wall. Line up empty shells on a cookie sheet.
To the hot potatoes add: 2 sticks butter, 1 cup fried bacon bits, 1 cup sour cream or cream cheese (less if you’re calorie conscious), 1 cup shredded cheddar or jack cheese, green onions, if desired, salt and pepper, and enough milk (or buttermilk) to make mixture the consistence you prefer.
Using whatever sous chef you have available (child, husband, next door neighbor), pile the potato mixture high into shells and top with more grated cheese. Bake for the second time at 375 degrees for 15-20 minutes.
Twice-baked Potatoes highlight the plate.
Twice-Baked Potato make a great side dish for roast port, baked chicken, grilled steak, or meat loaf. Happily, they can be made ahead and popped into the oven for the second baking just before serving. Or they can be put in Ziplock bags, frozen, and baked the second time as needed. But don’t but green onions in the frozen ones, because the flavor doesn’t hold up well. I also prefer to bake the potatoes in the oven the first time rather than the microwave, because I like the consistency of the skins better.
A large, well-loaded Twice-Baked Potato can be a meal in itself. Sometimes it’s the simple foods that are the most satisfying.
