Last week, someone asked me what my favourite kind of potato was. It was 12:30am and I was in the back of a taxi with one of my best friends and a very beautiful journalist. It was the journalist asking me about potatoes. I don’t think it was a journalisty question though, I think she just really likes potatoes.
I can relate. I love potatoes. Like, desperately love potatoes. I like them mashed, boiled, fried, baked, made into croquettes or waffles, curly, in little smiley faces, roasted, layered with cream and onions, anything you can think of. Potatoes and me get on.
These are hassleback potatoes. They’re basically baked potatoes that are sliced open and filled with cheese and bacon. I also like to top mine with sour cream/creme fraiche and spring onions, because why have three delicious things on a plate when you can have five delicious things on a plate?
You can have these on their own as a light meal, or with salad, or as a side to steak. I usually go with the steak. Always go for steak, it’s delicious.
These are also an excellent lazy comfort food. They require so little effort for maximum reward. You bung some things in an oven, let it bake, add a few more things on top, done.
As for the answer I gave in my impromptu potato-interview, I said mashed potatoes with cheese and black pepper. Although I also could have said roasted with garlic and rosemary, or fried into crispy chips. I just really love potatoes, guys.
- 1 large potato - preferably red potato, but a baking potato would be fine
- 1 clove of garlic, finely diced
- 1 tablespoon of salted butter
- Cheddar cheese, cut into slices
- 1 slice of bacon
- 1 spring onion, sliced
- 1 tablespoon of creme fraiche/sour cream/Greek yogurt
- Preheat the oven to 200ºC/gas 6
- Make thin cuts across the top long side of the potato, only going about two thirds of the way down
- Mix the butter and the garlic and put it in the slits. Roast for 60 minutes
- Remove the crispy potato from the oven and insert slices of the cheese into the slits. Put back into the oven whilst you fry the bacon
- Fry/grill the bacon until it's crispy
- Remove the potato from the oven and crumble over the bacon. Add the dollop of creme fraiche and the spring onions. Serve immediately
- You can skip the butter if you like - just put the garlic into the slits
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