Posh jacket potatoes
Baked potatoes are surely the ultimate comfort food, great for feeding a crowd. Choose one or more of these lovely fillings to make a change from plain jacket potatoes. Each topping is enough for 4 potatoes, or 8 halves.
Ingredients
- 4 large baking potatoes, washed and dried
- 2 tbsp milk
- knob of butter
- olive oil, to drizzle
- 2 tbsp chopped fresh flatleaf parsley
- salt and freshly ground black pepper
For the pesto topping
For the bacon and mushroom topping
- 4 rashers bacon, cut into small pieces
- 50g/1¾oz button mushrooms, sliced
- 75²µ/2½´Ç³ú mature cheddar, grated
For the spring onion and soured cream topping
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 4 spring onions, chopped
- 4 generous tbsp soured cream
- paprika, for dusting
For the pepper and goats’ cheese topping
Method
Preheat the oven to 220C/200C Fan/Gas 7. Bake the potatoes for about an hour, or until soft in the middle.
Slice the potatoes in half and scoop out the flesh into a bowl. Stir in the milk and butter. Stir in the pesto or other topping of your choice (see steps 3, 4 and 5) and season with salt and pepper. Spoon the mixture back into the potato skins.
For the bacon and mushroom topping, fry the bacon until crisp, then add the mushrooms and fry over a high heat for a few minutes.
For the spring onion and soured cream topping, heat the oil over a high heat and fry the spring onions until soft. Stir into the potato flesh along with the soured cream.
For the pepper and goats’ cheese topping, cut the roasted peppers into strips and stir into the potato flesh along with the goats’ cheese and basil.
Transfer the potatoes to a roasting tin. Scatter over the Parmesan (for pesto topping) or cheddar (for bacon and mushroom topping), or dust with paprika (for spring onion topping). Drizzle over a little olive oil and return to the oven for about 15 minutes, or until the topping is golden and the skins are crisp.
Sprinkle with chopped parsley and serve hot.
Recipe Tips
The potatoes can be filled, ready for their second bake, up to 4 hours ahead. To serve, bake at 220C/200C Fan/Gas 7 for 30 minutes – you may need to cover the potatoes with foil if the toppings are getting too brown.