The Great Big Baked Potato Challenge

 

Welcome to the Great Big Baked Potato Challenge. Baked Potatoes are the ultimate in comfort and convenience. But over the weekend Freddie and I have had some fun adding a little challenge and controversy. And best of all we have been joined by a stellar cast of food bloggers with their best baked potato recipes.
Our latest contender is the wonderful Amanda who writes the Little Foodies website. This is a great place to pick up some real inspiration for family meals and food to entice your children. (Her kids are also chefs in training)Her baked potato recipe is packed with vegetables. Thank you Amanda


To start off, look at this. It is fantastic. Celia from Purple Podded Peas is a talented artist and gardener but she knows how to pimp a potato. She has created an oriental baked potato dish at her kitchen studio in Cambridgeshire - a potato pagoda for Freddie. Inspirational.

Holler at Tinned Tomatoes who comes from Scotland, has harnessed the power of pesto with her delicious recipe.Freddie loves pesto so we will be making this. Thank you Holler.
David from Book the Cook is one of Freddie and Alex's favourite cooks. David's recipes always score highly with our children. And this one is superb. Devilled Crabby Tatties from South Shields are irresistible. Thank you David!
Hannah at Hannah's Country Kitchen has stirred up a creamy Herby Scented Mushrooms filling from her Bedfordshire kitchen. Hers is the kind of post that makes you wish for a scented internet service.
And from Sweden we have Annes Food, a beautiful site from Sweden. Anne sent me her recipe for a Swedish baked potato filling known as skagen. It combines shrimps and roe in a creamy sauce and looks delicious.
Fly thousands of miles over the Atlantic and you come to Peter who is a Canadian of Greek descent. He writes a wonderful blog called Kalofagus or the Pursuit of Delicious Food. And that is exactly what his "Pimp my Potato" Challenge recipe is - delicious. In his Toronto Kitchen he has created the Double Baked Stuffed Potato. Thank you Peter

And a shorter flight across to New York will introduce you to the lovely Amanda Darrach at Figs Olives Wine, who has posted a recipe that I think Peter would approve of - Aegean Potatoes with lemon, olive oil and sea salt. This is also something that I know Freddie and Alex will love.Amanda, we always love trying your recipes.

So the humble baked potato has been pimped up by cooks in Sweden, England, Scotland, America, Canada and Sweden. Over the next few days we will be linking to yet more baked potato recipes from across the globe. Please join in with your own if you can - and let me know. For Freddie from the very beginning of this blog over a year ago, the fun of learning from families thousands of miles away has been the biggest attraction. And the humble baked potato is a great way to share ideas. (And Freddie is keen to stay on P for Potatoes for as long as possible!)
And last but not least, here is our twice-baked potato recipe.Freddie gave our broccoli and roasted garlic just 7 out of 10 but the spring onion and sundried tomato version crept up to an 8

Baked Potato with Broccoli and Roasted Garlic
4 potatoes
1 head of broccoli, steamed
1 garlic bulb, roasted
2 tablespoons of half-fat creme fraiche
1 tablespoon of freshly chopped mint leaves
salt and ground pepper to season
3 tablespoons of freshly grated parmesan cheese

Rub a little olive oil into the potatoes and put them in a preheated oven at 190C. At the same time take a whole garlic bulb, wrap it in foil and drizzle over a few drops of olive oil and seal it up. Place in the oven with the potatoes. Bake them for an hour, depending on their size. Prick them with a fork to check if they are soft inside. Take out the potatoes and the roasted garlic bulb. Cut off the stalk of the broccoli and steam the florets for 3 minutes. Using an oven glove to old them, cut the potatoes in half lengthways. Scoop out the potato and place it in a bowl.Take care as you do this to keep the potato skins intact.To the bowl, add the chopped mint leaves, steamed broccoli florets, creme fraiche and squeeze out the soft contents of the roasted garlic bulb. Mash together well with a fork. Spoon back inside the jacket potato skins, sprinkle on the parmesan cheese and put back in the oven under a hot grill for about 6 minutes.

Alternative filling - Sundried tomatoes, spring onion and Cheddar Cheese.
Bake 4 potatoes as above and scoop out the potato. Mash with 4 finely chopped spring onion, 5 oz of cheddar cheese and 2 tablespoons of finely chopped sundried tomatoes. Season with salt and pepper and spoon back inside the jacket potato skins and put back in the oven under a hot grill for 5 minutes until the cheese is bubbling and melted.