Basic Baked Potatoes

Baked Stuffed Potatoes

Baked potatoes are one of those wondrous foods that can bring glory to home cooks everywhere. Roast one plain in a hot oven and the skin becomes crusty, the steamy flesh inside tender, with a rich, mineral tang that hints of earth. The dish needs nothing else except perhaps a sprinkle of sea salt and freshly ground black pepper. It’s the perfect accompaniment to grilled fish or steak, a roasted chicken or lamb chops.

On the other hand a baked potato’s very simplicity makes it the perfect candidate for creative treatments. Stuffed potatoes (some call them “twice baked”) are among the more delicious treasures to explore. They’re versatile too, making them useful as a snack or for lunch, as part of a meatless dinner or as a side dish with meat, poultry or fish. A recipe such as Baked Stuffed Potatoes with Cream Cheese and Chives is a good accompaniment to a roast or with scrambled eggs for lunch. Baked Stuffed Potatoes with Feta Cheese and Spinach is hearty enough as is for lunch but also partners well for dinner with roasted chicken or fish.

Simple stuffed potato preparations can be quick and easy: mix the cooked potato flesh with some cottage cheese or cooked vegetables, grated cheddar, crumbled bacon, leftover meat or chicken, chopped ham or even more esoteric items such as duck rillettes or fresh oysters.

But you can elaborate too. If you add enough ingredients, a baked stuffed potato can become the entrée, either meaty or vegetarian. Baked Stuffed Potato with Bacon, Cabbage and Cheese, for example. Leave the bacon out and the dish is still wonderful. Substitute chopped nuts or sautéed mushrooms and that’s okay too.

It all begins with the right potato, and that means a Russet type, or Idaho potato, which is oval, with dark brown, thick, rough-looking skin. Although Yukon Golds also bake nicely, Russet flesh is the driest so it bakes the fluffiest and no other variety beats its skin for sheer crunch. Organic Russets have a fresher, earthier taste than non-organic types, so are worth searching out.

It’s a cinch to bake potatoes properly. Scrub them first and be sure to preheat the oven (400 degrees F) so they get a blast of searing, crust-forming heat immediately. It’s not necessary to rub them with a film of oil. And don’t wrap them in aluminum foil, which steams the potatoes rather than baking them, and causes the skin to be soggy. Before you put the potatoes in the oven, pierce the skin in one place with the tip of a sharp knife, otherwise the steam building inside could cause them to burst in your oven.

The potatoes are done when you can easily pierce through the skin to the middle with the knife. Let them rest for a few minutes so that you can handle them easily, then cut them in half lengthwise, which is easier and faster to do with a serrated knife. Scoop the flesh into a bowl, mix in the other ingredients and spoon the mixture back into the hollowed skins.

You can reheat the potato halves immediately (in the oven or, for a crispier surface, under the broiler), but one of the bonuses of stuffed potatoes is the reheat factor. Save them for another hour or day in the refrigerator, take them out about a half hour before you bake them the second time and put them on a cookie sheet to reheat (in a moderately hot oven, about 375 degrees F). Some versions are freezable (most with cheese and spinach, for example) – wrap the halves individually in plastic wrap.

Serving size varies depending on how you plan to use the potatoes. As an accompaniment to a meat entrée one half stuffed potato is the right amount; as a main course or part of a vegetarian dinner you may need extra.