Cheesy Baked Potato Skins

Photograph: Aidan Crawley
Photograph: Aidan Crawley
Serves: 4
Course: Main Course
Cooking Time: 1 hr 20 mins

Ingredients

  • (Serves 4 generously)
  • 4 large baked spuds (Roosters are good)
  • Olive oil
  • 8 pieces smoked streaky bacon, grilled until crisp
  • 1-2 baby gem lettuces, chopped finely
  • 4 celery sticks, washed and chopped finely
  • Bunch chopped chives
  • 250g crème fraiche
  • 200g blue cheese (the crumbly varieties are better)
  • 1 tbsp Dijon mustard
  • 1 tbsp horseradish
  • Dash of Tabasco (to taste)

Preheat oven to 200C. Score the potatoes lengthways around the middle and bake for one hour. Then scoop out the flesh leaving just about a millimetre against the skin (if you like you can use the leftover flesh for, say, fishcakes or in a soup).

Place the hollow skins upside down on a baking tray, bush with olive oil and put them back in the oven for a further 10 minutes until crisp. Meanwhile, in a bowl, toss all the other ingredients together until they are thoroughly mixed. Check the seasoning and adjust. When the skins are done, just ladle a spoonful or two of the mix into each skin.

Domini Kemp

Domini Kemp

Domini Kemp, a contributor to The Irish Times, is a chef and food writer