Baked Potatoes

 

I've been wanting to make another batch of baked potatoes.  I was at my local weekly market and spotted this bargain; 4 Mahoosive potatoes for £1!  Average weight 640g.  That is a hefty load to lug home.

Give them a proper good scrub.  You can be all fancy and buy a potato brush.  I just use a washing up brush solely for the use of food.  Rinse them and pat dry with a tea towel or kitchen towel.

Get a sturdy fork and prick all over.

Rub them all over with olive oil.  I only have Extra Virgin Olive Oil (which is best used uncooked in salad dressings but that's all I had).  I didn't fancy greasing my hands so I just brushed with my silicone pastry brush, salted one side.  Turned them over, brush and then salted again.

When you're done, they should look like this:

Bake in the preheated oven 200C for at least an hour (turn them over every 20mins).
When you get to the one hour mark, check them.  Ideally you would use a long metal skewer to check but I don't so I made do with a wooden chopstick that was slightly tapered towards the end.

As these were huuuuuumongous I had to bake them for another 20mins at 200C.  They were cooked after 1hr 20 but the skin wasn't quite crispy baked potatoey so I cranked the heat to max (230C?) for 10mins.

Each baked potato was double the size of a normal potato so double the portion size. 


Serving suggestions:

They make lovely potato skins.  Serve with mint yoghurt dip or garlic and herb dip.

Mash the flesh (add things like cheese and onion) or just plain mash.

Classic baked potato with cheese and beans.

I made a potato salad with yoghurt, mint sauce and cucumber.

The best bit is definitely the skins!