Twice-baked potatoes

Today’s post isn’t so much of a recipe as me sharing my technique for making a classic side dish. It’s more about the how-to than the what’s in it, which works out pretty well considering you can put just about whatever you want inside a twice-baked potato. If you like it in a baked potato, throw it in, blend it up and call it good.

Here’s what you’ll need to make 2 of my version, but feel free to customize based on your tastes:

2 baking potatoes

Olive oil

Sea salt

Coarse pepper

Butter

4 slices of bacon, cooked and crumbled

Cheddar cheese

Sour cream

Milk

Here’s what you do:

Brush or spray potatoes with olive oil and dust with sea salt. Bake at 350 degrees until tender —about 1.5 to 2 hours. If you need to speed them up a little, give them a head start in the microwave. Just make sure you poke a few holes in them first.  (I’m told if you don’t, they’ll explode. And while that sounds like a super cool science experiment, it also sounds like a huge mess. And, if you’re like me, your love for science is not nearly as great as your love for clean.)

When the potatoes are done, remove them from the oven and let them cool off for about 5 minutes before slicing each in half, lengthwise.

Scoop the insides out of 2 of the halves and add to a mixing bowl, while trying to preserve at least 1 of the skins. (I like to do the potatoes one at a time since the Mr. and I don’t like the all of the same ingredients in ours, but you can do them all at once if you’re making them all the same.)

Add desired toppings, a splash of milk, salt and pepper. Mix well with an electric mixer.

Identify the most intact potato skin and scoop potato mixture back into it. Top with more cheese and place on a foil-lined baking sheet.

Repeat with the next potato.

Now, you’re ready to do the second baking. I recently learned from the Pioneer Woman that you can, alternately, place these potatoes in the fridge if you’re not ready to do the second baking yet. Sometimes I do this a few hours ahead, and it’s a real time saver.

But when you are ready to finish them up, just place the baking sheet in the 350-degree oven for 15- to 20- minutes, and you’re all done! I served these tonight with ribeyes, and they looked like this: