The Perfect Side Dish – Twice Baked Potatoes

This has to be the best side dish to prepare when you are grilling steaks. First off, potatoes are a great addition to a steak dinner. Second, twice baked potatoes are incredible. Third, the timing is perfect for this side dish when you are grilling; the potato can just sit in a warm oven while you tend to your steaks on the grill.  Nothing is worse than paying too much attention to a side dish while your main course burns unattended on a hot grill.  Here’s what to do:

Ingredients:

• 4 Russet Potatoes
• Salt and pepper
• Melted butter (a whole stick)
• Milk (any % will do; no more than ½ cup)
• Garlic (3-4 cloves, diced)
• Cheddar cheese (about a cup of grated cheese)
• Bacon (about 4-5 strips of bacon)

Melt half of a stick of butter in a small bowl (you will use the remaining melted butter later when you mash up the inside of the twice baked potato). Next use a brush and paint the skin of your potato with the butter. Liberally sprinkle kosher salt on the skin of the potato and bake at 425 degrees for about 1 hour.  Your house will start smelling really good about 25 minutes into the baking!

Notice how the butter really helps the salt stick to the potato!  I think this is similar to how the potatoes are made at Outback Steakhouse.  After about an hour or so your potato should be fully cooked. Cut off the top ¼ inch of the potato and take a spoon and scoop all the insides of the potato into a small bowl. This leaves a hollow potato that is ready for the filling.  See the image I have attached.

Into a small bowl add a few cloves of diced garlic, pour in a little bit of milk (just a couple of tablespoons to start), sprinkle some salt and pepper, add the cheddar cheese, pour in the remaining melted butter, and start mashing! Be sure not to over mash the mixture or the potato will get really gummy. The nice part of this recipe is that pretty much any amount of the above ingredients works great.  My only warning is to not skimp on the butter.  This isn’t a diet dish so don’t be shy with the butter.  If you don’t want to add too much butter, you’ll need to add more milk. After the mixture has a consistency that you like, scoop it back into the potato and top it with some extra cheddar cheese.

At this time you can either refrigerate your potatoes for later baking or proceed to a 325 degree oven. The potatoes can sit in a 325 degree oven for quite a long time without burning.  The only goal here is to reheat the potato and melt the cheese.  Keep an eye on your steaks (or whatever else you are grilling) and when you have maybe 5-10 minutes left kick up the oven to about 450 degrees to make sure the cheese is melted on top. Serve along with your grilled masterpiece!

John is the author of a popular internet food blog Grilling24x7. Check out more grilling recipes and tips at Grilling24x7 and follow John on Twitter at http://twitter.com/grilling24x7.