First, bake 4 russet potatoes (I wash and dry them, rub with olive oil and salt). They really need to be as dry as possible because you want the skin to crisp. I find the russet to have the thickest skin and so I prefer them over other potatoes. Also poke with fork before baking.
Preheat oven to 400 degrees and bake for 1 hour. I tend to let them over cook a little so the skin crisps more and the meat is softer (will pull away from skin easier when scooping the meat out) but 60-70 minutes should do the trick.
Once out of the oven, please let them cool. Two things this will do. One, you won’t have a “Hot Potato” crisis trying to handle them and two, they will be easier to scoop out. The longer they cool the better. Just don’t put them in the refrigerator as they will collect moisture and don’t cover them either.
Once cooled cut in half lengthwise and scoop the meat into a bowl. You will end up with 8 halves but I would only stuff 6 as I like more stuffing in each potato and 6 should be enough for 3-4 people. Once the 8 halves are scooped out I cut 2 of the half skins up and add to the bowl so I have 6 skins left.
Next, I brush a little butter on the inside of the skins and put them under the broiler for a few minutes until browned on the inside. Then once removed I sprinkle a little shredded cheese in the inside bottom of the skins and let it melt while I mix the stuffing (I guess you could call them Thrice Baked as I broil them a little in the middle of making them).
For the stuffing I use the following: (again the measurements are approximate)
Potato Meat (from scooping the potatoes out)
About ½ cup of Sour Cream
About 1 cup Shredded Cheese
Small bunch of Parsley fine chopped
Bacon (cooked crisp and broken into bits) the amount is up to you or you can use Bacon Bits
Salt to taste (1.5 teaspoons should be good but I tend to under salt and let people salt their own)
Pepper to taste (same as above)
¼ - ½ Cube of butter (melted)
About ¼ cup Chopped Chives or Green Onions (I use green onions as I think they have more flavor)
I think that’s it.
First fry your bacon (for this amount I would use 4-6 strips depending on how thick) and crumble it up. Next add the melted butter (I use unsalted because I don’t have to worry about adding to much salt at the end) and stir, coating the potato meat (you can crush or whip the potato meat as much as you like but I prefer having chunks in the stuffed potato). Now add the sour cream and stir into the potatoes. Once the sour cream is incorporated add ¾ of the cheese (reserving the rest for the top of the stuffed potato). Add ¾ of the bacon and stir in (again reserving some for the top of the stuffed potato). Last add the green onions (I prefer to lightly sauté them in the bacon fat for a minute and scoop them out with a little of the bacon fat so it gets added to the stuffing, but I like bacon so this is optional). Add the salt and pepper and mix well.
Taste… add more salt and pepper if needed.
(You may ask why stir everything separately? Well… I like everything to be as well incorporated as possible so I get a bite of everything in every bite! But you don’t have to do it like that, as you could just dump everything in at once and it would probably be just as good.)
Now get all your skins on a baking sheet and start stuffing. Most likely you can heap them up pretty high. Add the remaining cheese on top and put in a 375 degree preheated oven for 30-40 minutes or until the cheese starts to get brown. Take out and top with the rest of the bacon and sprinkle of parsley.
That’s it.. I think. One thing, with the sour cream, don’t go to heavy as the stuffing should be firm and not soupy or it will get to runny after baking the second time. Please contact me if you have any questions or suggestions.
