Twice Baked Stuffed Potatoes
This one is great to cook ahead of time and store for when you need it. It's really easy to do, for either a side dish for 4 people or a meal for 2.
2 x large cleaned and scrubbed potatoes
1/2 tablespoon of olive oil
3 shortcut bacon rashers, rind removed, finely chopped OR
100 gms diced bacon from the supermarket
1/4 cup of light sour cream
1/3 cup of grated cheese (packet cheese is easiest)
2 x shallots, thinly sliced
1/4 cup of sun dried tomato strips, drained
Salt and pepper
Put your potatoes on a baking tray covered with baking paper
Drizzle with olive oil and season with salt and pepper as desired
Bake for about 45 minutes in a moderately hot oven (180 degrees) or until almost tender, then add the bacon to the tray for another 15 minutes - check that the potatoes are tender before the next step
Set the potatoes aside to cool and increase the oven temperature to hot (200 - 210 degrees)
Cut the potatoes in half length ways and scoop out the centres, leaving an outer "shell" about 1cm thick
Put the potato guts into a bowl, season with salt and pepper, and mash up
Add the sour cream, sun dried tomato strips and just over half each of the cheese, bacon and shallots - mix everything together thoroughly
Spoon the filling into the potato "shells" and put some more cheese and bacon on top
Put the stuffed potatoes on a wire rack placed over a baking tray lined with baking paper
Bake at the higher heat as mentioned above for about 15 - 20 minutes until heated through
Serve sprinkled with some more shallots
**Any left over stuffed potato mix can be frozen for later use - and it makes great "bubble and squeak" if you add an egg and some breadcumbs**