It’s September so I can start eating all of the heavy, indulgent comfort foods right? Please?!
Last day of Summer isn’t until the 23rd, and it’s still super hot here down in NC. I’m so over it and I’m ready for fall.
This is another recipe where you can swap out for your favourite cheese, protein, or even make them vegetarian if you wish! You know me I’m all for variety when it comes to my recipes, so feel free to make it your own.
Makes 6 servings
What you need:
- 3 large russet potatoes, washed
- 1 tbsp oil
- 1/4 cup unsalted butter, melted
- 3 tbsp whole milk
- 8 oz ham steak, diced into 1 cm cubes
- 2 oz extra sharp cheddar, diced into 1 cm cubes
- 1 green onion, finely sliced
- 2 tbsp fresh parsley, minced
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp ground black pepper
First we’ve got to bake our potatoes for the first time. You can do this in the oven or in the microwave.
First steps are the same:
Scrub clean your potatoes and pat dry. Pierce each potato all over with a fork. Add oil and a light sprinkle of salt and pepper. Turn to coat.
Oven baking:
Preheat oven to 400F, wrap each potato in foil and place directly on oven rack. Bake for one hour.
Microwave:
Place all potatoes on a large plate. Microwave for 5 minutes. Flip over each potato. Microwave for an additional 5 minutes. At this point poke with a fork to check doneness. Microwave 1 minute at a time if you feel it needs more time. I needed an extra 3 minutes for this recipe. DO NOT FORGET TO PIERCE YOUR POTATO BEFORE YOU MICROWAVE THEM. please.
Let your potatoes cool enough to handle them comfortably.
Let’s do this!
Preheat oven to 400F.
- Take each potato and place it on your cutting board. See where it falls naturally and cut it in half so the side it rolled to is the bottom. This just helps your potatoes sit up nicely on the baking sheet.
- With a spoon, gently scoop the potato from the inside of the skin into a large bowl, leaving about 1/2 cm still attached. Be careful and take your time with this. If you rip a bit or poke through it’s not the biggest deal, the filling will adhere it back together!
- To the potato, add butter, milk, salt and pepper and mash until smooth. Add green onion, parsley, diced ham and cheese and stir with a spoon or spatula. Taste this and adjust seasoning if you need to.
- Gently divide the potato mixture back into the potato skins. I honestly found this the easiest to do with my hands. If you have a few torn potato skins, just press them gently back together into the mixture, it should hold.
- Bake for 25 minutes. Turn broiler on and brown the tops for an additional 3-4 minutes. Keep an eye on this.
- Remove from oven and serve!
Enjoy!
