Hazelnut and Apple Potato Skins

You know when you’re staring round your kitchen, trying to come up with anything to eat to ring the changes from egg on toast, but nothing that requires more than 10 minutes thought because anything hard can get in the bin!? Yes? Probably. I think we’ve all had days like that. Well, that was me a couple of days ago and it happened to coincide with a desperate need to go shopping (the horror!).

Let me set the scene.

What do we have? Eggs? No. Not again. I love you eggs, but three days for both lunch and dinner is too much.

Potatoes! Excellent. Now, what to do with them? Oh well, bung ‘em in to bake while you decide. There must be something.

Potatoes are done!

And there’s… nothing. Beans? No. Tuna? No. Leftovers? If we had those, why would we be panicking? How did this happen!?!? Laziness.

WELL WHAT DO WE HAVE???

Eggs.

NO!!!

In total? Some roast diced hazelnuts, a couple of apples that need using up… oh! And cheese. Cheesy baked potato it is! We’re saved!

Give me a minute!

…

…

OK, so here’s what we’re going to do...

All of that was just me, by the way. I am not that aggressive with my family, promise. So, as you can see things were a bit less than ideal, but something incredible came out of it.

Wanting something a bit more exciting than cheesy baked potato (although it has served me very well over the years) or just because I was feeling awkward, I decided to experiment (there were always eggs as a back-up) and something incredible was born. Filled potato skins with hazelnuts, apple and cheese.

It’s salty, sweet, nutty, filling, potato goodness. You can eat it with your hands, which is perfect for Bonfire Night, if you are going to treat this dish with the respect it deserves, rather than the hunger-panic that induced it. I mean… it’s potato skins. They’re never bad. But these are excellent. After everyone was persuaded to try them, repeat orders were put in immediately.

Seriously. These are good.

And they are vegetarian!

Quantities vary according to how many you are making, so the instructions will be a bit vague (hunger-panic, remember)

1. Peel 1 apple and dice into very small pieces.  Throw in a bowl along with a handful of diced roasted hazelnuts and cheese.
2. Cut your baked potato(es) in half and scoop out the insides, putting the scooped potato in the bowl with the other ingredients.
3. Mash everything together with a fork. Take a handful (or spoonful, if you are feeling fancy) and shove it back into the potato skin. Repeat until all skins are filled.
4. Bake at 180°C for 20 minutes.
5. Serve!

Pair with

Mango Frapple. I grabbed it and it went really well. The taste fairies were on my side

https://courtneys.online/cider...