Double Baked Potato with Ham and Feta

The lowly spud, an absolute must have for some meals, versatile as you’ll get, and can be a meal in itself. So today we’ll cook double baked potato with ham and feta, and it is good! Serve as a side, or, if the potato is big enough, as a meal. I like to pair it with some good soup, like butternut squash soup

There are an infinite way to cook and serve potatoes. Baked potatoes are delicious. And, double baked takes it to the next level. Bake the potato, remove the inside, mix with a few ingredients, put back in the potato skin, and bake some more. And, as usual, there’s a hundred different combinations, but this time we’ll add feta cheese and ham. If you’re not a fan of feta you can swap it for just about any cheese, goat, cheddar, Monterey Jack, the list goes on. But for this one we’re using feta

The potato

The potato, or spud, can trace its roots back to Chile and Peru. It was cultivated there for a few thousand years. However, as people moved around and shared their foods with others the potato found itself moving into North America, and in the 1600’s over to Europe. It’s a member of the deadly nightshade family and the flowers and leaves can be poisonous, but the tubers (the correct name for the potato itself) are obviously not.

Potatoes contain about 25% of your daily vitamin B6 and vitamin C. However baking the potatoes lowers those numbers. Potatoes also have a high GI (glycemic index), so if you’re on a diet you have to watch your intake. But the lowly spud makes up for this in so many other ways. As with most things, moderation is the key

The baked Potato

The best baked potatoes have a crispy skin, and there’s a secret to that. Bake at 425 as usual, but before you bake, rub with a little oil and sprinkle salt, preferably coarse kosher salt. The reason for coarse salt is it doesn’t dissolve during cooking, so you get that salt taste. Just like a salt pretzel. Bake them about an hour, or till they’re cooked.

The Double Baked Potato

Once they’re done, remove them. Cut a lid off the top, using a teaspoon remove the potato from inside the skin and put the skins back in the oven. This will crisp up the skins and make them more rigid to stuff. Put the lids back too. Mash the potato you scooped out and mix with the feta, garlic, ham, parsley and milk. So how much milk? That’s a big question, and a personal preference. Some like their potatoes a little thicker and some not so much. So, add as much as you want to give you the consistency you want.

Now, we’re ready to stuff the skins. Using a teaspoon, stuff the potato mixture back in the skins, press it into all the spaces, pile it as high as you can. Do that to all the potatoes, any that’s left, put onto the lids, they make a little extra for those who want more. Put them back in the oven for another 20 mins, you want to see a little charring on the potato. That’s it, done. Put it on a plate and serve it, Double baked potato with ham and feta, the perfect side