Baked Potato Pesto

Recently, I've realized that I really like POTATOES. I've already successfully replicated the Creamy Potato Gratin that I loved during my college days. Now, it was time to try making some potato jackets and fill them up with nothing else but potatoes!

I came across this recipe for Pesto Baked Potato on Pinterest, and I knew I just had to try it out, with a few tweaks, of course.

So, here are things you'll be needing:

Equipment:
Any baking pan (I used my non-stick square pan)

Ingredients: Makes 2 servings
1 lb potato, washed
Garlic
Onion
150g cream
1 tbsp pesto sauce
Salt and pepper
Parmesan cheese, grated


Preheat your oven to 400F. Pinch your washed potatoes for about 6-8 times.

Pat the potatoes dry, then brush on some olive oil and rub with some sea salt. Bake the potato for about an hour or until it is tender.

 

When the potato has been in the oven for about 30 minutes, butter up a pan over low heat and toss in the garlic and onions.

When garlic starts to brown, put in the heavy cream. Season with salt and pepper.

When cream starts to simmer, add in the pesto sauce. Leave the sauce to cool until potatoes are done.

Once potatoes are done, cut them in half using thongs to hold them steady. Leave the oven on low heat while preparing potatoes.

Scoop out some of the potatoes, making sure to leave some on with the skin.

Mix the scooped potatoes with the creamy pesto sauce, then put some into each of the potato jackets.

For one of the potato jackets, I added some peanuts to see if the added texture would really make it better.

Top the potatoes with some parmesan cheese.

Pop the potatoes back into the hot oven for about 10-15 minutes. Serve hot.

In my opinion, this dish is good by itself, but it can also be a side dish as suggested in the original recipe. Since I had nothing to serve it with, I ended up eating the entire thing for lunch.

Oh, and the peanuts did make it more interesting, but I still love good old fashioned potatoes by themselves. ^_~

Creamy Potato Gratin

When I set my goal of avoiding fried foods, I didn't realize that I would be limiting almost all my meals. I didn't realize that I had been eating a lot of fried dishes for almost every meal. So, to overcome the challenge, I decided to try out new dishes.

Recently, I've been craving for baked potatoes, so I bought four large potatoes. But when I tried looking for a recipe, most of them had bacon in them, which I'm also trying to limit since it has a lot of fat in it. For a few minutes, I was worried that I bought the large potatoes for nothing. Then I remembered that there used to be this small Italian fast food restaurant, called Big Apple, in front of our university. My friends and I loved their pizzas, and I most especially loved their potato gratin.

And so, I started searching for recipes to try out for a creamy potato gratin. In the end, I had to alter some of the recipes I found since I wanted my dish to focus more on the potatoes, and I also didn't like onions in my potato gratin.

Here's what I came up with:

CREAMY POTATO GRATIN: Makes 6 servings

Equipment:
Non-stick square baking pan (8x8)

Ingredients:
2 lb potatoes, washed, peeled and sliced
Butter
Garlic, lots of it
1 can (300g) all purpose cream
McCormick Creamy Garlic Perfect Pasta Sauce Mix (optional)
Salt and Pepper
Parmesan and Cheddar or Mozzarella cheese

After you have washed, peeled and sliced your potatoes, keep them in a bowl of water so that they won't turn brown while you prepare the sauce. Preheat your oven to 325F.

Now for the sauce. First, butter a pan over low heat.

When butter has melted, add the garlic and saute until golden brown.

Add the all purpose cream, sauce mix if being used, salt and pepper, and mix well.

When mixture starts to simmer, add potatoes and allow to cook until sauce starts to simmer again.

Pour the potatoes and the creamy mixture onto the square non-stick pan. Top with cheese. For better results, use fresh parmesan, cheddar or mozzarella cheese.

Place into oven and bake for 40-50 minutes or until potatoes are tender and cheese had melted. I made a mistake of leaving mine on for an hour since I forgot to take into account that I used less potatoes compare to the recipes I found. And so, I ended up with a little burnt cheese on top since I used the dried and grated cheese, but my potatoes were still perfectly tender.

If you're not going to eat all of it right away, wait for the dish to cool completely, before covering and placing in the refrigerator. It can be reheated in the microwave for 2-3 minutes. 

Happy eating!