Twice Baked Mash

 

If you are looking for a worthy candidate for a side dish for your Easter dinner this year, look no further.  Twice Baked Mash just might be exactly what you are looking for.  Its delicious. Its simple.  It goes with everything, and everyone loves it!

 

When I was a child, my mother sometimes made twice baked potatoes.  When that happened, we were all happy campers!  She would carefully scoop out the potato pulp from the baked potatoes and mash it together with milk, butter, seasoning and chopped onion and then pile it back into the potato skins and bake then in the oven again until the potato flesh got a nice golden crust on it.  They were so good and a real treat!

 

As a grown up, and with more sophisticated tastes, I added extras to them, like cheese and bacon.  Spring onions were more available, so I added those as well as their flavour was milder than the regular onions my mother would have used. They mimicked somewhat the baked potatoes and options for topping them that were often available in restaurants.

 

It wasn't much of a stretch to replace the butter in the old fashioned ones with cream cheese and sour cream, other things that were becoming more readily available, and adding bacon was another treat!

 

This recipe today is a rif on all of that except that there is no baking of the potatoes, scooping them out, etc.  You just simply peel and boil potatoes as if to make mashed potatoes. 

 Herbed cream cheese gets mashed into them along with a quantity of dairy sour cream . . . feel free to use low fat versions without any problems.

 

Crisp rashers of bacon are crumbled and stirred in along with some minced spring onions and some seasoning . . . you can leave the bacon out if you want to or if you are watching the fat and  calories. 

 

For special occasions, like Easter, I go full fat and leave in the bacon.  After all it is a celebration meal.  Spread it all into a buttered shallow casserole dish and sprinkle some strong cheddar cheese over top and bake . . .

 

Until all the ingredients meld together in a creamy deliciousness and that cheese melts on top . . .

 

You simply garnish the finished dish with more chopped spring onions to serve and everyone's a happy camper.

 

Oh boy but this is some good . . .  rich, creamy and delicious.  Going well with any roast and in particular roast ham, which is what we have had for Easter Dinner my whole life. 

 

*Twice Baked Mash*
Serves 6

Printable Recipe 

 This makes an excellent side dish and goes with just about everything.

6 medium sized potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks
115g herbed cream cheese, softened (4 ounces)
60g sour cream (1/2 cup)
1 spring onion, finely chopped
4 slices of streaky bacon, cooked until crisp and then crumbled
1/2 tsp black pepper
1/4 tsp salt
60g  grated strong cheddar cheese (1/2 cup)
to garnish:
additional chopped spring onion

 

Preheat the oven to 180*C/350*F/gas mark 4.  Butter a large shallow baking dish. (2 litre/2qt)  Set aside.

Place the potatoes into a pot of lightly salted water.  Bring to the boil, then simmer, partially covered, for 15 to 20 minutes or until tender and cooked through.  Drain well and then return to the pot and mash well with a potato masher until smooth.  Stir in the cream cheese, sour cream, spring onions, bacon bits, seasoned pepper and salt, mixing all in until well combined.  Taste and adjust seasoning as necessary.  Spoon this mixture into the prepared baking dish.  Sprinkle the shredded cheddar cheese evenly over top.

Bake in the heated oven for 20 minutes.  Remove from the oven, sprinkle the additional onions on top and serve.

 

Another plus for this dish is that it is very easily made ahead of time.  Just make it up, sprinkle on the cheese and then refrigerate covered until you are ready to bake it, removing it from the refrigerator and  bringing it to room temperature prior to baking.  Its also a GREAT take-along, so works well if you have been asked to bring a side dish to a friend or family celebration dinner or covered dish supper!  This really is a winning side dish.  Bon Appetit!