Unfortunately there are no mashed potatoes here. I grabbed this baked stuffed potato recipe from Jamie Oliver’s new cookbook. I know chefs and cooks, and whoever is on Food Network tells you, you will not taste the anchovy, only salty essence when it’s cooked, but I think between the saltiness of the bacon, and the salt on the outside of the potato may have made the anchovy taste more acute. Granted, I used anchovy paste rather than fillets - but that might have been even better. I didn’t taste the flavors of the stuffing, which seemed strange - garlic, bacon, sage - good stuff. I bought organic chicken sausages at TJ’s, 5 for $4. They were actually a good sweet compliment to the salty potatoes. You could also pair this with pork chops or a nice cheese plate. I bought an apple corer for this recipe, and I’m excited to use this new tool, and make holes in various other foods and then stuff them with more good stuff. Here’s the recipe:

Serves 4 (you can always make more if they’re a side dish)

4 medium sized waxy potatoes, skin left on

olive oil

sea salt

4 slices of bacon

8 fresh sage leaves

4 good quality anchovy fillets in oil, drained

1 clove garlic, sliced lengthways

1 lemon

1. Preheat oven to 400F. Stick one end of a apple corer into your potato and twist in round and round as you cut through, as if you were coring an apple. Keep the cores as you will use them as plugs later. Prick each potato a few times with a fork and rub them in a little olive oil and sea salt.

2. Lay out the stuffing for each potato: a slice of bacon topped with 2 sage leaves, and anchovy fillet and sliver of garlic. Grate over some lemon zest. Fold and twist the stuffing together into a little sausage shape and stuff into each potato. Don’t worry if you have some sticking out at the ends.

3. Cut the potato plugs in half and stuff them back in either end of each potato to keep the stuffing in place. They will stick out a little, and it looks funny, but it’s fine. Put the potatoes on a baking sheet and bake in the oven for about an hour, turning them every so often, until crisp, golden and cooked.

Tags: bangers and mash, Jamie Oliver, potatoes, sausage, stuffed