2011 January — A Southern Fairytale

[donotprint]Rich, Creamy, Filling, Cheesy, Gooey, Spicy, Delicious, Creamy —

So very, very many tonguegasmic adjectives could be used to describe this wonderful dish from my childhood.

This is a combination of two of my favorite dishes from childhood — grilled sausage links and twice baked potatoes.

My Dad used to make these for us and every time that I make them, I’m taken back.

I love the simplicity and deliciousness of twice baked potatoes — crisp skins, fluffy, buttery, garlicky, cheesy topped potatoes that are taken to the next level by filling them with spicy sliced grilled sausage.

These are so easy to make:

Cook 6 potatoes, and slice them in half

I find that I get the best results when I stick my knife straight down into the center of the potato and then push down from there to cut it in half.

Use a spoon to scoop out the insides of the potatoes — they don’t have to be perfect, but you do want to leave enough to create a good shell.

Put the insides of the potatoes into a mixer with 3/4 C warm milk, 1 stick butter, 1 Tbsp garlic salt and pepper to taste. Whip them together until they’ve reached your desired texture — more milk for creamier and fluffier potatoes* Make sure that you stick a spoon into the bowl to taste the potatoes TASTE — not devour by the giant spoonful

Once the potatoes have reached the consistency that makes you want to dive into the bowl with your fingers a spoon, add in your chopped/sliced cooked sausage.

I use 1 whole sausage link per 8 prepared potato halves

Now comes the fun part — fill your potato halves with the tonguegasmic potato/sausage mixture

Top the potato halves with cheese and place in the 370 F oven

Remove from the oven after 25 minutes, or when the cheese is melted and bubbly and the insides are hot

You really don’t *need* a side dish with these but, Nathan loves to eat these with saltines and sliced apples

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Recipe: Twice Baked Sausage Stuffed Potatoes

Ingredients

6 potatoes, baked
1 stick butter
1 sausage link, cooked
garlic salt and pepper, to taste
shredded cheese, about 2 C

Instructions

Cook the potatoes and set aside
pre-heat the oven to 370 F
Using a hot pad, hold the potato and slice each one in half length-wise. I have found that putting a sharp knife, point down in the middle of the potato and cutting down from there, leaves me with the most intact potato
scoop out the insides, leaving enough potato in the shell so that the sides are sturdy
put the potato insides into a mixing bowl and the potato halves in a baking dish (6 whole potatoes for me, means 10 potato halves in the dish)
Whip together the potato insides, 1 stick of butter, 1 Tbsp garlic salt & pepper to taste
slowly add warm milk, up to 3/4 Cup, whipping together until the potato mixture has reached your favorite consistency, don’t hesitate to reach in and scoop out a taste or two you want to make sure they’re tonguegasmic, after all
add in one chopped/sliced sausage link and mix it all together.
stuff each potato half with the mixture and then top with cheese
bake in the oven until the insides are hot and the cheese is all bubbly and melted and yummy

Variations

* roasted garlic is a delicious addition, instead of garlic salt * sour cream and cream cheese both add a ridiculous creaminess and texture to the potatoes

[donotprint]After 3 weeks — we resorted to wiping my laptop clean and restoring it to factory settings — these are the first pictures imported onto the newly restored MacBook. None of them have been edited and I’m exhausted I hope this all makes sense!

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