Welcome to the world of twice-baked potatoes, where the focus is on presentation. Because really, twice-baked potatoes is just another way to display really good mashed potatoes. And it looks much better on your plate than a glop of potatoes, don’t you think? This does require a bit more effort, but not too much more — and Shavuos is the perfect excuse.
Start by washing your potatoes and patting them dry. Any size is okay. Just keep in mind that a big potato will be a big twice-baked potato (only prettier). Wrap them in foil and bake until soft (along with a head of garlic drizzled in oil).
As soon as the baked potatoes have cooled enough to handle, cut off the top third (give or take) of each one and scoop out all that potato flesh. Leave some potato in there to help hold the shape of the skin. Don’t worry, they don’t have to be perfect.
Now match up the larger and smaller potato skins, and place the smaller one inside its matching larger one. This is a nice little trick I picked up from Chef John, who points out that doing this gives the potatoes greater height, which means an even better presentation. He’s right.
Then you mash the potato insides with lots of good stuff — those roasted garlic cloves, some butter, some milk, and a nice amount of sour cream. Season to taste, mix in an egg, and your filling is done. This is how I like my mashed potatoes, but switch it up to suit your preferences. You really can’t mess it up. Just taste it before adding the egg so you can adjust as needed.
Stuff those waiting potato skins until you can’t stuff them any more. Then top with cheese and paprika and bake for 20 minutes, just to cook that egg and melt the cheese and heat everything through.
In theory, you should be able to use all of the mashed potato filling to stuff your skins, but if you have extra, you can bake it up alongside the skins in a small dish or ramekin. As the chef, you have first dibs on it.
And there they are — mashed potatoes, all styled up for yom tov. Wasn’t that worth it?
One year ago: mustard dill potato salad
Yield: 6 twice-baked potatoes
Ingredients
- 6 medium potatoes (or the equivalent — some big, some small)
- 1 head garlic
- 2 tsp olive oil
- ½ cup sour cream
- 2 Tbsp unsalted butter
- 2 Tbsp milk
- salt and pepper, to taste
- 1 egg
- ½ cup shredded cheese, any kind
- paprika
Directions
1. Preheat the oven to 400 F/200 C. Scrub the potatoes clean, dry them, and wrap each one individually in aluminum foil. Slice off the top of the garlic head and drizzle olive oil over the exposed cloves. Wrap the garlic in its own foil packet and place everything on a baking tray. Bake for 1 hour, or until the potatoes are easily pierced with a knife and the garlic cloves are soft and golden. Reduce heat to 350 F/180 C.
2. Let the potatoes cool briefly, until they are safe to handle but still hot enough that they will melt the butter when you mash the two together. Slice potatoes lengthwise, cutting off the top third. Scoop out the inside of both pieces, leaving a thin layer of potato in each skin to help keep its shape. Collect all of the scooped-out potato in a medium bowl. Set skins aside, putting the matching pieces together to make things easy later.
3. Squeeze the roasted garlic cloves into the bowl. Add sour cream, butter, and milk, and mash until smooth. Add salt and pepper to taste, then add the egg and mix until combined.
4. Place each top potato skin inside its matching larger (bottom) skin. This gives height to the potato, making the presentation even better. Fill each with the mashed potato mixture until they’re basically overflowing. If you really can’t use it all up, you can bake the extras in an oiled ramekin.
5. Top each stuffed potato with shredded cheese, pressing it gently onto the top of the potato to make sure it stays put. Dust with paprika and bake for 20 minutes. If you like, put the tray under the broiler for 5-7 minutes afterward to get the cheese brown and crispy. Serve hot.
If there’s one time of year that you’re going to make a recipe from a vegetarian blog, I’m guessing it’s Shavuos. To make things a little easier for you, I’ve collected 69 71 dairy dishes from the 22 months I’ve been blogging. (Not every last dairy recipe on the blog is included. I assume most people won’t be serving grilled cheese for yom tov.)
I’m still working on my menu, but I’ll share it next Sunday. Make sure to come back before then for two new cheesy dishes just in time for Shavuos.
Breads & Spreads
- Honey beer bread muffins (use butter!)
- Garlic brown-butter breadsticks
- Dilled dairy quick bread
- Homemade cream cheese
- Tzatziki cream cheese
- Creamy roasted garlic dip
- Tzatziki (sour cream dip)
Appetizers
- Cheesy spinach cups
- Baked cheesy vegetable crocks (use ramekins if you have them!)
- Carrot and feta fritters
- Barley & pecan stuffed zucchini
- Eggplant parmesan stacks
- Homemade potato knishes
- Lasagna roll-ups with tomato bechamel
Soups
- Lasagna soup
- Gazpacho (sour cream dollop required!)
- Zucchini potato soup
- Carrot rice soup
- French onion soup
- Pumpkin black bean soup
- Red pepper fennel soup
- A fun accompaniment to any dairy soup: easy cheese twists
Salads
- Mango couscous salad
- Greek tabbouleh salad
- Dairy cucumber dill salad
- Creamy cilantro dressing
- As a salad topper: easy cheese twists
Side Dishes
- Dairy noodle kugel with mushrooms and roasted garlic
- Cheesey twice-baked potatoes
- Savory tuna crepes with mushrooms and mozzarella
- Homemade pierogi
- Creamy mushroom barley pilaf
- Brown-butter butternut squash with thyme
- Eggplant parmesan stacks
- Lasagna roll-ups with tomato bechamel
- Sweet cheese blintzes
- Mini mushroom souffles
Quiche
Pasta
- Peas & shells alfredo
- Penne a la vodka
- Roasted red pepper sauce with fusili
- Creamy roasted butternut penne
- Bissli-topped tuna casserole
- Creamy bow-ties with peas and tuna
- Cheesy pierogi lasagna
- White lasagna with mushrooms
- Lasagna roll-ups with tomato bechamel
- Dairy noodle kugel with mushrooms and roasted garlic
- Peanut noodle salad
Other Main Dishes
- Seared tilapia with butter and lemon juice
- Mushroom barley pie
- Potato, panir, and pea curry
- Upside-down vegetable towers
Desserts
- Mint chocolate ice cream sandwiches
- Ice cream caramel bonbons
- Creamy dreamy vanilla ice cream
- Blue & white cheesecake squares
- Brownie mosaic cheesecake
- Seriously good blondies (can use any mix-ins)
- Brown-butter apple galette with a caramel drizzle
- Brown-butter chocolate chip coconut cake
- Coconut cake
- Chocolate chip coffee cake
- Brown-butter doubly delicious crazy cookies
- Brown-butter mint chocolate chip cookies
- Lace cookies
- Sugar-coated pumpkin spice mini muffins
Drinks
Snacks
Remember the homemade cream cheese we talked about a few days ago? How it’s super cheap and easy and boasts a fluffy, creamy texture?
Now it’s time to flavor it. You can go sweet or savory. There are so many kinds on my to-try list. Roasted peppers! Sun-dried tomatoes! Cinnamon raisin! But you have to start somewhere, and I started with tzatziki.
Tzatziki is traditionally a sour cream-based dip with scallions, dill, garlic, and grated cucumber. It’s wonderful with latkes, fish, and potato blintzes (as we discovered on Pesach). The cream cheese version is another way to get your tzatziki fix, and happily, it’s just as refreshing.
It works as a spread (Shavuos challah, anybody?) or a dip (veggie sticks just got really exciting, huh?). But you might just want to eat it with a spoon.
And that’s cool, too.
One year ago: mint brownies
Yield: 1 cup
Ingredients
- 1 cup cream cheese
- 1 cucumber, peeled and grated
- 1 scallion, thinly sliced
- 1 tsp dried dill (or 1 Tbsp fresh dill, chopped)
- 1 garlic clove, crushed (omit if fresh garlic is too strong for you)
Directions
1. Place all ingredients in a small bowl and mix until evenly combined. Store in an airtight container in the fridge.
Look at this stuff! I am seriously never buying cream cheese again. How is it that it’s so easy — and so cheap — to make it at home, and I’ve never tried it until now?
The texture is wonderful. It’s thick (but light!) and creamy, and it’s perfectly spreadable. And did I mention cheap? This recipe yields 1 cup of cream cheese, and the ingredients cost me 5 shekels. Buying the same amount of ready-made cream cheese would cost 12 shekels. Big savings, guys.
Ready to start? You’ll need two containers (200 ml each) of 15% shamenet chamutza. The American equivalent would be sour cream, but since I haven’t tried this with American products, I can’t promise you the same results. (If you’ve tried it in the States or elsewhere, please leave a comment!)
Mix ¼ tsp salt into each container. Sure, you could spoon them both into a bowl and then mix in a half-teaspoon. But why dirty an extra bowl, right? Right.
Now you need a cloth. You can use a cheesecloth, but a thin burping cloth is actually an awesome substitute. I know that sounds bad, but as long as you use a new cloth and designate it for the kitchen, you’re totally fine.
Scoop the shamenet out into your waiting cloth. It doesn’t look too pretty yet, but don’t worry. It’s going to get better.
Bring the ends together and tie the cloth to a faucet. The idea is that the liquid will drip out and drain into the sink, but you could also tie it somewhere else and just place a bowl underneath. About ¼ cup of liquid will drain out, so we’re not talking buckets here.
Leave it like that overnight, or for about 8 hours. I was worried about spoilage (who leaves sour cream out overnight??), so the fact that the kitchen was cool made me feel better. And when I opened it up eight and a half hours later, it looked like…
…that! Cream cheese! Woah!
At that point, I stuck the whole thing in the fridge until I was ready to check it out for real. Then I scooped it into a container and smushed it around with a fork. The texture was unreal…I might have said something about that already.
And the taste? Awesome. Because it tastes like cream cheese! And you made it! With virtually no effort!
It’s ready to be used at this point, so if you prefer plain cream cheese, you’re all set. But if you like a little flavoring, the possibilities are basically infinite. Come back soon and I’ll show you one of my favorites.
One year ago: almond supermodels
Yield: About 1 cup
Ingredients
- 400 ml 15% shamenet chamutza (Israeli sour cream)
- ½ tsp salt
You will also need:
- 1 cheesecloth (a thin burping cloth works perfectly)
Directions
1. Mix salt into shamenet chamutza. Scoop into the cloth, bring the ends together, and tie it over a faucet. Leave it to drain overnight, or for about 8 hours.
2. Transfer your now-finished cream cheese from the cloth to a container and smush it around with a fork to break it up a bit. Flavor as desired (or leave plain). Store refrigerated in a sealed container.
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