Mary Berry shared four of her “posh” baked potato fillings, which all taste scrumptious.
“Choose one or more of these lovely fillings to make a change from plain jacket potatoes,” Mary Berry said.
“Each topping is enough for four potatoes or eight halves.”
Perfect for feeding a crowd, baked potatoes make the ideal family meal without too much faff.
Taken from the iconic cook’s Mary Berry’s Simple Comforts cookbook, her recipe takes less than 30 minutes to prepare.
Ingredients
- Four large baking potatoes, washed and dried
- Two tbsp milk
- Knob of butter
- Olive oil, to drizzle
- Two tbsp chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper
For the pesto topping:
- Three tbsp basil pesto
- 75g Parmesan, coarsely grated
For the bacon and mushroom topping:
- Four rashers bacon, cut into small pieces
- 50g button mushrooms, sliced
- 75g mature cheddar, grated
For the spring onion and soured cream topping:
- One tbsp olive oil
- Four spring onions, chopped
- Four generous tbsp soured cream
- Paprika, for dusting
For the pepper and goats’ cheese topping:
- Two large red peppers, halved, seeds removed and roasted until soft, or two chargrilled peppers from a jar
- One tbsp soft goat’s cheese
- One tbsp chopped fresh basil leaves
Method
Preheat the oven to 220C (200C fan/gas seven). Bake the potatoes for about an hour, or until soft in the middle. Slice the potatoes in half and scoop out the flesh into a bowl. Stir in the milk and butter.
Stir in the topping of your choice and season with salt and pepper. Spoon the mixture back into the potato skins.
Toppings
For the bacon and mushroom topping:
Fry the bacon until crisp, then add the mushrooms and fry over high heat for a few minutes.
For the spring onion and soured cream topping:
Heat the oil over high heat and fry the spring onions until soft. Stir into the potato flesh along with the soured cream.
For the pepper and goat’s cheese topping:
Cut the roasted peppers into strips and stir them into the potato flesh along with the goat’s cheese and basil.
Baking the potatoes continued:
Transfer the potatoes to a roasting tin. Scatter over the Parmesan (for pesto topping) or Cheddar (for bacon and mushroom topping), or dust with paprika (for spring onion topping).
Drizzle over a little olive oil and return to the oven for about 15 minutes, or until the topping is golden and the skins are crisp. Sprinkle with chopped parsley and serve hot.
