Twice Baked and Loaded

I've been craving that ever-so-famous, ooey, gooey spinach artichoke dip lately and decided to combine it with some lovely looking Russet potatoes I have also been craving. This was an experiment because I wasn't sure the two would work well together, and (confession here) I've never made a twice baked potato. So join me while I take you on my Sunday afternoon cooking adventure.

Roasted Garlic, Spinach, and Artichoke Twice Baked Potatoes
serves 4 (1/2 stuffed potato per person)

2 medium to large Russet potatoes scrubbed
3 T butter
2-3 T half and half
pinch or two of kosher salt

Roasted Garlic
1 small head of garlic
1 T olive oil
1/2 tsp coarse sea salt
1/4 tsp ground black pepper


The Dip
4 oz neufchatel cheese (lower fat cream cheese) softened to room temp
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1/4 cup reduced fat shredded Mozzarella cheese
1/4 cup lite sour cream
1/4 cup lite mayonnaise
1/4 cup frozen chopped spinach thawed or defrosted in the microwave, then squeezed dry to remove any liquid
4 whole artichoke hearts (from a can), drained and chopped
1 head of roasted garlic
1/4 tsp kosher salt
1 tsp hot sauce

To roast the garlic: Pre heat oven to 400 degrees. Place a baking sheet in the oven as it pre heats. Remove some of the outer layers of the garlic skin if they are plentiful. Cut the top off the head of the garlic and place on a piece of aluminum foil. Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with sea salt and pepper. Seal the foil and place on pre-heated baking sheet. Roast 30-40 minutes. Allow to cool slightly and squeeze the roasted pulp into your mixing bowl (discard the skin).

While garlic is cooling, bake your scrubbed potatoes in the already preheated 400 degree oven for 1 hour. Before baking, I poke my potatoes with a fork to allow steam to escape, although I'm not sure if that is necessary. While potatoes are cooking, make the dip, and that's a pretty simple task. Combine all ingredients with a flexible spatula, taste and see if you need more hot sauce. I stuck with the 1 teaspoon, but was debating whether or not I wanted to add some chopped water chestnuts to the mix for a nice crunch, but opted against that as well.

Remove potatoes from oven and when they are cool enough to handle, slice them in half and carefully hollow out the pulp and place in small mixing bowl. I wasn't as careful as I should have been and ripped one. Lesson here: Next time I will make at least one extra potato. Also, leave about 1/4 inch of potato clinging to the skin. It makes for a sturdier package. Oh, now is a good time to set your oven to 350 degrees, getting ready for the second bake.

In mixing bowl add 3 T softened butter and 2 or 3 T half and half to the potato pulp. I added a pinch of salt as well, just because potatoes love to be salted.

I tried to get my mixture as smooth and silky as possible. Now take your artichoke dip and add it to the luxurious potatoes.

Combine well and fill your potato canoes. Top with a little extra mozzarella cheese and bake in 350 degree oven for 20 minutes.

Don't you just want to dig into this little bit of decadence? I went right for the middle one with the slightly browned cheese on top.

Make Yourself Comfortable

Craving comfort food? I sure am. This little gem managed to get me out of the bad mood I've been in due to the constant snow that has invaded New England for 2-1/2 weeks. Oh yes, 2 or 3 more days of shoveling, salting, are sanding are in the forecast, not to mention an additional 12 to 15 inches of the white stuff. When we have a snowy winter like this one, I always try to keep bread, eggs, cheese, cream and butter in the house.  One of the reasons is so that I have an excuse to comfort myself with this decadent strata. It's great right out of the oven, and almost as good at room temp. Here's the recipe.

Ham and Cheese Strata
Serves 9

Cooking spray
2 T unsalted butter
8 slices hearty white bread cubed 1" pieces
2 cups grated sharp cheddar cheese
4 oz honey ham sliced 1" pieces
2 scallions chopped
5 large eggs
1-3/4 cups fat free half and half
1/8 tsp cayenne pepper
1 tsp kosher salt
1/4 tsp black pepper

Ready to assemble this cheesy, buttery, savory concoction? I sure am.

Spray an 8" x 8" baking dish and set aside. On stovetop on low, melt butter in small saucepan and remove to cool. Place half the bread cubes on top of the sprayed baking dish.

Sprinkle with 1-1/2 cups of cheese. Top with all the ham and chopped scallions. Add the rest of the cubed bread and the remaining cheese.

Set the baking dish aside and make the custard: Whisk together eggs, half and half, melted butter, cayenne pepper, salt and pepper. Pour this liquid gold over your ham, cheese and bread mixture.

Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for about 2 hours (or longer shouldn't hurt), letting the custard soak into all the elements of the dish. About an hour before you're ready to bake, remove dish from fridge and let come to room temperature.

Pre heat oven to 325 degrees. Bake 50-60 minutes in middle rack on oven. All ovens are different, so start checking for brown-ness at about 40 minutes. Remove from oven, let rest about 10 minutes before serving. I slice into 9 squares. Doesn't that look comforting?

There are so many ways to re-mix this recipe...add some Dijon mustard to the custard. Place a layer of roasted red peppers or softened sun dried tomatoes on the ham and cheese. Of course some chopped, cooked bacon would be heavenly as well. One of my favorites is blue cheese and caramelized onions. You can even make this on a sweet note, with cottage cheese, raisins and cinnamon. There are so many ways to make yourself comfortable, I suggest you give a strata a try!