2136. BAKED POTATOES stuffed with BACON, ANCHOVIES and SAGE

makes four servings


4 medium-sized waxy potatoes, skin left on
olive oil
sea salt
4 slices bacon
8 fresh sage leaves
4 good-quality anchovy fillets in oil, drained
1 clove garlic, peeled and sliced lengthwise
1 lemon

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Stick one end of a pineapple or apple corer, or a conventional peeler,

into a potato and twist it round and round as you cut through, as if you were coring an apple — essentially you’re trying to carve out a tube from inside the potato. 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.

Lay out the stuffing for each potato: a slice of bacon topped with 2 sage leaves, an anchovy fillet and a 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 bits sticking out at either end.

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, but this is fine. Put the potatoes on a baking tray and bake about an hour, turning them every so often, until crisp, golden and cooked.


bacon recipe courtesy of: Jamie Oliver, Cook with Jamie | Carolyn Jung, Buffalo News.com, One News Plaza, PO Box 100, Buffalo, New York 14240, August 20, 2010