Ingredient of the Week

Scotty Brand Baked Potatoes

This weekend will see lots of people heading to Bonfire Nights, so it’s the ideal time for friends and family to get together and heat up afterwards with a delicious roasting hot baked potato for tea.

It doesn’t really matter what you fill them with – anything goes really, but for me it is all about the potato itself.

So how do you cook the perfect jacket potato. Should you prick it first? Wrap it in foil? Start in the microwave first to give it a head start? Well, I like to jab the potato a few times with a fork or sharp knife, roll in olive oil and coat in a bit of sea salt. Some people like to spear their potatoes with a metal skewer, as this makes them cook more quickly. Now there is science behind this technique as the metal rapidly conducts heat to the inside of the potato, speeding up the cooking process.

However you decide to cook them, the most important (and delicious) thing to do is to eat the skin.

The skin not only tastes amazing but is so good for you as it can contain around half of the potato’s fibre and is jam-packed with vitamins and nutrients.

All that’s left to do is to fill with your ingredient of choice; baked beans, cheese and tuna are still the traditional classic fillings. Or why not do as I like to do, and fill with leftover chilli, curries and casseroles, the fluffy potatoes soak up all the juices and flavours.

If you do have any cooked baked potatoes left over, scoop out the fluffy inside as they make the most delicious mash, as there is less moisture absorbed.

But don’t waste the skin – grate some cheese on the top and melt. Delicious.

by Jak O’Donnell Scottish chef and patron of the Sisters Restaurant, Glasgow