Tonight’s recipe

Twice-baked potatoes with blue cheese, mushrooms and balsamic onions

Serves 3 Ingredients

4 baking potatoes

4 small red onions, peeled and left whole

1 tbsp olive oil

60g butter

300g chestnut mushrooms (field or button would also work), roughly chopped

1 large garlic clove, finely chopped

100g soft blue cheese like Saint Agur or Gorgonzola, crumbled 1 tbsp cream cheese

1 tbsp balsamic vinegar

1 small bunch of parsley, roughly chopped

Method

Preheat the oven to 200C/gas 6.

 Dunk the potatoes under running water. Sprinkle with salt, prick the skin and pop on a baking tray in the oven for 50 minutes. Then add the onions to the tray and drizzle each with a little oil. Bake for half an hour alongside the potatoes. The onions should be cooked through but still a little firm.

 Meanwhile, set a frying pan over a medium heat. Melt the butter and, when it’s foaming, add the mushrooms. Fry until well browned, then add the garlic and cook for a minute before turning off the heat. Add two thirds of the cheese and leave to melt in the heat of the pan. Toss the mushrooms in the melted cheese.

 When the potatoes and onions are done, split the potatoes in half and scoop out the flesh. Use a fork to mix it with plenty of black pepper, a little salt and the cream cheese. Fill three of the skins with all the potato mixture (discard the fourth skin, or crisp it up in the oven and give everyone a crispy potato shard). Top with the remaining blue cheese and pop under a hot grill until golden and bubbling.

Halve the onions. Set a small saucepan over a medium heat, pour in the balsamic and when it’s bubbling add the onions to the pan and toss in the hot vinegar.

To serve, spoon the mushrooms over the potatoes and give everyone a few onion petals and a drizzle of balsamic. Add parsley.