STUFFED POTATOES WITH BLUE CHEESE AND BACON #englishrecipes

As we promised you in our last published recipe, Salmon and Shrimp meatballs in Homemade Tomato sauce, this week we are cooking and sharing with you “Stuffed Potatoes with Blue Cheese and Bacon”. This dish is very tasty and yummy and is really easy to prepare as you will now find out.  These are great to serve as an appetizer or to accompany meat, fish or fowl :-)

But before we share our recipe, we’d like to recognize some of the benefits of including potatoes, today’s protagonist, in our diet.

One medium-size potato has just 110 calories and is absolutely fat-, sodium and cholesterol free, making them downright essential for any diet.  But the power of the potato doesn’t stop there. Potatoes are an excellent source of vitamin C (45% of the Daily Value (DV)), which is more vitamin C than one medium tomato (40% DV) or sweet potato (30% DV). 

Besides, potatoes are a good source of potassium…more potassium than a banana.

One medium potato with the skin contributes 2 grams of fiber or 8% DV per serving. 

Potatoes are also a good source of vitamin B6, with one medium potato providing 10% of the recommended DV.

Additionally, one medium potato provides 6% of the recommended daily value of iron.

And now it is time to show you our recipe. We really hope you enjoy it:

INGREDIENTS:

* 6 Potatoes

* 2½-3 oz. (75 grs.) Blue Cheese, crumbled

* 3½ oz. (100 grs.) Bacon, roughly 3-4 slices uncooked bacon, chopped

* 1 Leek

* 1/2 of a Zucchini

* 2 Eggs

* 2 Tbls. Whole Milk

* 2 Tbls. Olive Oil 

* Ground Black pepper

* Salt

PREPARATION:

* We are going to start by washing the potatoes and then we are going to bake them, unpeeled, in an oven preheated to 355 ºF (180ºC), for 45 minutes until they get fork tender.

* Remove from the oven and let them cool down.  Carefully cut the tops off of the potatoes.  Carefully spoon out a nest for the filling, taking care that our potatoes don’t break apart, and then we cut up the removed potato pulp into small dices.

* We are now going to prepare the stir fried filling. We crack the eggs and separate the egg yolks from the egg whites.  Retain both.

* We peel the 1/2 zucchini, wash it, dry it and then we are going to grate it.

* We then clean the leek, wash it and dice it too.

* In a frying pan we are going to add some olive oil, place on med-high heat, then begin by sautéing the diced leek, then add the diced bacon.  Stir often and sauté for 8 minutes.

* We add the zucchini and continue sautéing for 3 more minutes.

* Remove from the burner, and then we add the potato pulp, the crumbled blue cheese, the milk, the egg yolks and some salt and black pepper.  Stir.

* We whip the egg whites until firm peaks form and stir into the mix.

* We then fill the potatoes with this stuffing mixture and then we are going to grill them in the oven until the tops are golden brown. 

And they are ready to serve at the table as starter or as side dish for meat or fish dishes. Enjoy your meal and have a great week.