Baked Potatoes with Caviar

We love baked potatoes for dinner in my house. One of the teenager's favorite meals is to take a potato and top it with cheese and a poached egg. Sometimes I contaminate it by adding broccoli, but it is still a popular supper item - click below to see.

Baked Potato with Poached Egg

So I am always on the lookout for baked potato recipes that could serve as a meal unto themselves, and this one was a doozy. The New York Times recently ran a piece on twice-baked potatoes that included a few really tempting recipes, and this was one of them. For those of you who haven't experienced the wonder that is a twice-baked potato, you are basically getting a baked potato and a mashed potato all in one heavenly meal. You bake the potato, cool it a little, scoop out the insides, mash it up with whatever your heart desires, spoon it back into the potato shell, and bake it again until the edges are golden and crusty.

In this case, the potato is rubbed with coarse salt before it is baked so that the salt kind of bakes into the potato skin. (Potato chip-like, if you will.) Then when the potato is nice and baked, the inside is mashed up with creme fraiche (you can also use sour cream), butter, chopped chives and salt and pepper. You stuff this incredible mixture back into the potato, bake it until it is golden, and then...take a deep breath...you top it with a little more creme fraiche and a spoonful of caviar or salmon roe. I found a little jar of inexpensive red caviar right by the canned tuna in my supermarket that worked just perfectly.

The teenager, of course, opted to top hers with a poached egg instead of the caviar and creme fraiche. But the Southern husband and I were in creme fraiche/caviar heaven. Give it a try!

Baked Potatoes with Caviar, from The New York Times

4 large russet potatoes (10 to 12 ounces each), scrubbed well

2 teaspoons kosher salt

1/4 cup crème fraîche, more for serving

2 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature

4 teaspoons chopped chives

1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

2 ounces salmon roe, for topping.

1. Heat oven to 425 degrees. Rub potatoes with 1 1/2 teaspoons salt and pierce twice with a fork (don’t worry if some salt falls off). Place potatoes on a baking sheet and bake until skin is crispy and insides are tender when pierced with a fork, 60 to 70 minutes.

2. When potatoes have cooled enough to handle, use a sharp knife to slice off tops. Scoop out insides, leaving about 1/4 inch around skin; transfer potato flesh to a bowl. Add crème fraîche, butter, chives, remaining 1/2 teaspoon salt and pepper; mash with a fork until combined.

3. Stuff potato skins with potato mixture. Return potatoes to oven and bake until heated through, about 10 minutes. Run under broiler for another 1 to 2 minutes until tops are golden brown and crisp. Serve hot, topped with salmon roe and additional crème fraîche, if desired.

Yield: 4 large servings.

Click here for printable recipe