tiny baked potatoes
hi friends, lovers, & people probably related to me —
138 — a lot has happened since i last wrote — we went to cleveland, i threw a big party, i turned 31, kennedy turned 1, i had my last peaches, tomatoes & lake dips of the season, i sliced off part of my thumb, kiera & jeremy got married, molly turned 18, the maybe baby girlies went on our annual cabin trip, we finished the OC, brendan turned 29, kate moved back to portland, mi tocaya & daisies both still hold up as v. nice dinners you can get in logan square on a whim without a reservation. janel turned 32, we went to mexico city (more on that later but it was so GOOD)! suzanna had her baby, meg meg turned 23, i had my first farmers mkt apple (pink lady, ofc), i acquired 3 new cookbooks, i also cooked a lot of things but only some of them were good & interesting. & in the midst of all of that work also got ridiculously busy. so i accidently on purpose ended up taking some time away from this newsletter. but we’re so back*
you’re supposed to sing the title of this issue to the tune of tiny dancer — c’mon, it’ll be fun
i’ve always liked baked potatoes but mostly bc they served as a vehicle for butter, cheddar cheese, sour cream, scallions, bacon & black pepper. so really i was in it for the toppings. or what i really just wanted was potato skins, that would be really fun. the rest of the potato sans toppings was never crispy or tender enough for me. a russet potato is good for lots of things (potato chips, french fries, etc.) but they are not small or cute enough for this. a small yellow or yukon gold potato are perfect here they get a nice crispy exterior and plush and tender interior. so good with just a little butter & salt but that’s for another day. today we are making tiny baked potatoes! these are not a full meal so you’ll need one other thing to round it out — unless you decide to eat all four of them.
ingredients
4-6 small yellow or yukon gold potatoes depending size/ how many people you are making these for, you want to be able to easily hold 1-2 of them in your hand.
salted butter
medium cheddar
sour cream
bacon
scallions
salt
pepper
olive oil
steps
1st pre-heat your oven to 400, wash & dry your potatoes. prick them all a little bit with fork, roll them in a bit of olive oil, salt & pepper till nice & coated —bake them in the oven for 25-30 minutes or fork tender. while your potatoes are baking, take a few pieces of bacon you won’t need the whole pack but if you want to cook it all knock yourself out — and cook it on a skillet till crispy. drain, let cool slightly and crumble into bacon bits! taste a couple for quality control of course.
2nd shred the cheddar cheese, i prefer medium cheddar here because it’s got some good flavor to it and still melts really well. once your potatoes are fork tender carefully slice open and give the potatoes a little squeeze so they puff slightly, add a pat of butter, salt & pepper, the cheddar cheese — put back in the oven and broil them slightly till the cheese starts to melt & the sides get crispier. while this is happening slice up your scallions, i like to use both the white & green parts here.
3rd top with with a generous dollop of sour cream, a sprinkle of bacon bits, scallions & plenty of black pepper. take a picture because the tiny baked potatoes are very cute & so is ryan when i tell him that two of them are for him.
particularly good things i consumed recently
the thomas crowne affair (the late (90s remake) hadn’t seen it since I was maybe in high school — excellent movie to watch on a saturday evening with 2.5 cocktails
sweatshirt/long sleeve + shorts running weather — elusive & perfect even if the run itself is/ was kind of shitty. the moving your body consistently part is what’s important
what kind of paradise | this might have gotten me out of my reading rut & i just found out the author has written several other mystery adjacent novels so don’t mind me while i put them all on hold
this hailee catalano salad that i riffed on (used sweet potatoes instead of butternut squash, added craisins, swapped in prairie breeze & a couple different nuts, etc. ) excellent for both lunch & dinner, might actually make it again this week. a perfect fall salad, the harvest bowl could never.
casino — it’s not goodfellas but it’s also not not goodfellas. remarkably long but just get some chili going on the stove and when the movie is just about over the chili is ready! honestly though i did really enjoy it & it was a nice way to spend a quiet sunday evening
night pasta — the pasta you eat @ 9pm or later when you the salad you had earlier was not enough. all you need is high quality dried pasta (i did a small fistful of malfadine), salted butter, pasta water, pecorino, & lots of black pepper
task — we loved mare of easttown and while this is not the same it’s had us hooked in. last episode drops tonight & preparing myself to likely sob
bungalow w/ janel — the perfect order is a bottle of pizza wine, the salad, the soppressata hot honey pizza & two cones of their ridiculously delicious soft serve at the end. 9.75/10 perfect friday*
eastend w/ kiera — you know starting your day with a sauna | cold plunge cycle makes you a brand new person. need to make this more of a thing esp. in the winter. i’ve never felt so relaxed
hatch green chile ranch — like regular ranch but better. i put it on a homemade snack wrap but you could also probably just drink it if you want
currently consuming
the penultimate farmers’ mkt of the season, needlework @kaitlyns’ — we’re making bracelets & a nice sunday dinner
as always,
mk
p.s. there is a mexico city guide coming soon, don’t worry!
*wow that was a lot of birthdays if you want the menus lmk — i cooked for quite a few of them :)
*.5 off bc we were quite actually the only girls not wearing off the shoulder black tops & light wash jeans…