Meals On Speed

The husband likes baked beans and chips. I wanted to try something a tad different and somewhat more waist-friendly.

The concept I came up with was to cook up some potatoes until they
were soft enough to mash, scoop out the insides, mix the beans with the
potato guts, pop mix back into the now-hollowed skins (the ‘boats’),
top with grated cheese and herbs and pop under the grill to finish.

And that’s really all I did.

Initially, I wanted to boil up the potatoes, but Doc Foodie on call
on gtalk suggested I bake them instead. I took his advice and put away
all thoughts of a meal on speed. About four middish to large sized
potatoes, cut lengthwise for balance, had their skins rubbed down with
olive oil before they were popped into a preheated oven of 180 degrees
celsius for about 45 minutes.

While the potatoes baked, I prepared the baked beans. Staying true
to the lessons learnt at the lap of my grandmother, I proceeded to make
an onion vagaar (onions fried in ghee with spices like cumin, cloves,
stick cinnamon and a split cardamom pod). Once the onions were done, I
tossed in one chopped up tomato, a sprinkling of turmeric, ground
dhana-jeeru, rough salt, ground black pepper, coarse red chili powder,
a solid dollop of my granny’s ginger/garlic red chili masala and a
spritz of vinegar. I then emptied in the can of beans, gave everything
a good stir and let cook until all the flavours merged.

While that simmered away, I took out the potatoes and scooped out
the insides with a melon-baller. I took great care to ensure I didn’t
stab through the skin. If a booboo should occur, just plug up with some
of the scooped out potato. Remember to handle the potatoes with an oven
mitten as they’re very hot straight out of the oven.

In a bowl, combine the baked beans and the potato guts. Give
everything a good mix and drop a couple of teaspoons of the beans
filling into each potato boat. Top with grated cheese and a sprinkling
of whatever herb. Grill until cheese melts and serve.

Good for the lunchbox too or as a solid starter.

Originally blogged here.