Читать книгу Vegetables - Sophie Grigson, Sophie Grigson - Страница 44

Baked potatoes are fabulous comfort food, and so easy. Just pop them into a hot oven when you get home from work, go and have a bath or a glass of wine, or whatever unwinds you after a hard day, then an hour later they emerge, steaming hot, crisp outside and gorgeously tender inside. Whether you dish them up as the main part of a meal with a sumptuous topping, or as a side order, baked potatoes are warming and reassuring, and of course, they taste just fine too.

For each person you need one large baking potato – any large maincrop potato will do the job nicely. Prick the skin all over with a fork to prevent it bursting during cooking. Now you have choices to make. You can a) leave the potato just as it is, or b) dampen it and rub salt into the skin – this gives a deliciously salty skin – or c) rub oil all over the skin, to make the skin crisper, or d) go for both oil and salt or e) wrap the potato in foil for a tender, soft-skinned potato.

Once you’ve reached a decision and finished preparing your potato, bake for 50–60 minutes or until tender right through. Test by pushing a skewer into the centre. Once the potato is cooked, cover with a cloth and let it sit for 5 minutes before cutting open – this makes the flesh fluffier and lighter.

One final point – if you’re rushed for time, push a skewer lengthways through the centre of the potato before putting it into the oven. The skewer conducts heat directly to the centre of the potato so that it cooks more quickly.