Twice baked, stuffed potatoes, cooked on the grill...

You have to bake russet potatoes twice to make a good side dish? Yes you can, as incredulous as it seems, you take a perfectly good baked potato, scoop out the pulp, add bacon, cheese, onions, garlic, garlic powder, jalapeno peppers and sour cream, and you've just transformed a ordinary baked potato into a elegant side dish, or a hors d’oeuvre to remember to compliment a fine meal.

Special tools: Outdoor grill, but an indoor oven broiler will work fine, potato masher, large mixing bowl
Preparation time: About 15 minutes
Cooking time: About an hour to bake the potatoes, plus another 30 minutes on the grill
Yield: 6 generous servings

6 medium russet potatoes, cut in half, lengthwise
1/4 cup Kraft Mexican style shredded Four Cheese, or your choice of shredded cheese
1/4 sour cream, any variety
2 strips bacon, finely diced, and cooked to medium texture
2 tablespoons finely diced white onion
2 tablespoons finely diced jalapeno pepper
2 cloves garlic, pressed
1 tablespoon fresh chives, diced
1 teaspoon chili powder
1 teaspoon, olive oil
Salt to taste, about 1/8 teaspoon
1 teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon oregano
Aluminum foil, non-stick cooking spray; we prefer PAM...

Thoroughly clean potatoes under running water to ensure that potato is free of all dirt and debris. Cut each potato in half, lengthwise. Drizzle with olive oil. Wrap potatoes in aluminum foil. Bake in oven, or cook in grill over indirect, medium heat, for 1 hour at 350 degrees Fainéant.

While potatoes are baking, press garlic, dice onion and dice jalapeno pepper. Dice bacon into very thin pieces and cook in frying pan over medium high heat for about 4 minutes, or until bacon is translucent. Remove from heat and reserve diced bacon, including drippings.

Left: Potato halves have been baked for an hour, and the pulp is ready to be scooped out. Right: Bacon, cheese, onions and more are combined in a bowl to add to the potato pulp.

Press garlic, dice onions and japaleno peppers, and add to bowl with diced bacon. Add cheese, garlic powder, salt and sour cream; combine and blend together.

Remove grilled potato halves and allow them to cool. Scoop out potato pulp from potato halves and place into a large mixing bowl. Reserve potato skins.

Combine all ingredients with potato pulp; mix well, using potato masher, to reduce ingredients to the form of a thick paste.

Place mixed ingredients, a.k.a. "the stuff" inside of each potato skin. The mixed "stuff" should fill the potato skin, and give it a stuff appearance. Check out the photos...

Grill stuffed potatoes over indirect, medium heat for about 30 minutes, or until outside of stuffed potato is golden brown in color and is slightly "crunchy" in texture. Serve as appetizer, or main dish.

I know, the health food guys are going to scream at the bacon, bacon grease, sour cream, and other "bad" ingredients that go into these twice-baked potatoes. However, from a crowd-pleaser standpoint, folks seem to like these, and frankly, I love them!

Left: Twice baked potatoes, ready to eat. Ohh boy, they're good! Right: A delicious meal of baby back ribs, twice baked potatoes, homemade Carolina style coleslaw, and homemade Kasnas City style barbecue sauce on the side, for dipping.

These stuffed potatoes will work for a side dish for just about any entree, and they're especially popular with a barbecue, or any grilled dish. Be sure to prepare lots of them, as your guests will "oooooohh and aaaahhh" to death over these things, and will pester you for the recipe.

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