Last Friday, I was excited to welcome some of our old friends at our home. We haven't seen each other for over 2 years and I was looking forward to catch up with them. We live so close to each other and I hope that it won't take another two years to see them again. It was nice to hear that they are all doing very well.
When I have more people visiting us I prefer to prepare some snacks instead of proper dinner. I prepare the food in advance and arrange all of it on the dining table, so that people can help themselves and I can stay and chat with them at the table instead of cooking in the kitchen. I usually prepare around 5 dishes as I like some variety and also want to make sure that everyone will find something what they like. This time all dishes were amazing and I was pleased with my friends' reactions.
One of the crowd pleasing dishes that I always make are my stuffed mini potato skins. They are the winner every time I make them. They are easy to eat, full of flavor, comforting and you really cannot go wrong with them. I don't even know how many times I made them and nobody ever complained. I'm very critical of my cooking but I'm really proud of this recipe. And today, I'm happy to share it with you.
Let's cook!
What do we need?
All the vegetables that I used in this recipe are from our farmer's market haul. It's the best time of the year to visit such markets and get delicious, ripe and full of flavor seasonal produce.
12 small potatoes
1/2 cup soy granules
1/2 cup vegetable stock
5 small tomatoes (ca 150g)
1 small zucchini (ca 100g)
1 small onion
2 garlic cloves
1 tbsp tomato puree
Fresh chopped thyme (1tsp), oregano (1tsp), parsley (1tbsp)
1 tbsp nutritional yeast
2 tbsp tamari/low sodium soy sauce
3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 tsp salt
Pinch of black pepper
How do we make it?
This recipe is really simple. It does require some time but it is worth the effort - even picky kids like it!
First of all, pour the hot vegetable stock over the soy granules and set it aside.
Wash the potatoes (do not peel them) and place them in a large pot filled with water. Boil them for about 15 minutes or until soft (stick a knife in a potato and when it goes through easily they're done). When the water starts boiling add 1 tsp salt. Once done, remove the hot water from the pan, fill it with cold water and let them cool down while you work on other steps.
Chop the onion and garlic as small as possible.Continue with zucchini and tomatoes. I cut them in pieces smaller than 0.5 cm, so that they fit in the potato skins easily. Roughly chop the herbs and set everything aside.
Our potatoes should be chilled already, so we can continue with them. Cut each potato lengthwise. Be careful not to damage the skin. I've noticed that it helps when you have a very sharp knife.
Then take a small spoon and carefully remove as much from the middle of each potato as you can. Roughly mash the mixture that you removed with a fork (it should not be smooth - don't be afraid to leave small pieces) and set it aside.
Preheat the oven to 200 degrees Celsius.
Place the potato skins on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
Heat a large pan with 1 tbsp olive oil over medium heat. Add onion and sizzle for about 2 minutes or until it becomes soft. Add garlic and sizzle for 1 minute or until it start browning.
At this stage add the tomato puree and stir the mixture well. Then add tamari, stir the mixture and add chopped tomatoes and soy granules to the pan. Stir everything together and cook for 5 minutes (stirring frequently).
Add herbs, nutritional yeast, season with black pepper (add some salt if you like), add chopped zucchini, half of the mashed potatoes that you set aside before and stir everything together. Turn off the heat.
Don't throw away the other half of your mashed potatoes. You can put them in a pan with a little bit of vegan butter, bake it until golden brown from both side, sprinkle it with salt and chopped chives and enjoy!
(prepared mixture)
Now we are ready to assemble our dish!
Take a small spoon and divide the mixture equally in each potato skin.
They are ready for the oven!
I like to bake them on 200 degrees Celsius for about 15 minutes but you can bake them a little longer if you want them darker. It's up to you. However, 15 minutes is enough in my opinion.
Take them out of the oven, drizzle them with olive oil and they are ready to be served! They are delicious right out of the oven but I love them cold as well.
I usually serve them with some sour cream dip (from my previous post) and chives.
Enjoy and as we say in Switzerland 'En guete'!
Thank you for visiting!
Cheers!