Hello Dear Reader,
I spent most of the day walking around Blisland and then onto Berry Castle near St. Neot. It is infact, an the remains of an ancient village or settlement. It can be found on the southern side of Bodmin Moor - map reference SX197689 Landranger Map 201. The walk was easy from the road and was clearly marked with a gentle incline to the settlement itself. Once there, the views across Cornwall were inspiring and left me with an appetite. It's just the weather for baked potatoes and when Mc Cain's offered me some of their ready baked jacket potatoes I was happy to try them.
Serves 2 - you will need:
2 ready baked potatoes - these need microwaving for 7 minutes. Usually, I just cooked potatoes in the microwave and they just don't have the flavour of a real baked potato. These did and they are delicious. £1 - big baking potatoes are expensive any way and not much less than these so as they are already baked saving the cost of the electric, then they are no more expensive. www.mccain.co.uk
2 salmon fillets - you could easily use value fillets - £2
100g of Creme Fraiche - you can use the rest of the tub with fruit, in a quiche to enrich a cheese sauce or with cereal for breakfast - 36p.
50g of mayonnaise - 15p
1 tbs of chopped dill - 20p - you can chop the rest, mix with some butter and freeze to use again.
A cup of cooked peas or any veg such as carrots or green beans - it's a great way of using up cooked veggies.
Half a lemon - 15p
Bag of salad - £1 - you could easily have this with some steamed green beans
Total Cost - £4.86 - £2.43 per person. Just think what you might pay for this in a pub?!
This is what you do:
1. Cook the salmon - I put mine on a lightly oiled griddle and cooked on a high heat - do not over cook.
2.Mix together the salmon, creme fraiche, dill and mayonnaise - I also added a squirt of lemon juice.
3. Fill the baked potatoes.
4.Serve with salad.
I would never switch my oven on to just bake two potatoes and I think that these will save you money as you won't be spending it on energy that has just become even more expensive!
I'll have two more baked potato recipes to share with you on Friday and Saturday and I think these recipes are real winners.
Over to you. Share your favourite baked potato filling? Who else wouldn't waste the electricity bill on two potatoes?
Until tomorrow,
Love Froogs xxxx
I wrap my potatoes in foil and then after making a space at the front bake them in the wood burner come out tasting just like baked potatoes should. They usually just take about one hour and thirty minutes, I check them every thirty minutes. My favourite fillings would be anything left over from the night before maybe chicken curry portion of chilli or a portion of savoury mince
ReplyDeleteWhat a great idea using the wood burner to cook the spuds - will have to try that.
DeleteLeftover curry is my favourite on a baked potato! I usually mix up the leftover rice with the main and call it 'make do biriyani'
DeleteI agree that microwaved potatoes aren't very good. When I am in a hurry for baked potatoes, I will microwave the potatoes for about one minute each, then place in the oven (with whatever else I am cooking--we often have baked potatoes with baked or roasted meat) for 15-20 minutes. A time and energy saver. Also, I live in a potato-growing region (ever heard of Idaho???) so potatoes are cheap. I don't think I would ever buy pre-baked potatoes...but you never know!
ReplyDeleteMy favourite is Tuna Sweetcorn and Mayo mixed together with a nice crisp salad. I cook 2 large potatoes in the micro-combi for 25 minutes and they taste just like they have been cooked in the oven and have a nice crispy skin.
ReplyDeleteAsda currently have bags of baking potatoes for £1 there are about 6 potatoes in.
Yummy; I love baked potatoes. I've just recently started doing them in my slowcooker. I can fit 8 large ones in my 6.5 litre cooker. You just rub the skins with oil, wrap them individually in foil and bake on high for around 4 hours (no liquid needed). I found cooking so many large ones in the microwave took ages, plus I had to keep turning them over and checking them for done-ness, and I use my gas oven as little as possible, but this way I can cook a big batch using very little energy and go away and forget about them until dinner time. My fave topping is egg mayo. I just mash hardboiled eggs with light mayonnaise and black pepper. DH prefers tinned tuna mixed with mayo and chopped spring onions and/or tinned sweetcorn.
ReplyDeleteLove your tip for doing baked potatoes in the slow cooker, will try this during when we have barbecues this summer, thanks for sharing Helen.
DeleteWhat a good idea! Never thought of doing jackets in the slow cooker before.
DeleteFab idea!!
DeleteThis looks yummy; and is an inexpensive treat too :)
ReplyDeleteI discovered recently that you can do baked potatoes in a slow cooker, so that is now the only way I do them. I just rub a little oil into the skins (so they don't stick to the pot), and grind a bit of sea salt over them, then cook on high for four hours. Lovely! And a fraction of the electricity cost of conventional baking.
Thank you for the tip on doing potatoes in the slow cooker. I prefer not to use foil so your method is perfect.
DeleteWe did them this way for dinner this evening and they were really yummy. So much better than microwaving which we accepted previously even though it was not brilliant. Topped with a little bolognaise sauce, a dollop of yoghurt, paprika and grated cheese. Served with a side of coleslaw and tomato wedges. Thank you so much.
I scoop out some of the cooked potato and mash it with some butter. I then mash a tin of pilchards and combine it with the mashed potato & Place back into the jackets - a firm favourite with our family. I usually part microwave the spuds & finish them off in the oven.
ReplyDeleteFroogs, since you are so good at this stuff --- how do you tell if the salmon is cooked enough, but not overcooked? Thanks! . . . . . Your pictures are wonderful! Makes me hungry just to look at them. Beautiful!
ReplyDeleteI'm not Froogs, but I know this one! Flake the fish with a fork (or cut with a knife) and if the salmon is the same light color all the way through, it's done. Raw salmon is a darker color. With white fish, if it is opaque all the way through, it's done. I usually bake white fish fillets for 15 minutes at 425 degrees. Don't know the equivalent in Celsius, but it's a hot oven. All fish cook very quickly.
DeleteThanks, Mike. Salmon costs so much -- I didn't want to ruin it!
DeleteJust checked and ASDA do their own ready baked Jacket Spuds for £2 for 4 x 200g bit cheaper than the branded one. They're probably cheaper than buying the big ones raw and cooking them for 1&1/2 hrs. Luckily I've got a sack of spuds with lots of biggies in right now, but I don't usually, will keep the ready cooked ones in mind for a later date.
ReplyDeleteOMG, I love jacket potatoes, I have just jotted down another fruity, cakey recipe I will need to go for a very brisk walk before I go near the kitchen. Or I will oil on my skin to get into my jeans!
ReplyDeleteWhen we used to buy a sack of potatoes, we would find all the big ones and bake them in the oven. Once cold they were wrapped and frozen for heating in the microwave at a later date. Mind you, back then, we also had a large freezer. Anything on top of a jacket potato is good in this household!
ReplyDeleteHello Froogs! I recently discovered your blog ~ brilliant! I was searching for 'different/ thrifty ideas for Christmas, I'm so sick of all the commercial hype and we are on one modest salary.
ReplyDeleteI had the same Jacket Potatoes last night: they were good, but would've been better with your delicious topping! Next time, eh.
I have a something else in common...I lived in Liskeard for 17 years, brought up my family there!
We are back in East Anglia now, where I grew up, but oh such fond memories of Cornwall! I miss it.
I would love to know which village you are moving to (but you don't have to say, I understand).
We lived in Rilla Mill for a while and love Bodmin moor.
Lovely to meet you! Happy thrifting, thanks for 'sharing the wealth'.
Jane, your new background is very nice and your meal looks delicious. I am nearly drooling...I am on a very limited income myself. I currently have potatoes growing in a large clay pot on the deck, along with some dill, garlic chives, and spring onions in other pots...yummy. There are probably 6-8 potato plants in there and one has recently gotten a pretty white flower on it, so I am guessing maybe another month or so and the green parts will die and I can harvest whatever amount of potatoes that grew in the pot. I just never know how many I will get until the time comes. Mother Nature will let me know how I've done soon enough.....xx debbie
ReplyDeleteI adore salmon so I'm very interested in the recipe. I don't think I would buy pre-cooked potatoes though, except if they were offered to me, of course ! Anyway, I have a question : what is it that you call "crème fraîche" ? In France, it is a very thick cream that you could assuredly never use on your breakfast cereal. I'd be grateful if you could give me the French equivalent as I see it mentioned in quite a few English recipes. Thanks in advance !x
ReplyDeleteI was given a microwave bag to cook potatoes in, it keeps them from drying out.
ReplyDeleteThat looks good, and I don't even like fish. We cook ours in the slow cooker, and our favorite topping is chili and cheese.
ReplyDeletetry adding a little bit of creamed horseradish,,it goes really well with salmon
ReplyDeletetry a tiny bit of creamed horseradish in the mayo..goes really well with salmon and smoked fish..
ReplyDeleteWe too love jacket potatoes , but our local farm shop sells then in half bags ( I mean the big sacks) so although only the 2 of us we get through them .I keep them cool under the stairs ( cupboard) and they are fine, By the time we have sorted into various sizes there is no waste, We save left over Bolognese sauce, various curries etc as well as usual prawns/tuna etc. favourite is cauliflower cheese and a bit of crispy bacon !
ReplyDeleteSue
I cook Jacket Spuds in the microwave in a covered bowl for around 6 mins per potato and then put them in an oven proof dish, drizzle with some oil and sprinkle on some sea salt and then bake for just 20 mins or so, which means the skins crisp up and they get that proper baked flavour.
ReplyDeleteAs you say though these pre-prepared potatoes work out cheaper fuel wise than cooking spuds in the oven for one to one and a half hours, unless you did an oven full and then froze all your own to microwave next time. Something I might have a go at next time I score some big potatoes cheaply.