Twice-baked potatoes with leek and cheese

It's time to start The VegHog's Cheap Eats Week 2017! I'm going to be all stingy this week and cook with cheaper ingredients. However it doesn't mean that the food needs to be bland or boring, I'm just trying to be more clever with my shopping and cooking.

My first recipe of the week is actually a big favourite of mine, twice-baked potatoes with leek and cheese. This dish is so comforting and not many ingredients are needed. Potatoes and leeks are such basics that they aren't expensive. With this recipe you can make eight generously sized filled potato skins that both children and adults like.

I have posted this recipe before, but I always keep coming back to it, as these twice baked potatoes are so great especially in the winter. I can't think of a cosier way to spend a winter's evening than curling up in a warm flat and eating these potatoes.

Twice-baked potatoes with leek and cheese

Ingredients

4 large baking potatoes

1 tbsp vegetable oil

2 tsp sea salt

4 leeks

2 onions

4 garlic cloves

20 g butter

1 cup dry apple cider

1 tsp salt

½ tsp ground black pepper

200 g grated Cheddar

Method

Wash the potatoes and stab each of them several times with a fork so that some holes appear. Roll the potatoes in a bowl containing the vegetable oil and sea salt, place on a baking sheet and bake for about 1,5 hours until fully baked.

In the meanwhile prepare the leek mix. Slice the leeks and chop the onions and garlic finely. First cook the onion in the butter until soft, then add the leeks and garlic and cook for a while. Add the cider and let simmer under the lid. Season with salt and pepper. Remove from the heat once the leeks are fully soft and the cider has reduced. Mix in about 150 g of the cheese.

When the potatoes are baked, let them cool down slightly so that they are easier to handle. Cut them in halves and scoop out most of the insides leaving the potato skins with a little bit of potato attached.

Fill the potato skins with the leek mix and sprinkle the rest of the cheese on the top. Return to the oven and bake for further 30 minutes.

Enjoy!

Your VegHog