Baked Potatoes with Basil/Parmesan and Pancetta/Gorgonzola

Hope I'm not over-doing Nigel Slater, but he really is our favourite cookbook writer...aside of (maybe) Ottolenghi, who is in a league of his own. Here are a couple of quick-and-easy-but-no-less-fantabulous spud recipes that reinvent what a baked potato can be. Epic.

Name: Baked Potatoes with Basil/Parmesan and Pancetta/Gorgonzola

Book: Nigel Slater, Real Food (Fourth Estate, London, 1998)

Date(s) cooked: 6th March, 2001/8th March, 2001/22nd September, 2001/6th October, 2001/25th June, 2003/9th September, 2009.

Comments:
"Broke one of my teeth on a crispy bit of spud. God in heaven what a supper. We only had one spud each, but was more than enough. The saltiness of the pancetta with the creamy gorgonzola was a marriage like no other. There's good, very good...then three or four levels higher: this."

"Made with regular bacon and added extra salt. Still yum."

"Made again with 50/50 mix of pancetta and prosciutto."

"Bacon with extra salt. Always amazing."

"Used ready-made pesto and the outcome was supremeo.Everybody (including Rexy) scoffed back. Crisping the skins in the oven worked very nicely. Quick, easy, amazing."

"To accompany a spicy brisket -- used ready-made pest."

Recipe:

Baked Potatoes with Basil/Parmesan
Serves 2 as a light supper, perhaps with a leafy salad and pudding after.

4 baked potatoes
3 plump cloves of garlic, peeled
2 large handfuls of basil leaves
2 tablespoons pine nuts, lightly toasted
4 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons grated Parmesan, plus extra to finish

Cream the garlic to a paste with a little salt using a pestle and mortar. Add the basil and the pine nuts, pounding to a thick paste. Drizzle in the oil, stirring, then mix in the Parmesan. You should have a bright green, deeply fragrant, sloppy paste.

Crack the baked potatoes open, scoop out the flesh and return the empty skins to the oven to crisp. Mash the potato and pesto together then pile into the skins. Scatter with more grated cheese and bake till bubbling.

Baked Potatoes with Pancetta/Gorgonzola
Enough for 2 as a main dish with spinach salad

4 baked potatoes
100g/4oz pancetta, cubed
150g/6oz double cream (whipping cream)
100g/4oz gorgonzola

Fry the pancetta until its fat is golden, using a little butter or oil if necessary. Stir in the cream and gorgonzola and leave to bubble gently at a moderate heat for a minute or two.

Split the potatoes, then scoop in dollops of the smokey, creamy sauce.