“How to prevent equine Covid? That’s cheese! (10)”
Crossword puzzle in The Week. Solution = mascarpone
This idea for canapés using potato skins (which don’t go soggy like bread often does) comes from one of Sally Clarke’s excellent books. The first time I tried this my sister-in-law and a good friend both asked for the recipe.
My son wolfed down several before they had been loaded with their mascarpone cargo – then he tried a laden skin and wished he’d had the discipline to wait….
They’re a touch fiddly, but worth the effort, especially if you find someone to help you.
Recipe for truffle mascarpone-laden potato skins
for about eight people with drinks – they will disappear in a trice.
- 6 baking potatoes (Desirée or King Edward)
- Sea salt
- 250g/8 oz/generous cup mascarpone
- 1 red onion
- 1 tbsp chopped parsley
- 2 tsp dried thyme
- Vegetable oil for deep frying – cup and a half approximately/360ml
- 1 tbsp truffle oil – the type that’s seen a truffle
- Heat the oven to 210°C
- Scrub the potatoes clean.
- Make a 2” (5cm) slit with a knife in the skin.
- Rub with a bit of olive oil and sprinkle with a little flaked salt (this draws the moisture out of the skins and makes them extra crispy).
- Cook them for about an hour to an hour and a half – much depends on the size of the potato, whether you keep your potatoes in the fridge (you shouldn’t), whether your oven is up to speed … and other conditions. If, when you take them out and squeeze them a bit they start to open at the slit, they give a bit, and the skin has gone a little crispy, then they are ready.
- Cut in half and scoop out the flesh – use this the following day to make fried potatoes to have with fried eggs and ham or bacon.
- Cut the skin up into slightly concave 1½”/6 cm squares or triangles.
- Peel and dice very finely the red onion.
- Mix the onion with the mascarpone, the herbs, the seasoning and the truffle oil.
- Heat your serving plate.
- Heat the vegetable oil in a flat-bottomed wok to about 1½”/6 cm deep and get it smoking hot.
- Fry quickly until the potato flesh is golden but they should not be fried to a crisp, just a bit crisped up.
- Drain on kitchen paper, and keep warm.
- Put a generous teaspoon of the mascarpone mixture on each shard of potato skin, press in so they don’t come apart.
- Serve on the heated serving plate with napkins.
