Baked Potato Skins, Mixed Mushrooms, Cheeses, Greens, Lent
Who loves Potato Skins? If you too are a fan, then I bet you will love these Baked Potato Skins, Mixed Mushrooms, Cheeses, Greens.
I admit to being a lifetime lover of the potato. I love them baked, fried, boiled, steamed, roasted, mashed, mixed into stews, soups, and prepared as part of many ethnic style dishes.
Back in the day when steak restaurants were the main for eating out and baked potatoes did not arrive to the table wrapped in aluminum foil making them all soggy, I used to load up the potato with butter and this then became the central part of my meal, not the steak. I would take a couple of mere bites of the meat before having it wrapped up for take-away. And this is how much I love the baked potato with the crispy outer skin.
So today begins Lent, and today being Ash Wednesday, the only time during Lent when fasting from meat among Catholics is required two times in one week, other than that, each Friday leading up to Easter, one then observes refraining from meat.
Over the years I have come to look at this tradition as one of being mindful rather than sacrificial. Let’s face it, today there are so many choices among vegetables that one can hardly call this a sacrifice. This being so, last year I set out to prepare simple, meatless dishes each Friday of Lent that would involve a bit more mindfulness, a little more prayer and reflection through this little added effort.
The little experiment also proved some glaring situations on my own weaknesses requiring some needed change along with penance and forgiveness. There is a little prayer in the Catholic mass, where upon reciting one asks forgiveness for their sins, “in my thoughts and in my words, in what I have done and what I have failed to do.” One such challenging event occurring last Lent happened upon the chatting cashiers at the market forgetting to put the French lentils into my bag thus setting off my whole day. So though I may not have caused a scene on my return, my thoughts were not good. The Warm French Lentil Salad ultimately turned out well but it served a good example on the idea of being mindful on these refraining from meat Friday’s of Lent.
Today’s Baked Potato Skins Mixed Mushrooms, Cheeses, Greens admittedly taste quite good, really good but still they do meet the requirement of refraining from meat on this first day of Lent. They do too also capture the foods of the earth for which we have much to be grateful, or being mindful.
Being mindful also might include insuring from being wasteful. And there are many ways to use up the inside of a potato. Of course, today’s Baked Potato Skins, Mixed Mushrooms, Cheeses, Greens, needn’t only be a Lenten Friday recipe and they also serve as a lovely appetizer for guests, cut in half.
Whichever way you choose potatoes in their preparation, or the baking of the skins. Whether you acknowledge Lent or not or if like me, you really love potatoes, in the end, I think we could all agree, being mindful and thankful are two virtues that do us all a bit of good.
Baked Potato Skins, Mixed Mushrooms, Cheeses, Greens
Ingredients
- 6 small russet potatoes
- 1 pound mixed fresh crimini and shitake mushrooms
- 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
- 1/2 cup fresh grated Parmesan cheese
- 1 cup chopped, cooked baby spinach and kale
- coarse kosher salt
- cracked black pepper
- 4 tablespoons butter, approximately
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
Instructions
- Preparing the Baked Potatoes: Preheat oven to 450 degrees, wash potatoes, prick with a fork all around then place on rack in oven. Bake potatoes until tender all through, around forty-five minutes or longer, remove from oven onto a plate, cool to touch
- Cut potatoes in half, scoop out the potatoes then transfer to a bowl. Set the skins onto a parchment lined baking sheet
- Heat a large nonstick saute pan on medium high heat, drop in 2 tablespoons of the butter and a tablespoon of olive oil, swirl pan to cover the bottom, drop mushrooms into pan making sure they do not crowd. Sear for a minute without stirring, sprinkle over a couple pinches of salt, stir and continue to saute on medium heat for 3-5 minutes. Transfer cooked mushrooms to a large bowl, stir in the cheddar cheese and half of the Parmesan.
- Clean out the mushroom pan and add the remaining butter and olive oil, drop in the baby kale and spinach, cook on medium low heat until completely wilted, sprinkle over a pinch of salt, stir, then drain in a colander to remove any liquid, pushing on greens with a wooden spoon. Transfer cooked greens to the sauteed mushroom bowl, stir throughout
- Using a spoon, fill each potato skin with the mushroom cheese and greens mixture then scatter with the remaining Parmesan cheese
- Bake stuffed potato skins in oven for around 30 minutes or until potatoes are golden melted and hot.
8 Comments