One variety of potato that I can gobble up time and time again are roosters and they make for an amazing baked treat.

With a floury, yellow flesh, the potato is perfect for being stuffed and baked and the combined flavours make it pretty darn tasty!

Here’s my recipe for stuffed rooster potatoes with goat’s cheese, vegetables and chorizo – if you’re going for vegetarian, simply leave out the meat. You can also prepare these potatoes in advance – they’ll need a 25 minutes to warm through.

Serves: 3 (2 potatoes each per person)

Time: 1 hr 20 minutes (or less, sometimes the rooster potatoes only need 45 minutes in the oven, dependent on size)

Ingredients:

• 6 medium rooster potatoes
• 1 red pepper
• 1 yellow pepper
• 1 medium courgette
• Half a medium aubergine
• 4 cherry tomatoes
• 1 tbsp of tomato purée
• 125g of goat’s cheese (I used the gooey kind but crumby also works nicely)
• Olive oil
• Handful of basil
• Salt and white/ordinary pepper
• Optional: chorizo sausage cut into slices (I just use as much as I like!)

Method:

1. Preheat your oven to gas mark 4/180°C.
2. Prepare your potatoes by pricking them a few times with a fork and then popping them into the oven for 45mins to a 1 hour (or until cooked – the skins will look and feel looser).
3. While they’re cooking, dice all of your vegetables, put them in a bowl and lightly toss them in a dollop of olive oil. You can add the chorizo now if you wish.
4. Season with salt and white pepper.
5. If you’ve an extra grill for the next part that’s great, otherwise you’ll have to wait for the potatoes to finish. Grill the mix for about 10 minutes until lightly charred, give them a toss about 5 minutes in.
6. When the potatoes are ready let them cool slightly and cut the top off of them with a sharp paring knife.
7. Remember to turn the oven on back to 180°C if you’re using just an oven/grill like I do!
8. Scoop out the inside and mash it all up, add the purée and goat’s cheese and slowly add in the grilled vegetables and chorizo.
9. Add half a teaspoon of shredded basil, and season again with salt and pepper (remember to taste as you go along!)
10. Refill the potato skins as high as you can go with the mix and return to the oven for about 10 minutes to give them a warm through.
11. Take them out and serve with shredded basil on top and an optional extra bit of goat’s cheese (I’m addicted to the stuff).

Note: I find that I did tend to have leftover filling after so I usually use it to stuff marrows or courgettes. Makes for a nice alternative! Also, you could make it into an alternative potato salad with a bit of mayo.

(Image and recipe copyright of Una Minh Kavanagh)