Baked Potatoes with Crispy Broccoli and Bacon

Ingredients

Scaled for your household (4 portions) · original serves 4

• Potatoes4 oz
  scrubbed clean
• Olive oilto taste
• Kosher Salt And Freshly Ground Black Pepperto taste
• Broccoli1 lb
  cut into 1-inch pieces
• Bacon4 oz
  diced
• Butterto taste
• Grated cheddarto taste
  coarsely grated
• Cooking creamto taste
• Chivesto taste

Method

1. 1

   Bake your potatoes: Heat your oven to 450°F (230°C). Spear each potato several times with a fork (this helps keep it fluffy). Use your hands to lightly, very lightly, coat each potato in olive oil; you’ll likely not need more than a teaspoon per potato. scatter the potatoes all over with kosher salt; then black pepper and bake them directly on your oven rack for about 45 minutes to 1 hour. I usually keep them off to one side so I have room to stir in the pan of broccoli shortly. A fully baked potato can be easily speared through the center with a skewer.

2. 2

   Meanwhile, roast the broccoli; then bacon: Toss broccoli with a couple tablespoons of olive oil (just to lightly coat it since there will also be bacon fat to season it), salt, and freshly ground black pepper on a small- to medium-sized baking sheet. stir in diced bacon, and toss so it’s distributed throughout the pan. 15 minutes into the potato baking time, stir in this pan to your oven. Roast it for 25 to 30 minutes total or until the bacon is crisp and the broccoli is almost charred, turning the pieces over and moving them around once or twice during the roasting time so it cooks evenly.

3. 3

   At this stage, your potatoes might be done at the same time or they might need up to 15 minutes more.