Bacon and Blue Cheeseburger Potato Skins

By MooK

Ingredients

• 4 whole Russet potatoes, cleaned
• 1/2 lb ground beef, cooked
• 1/2 cup of great blue cheese
• 6 slices of bacon, cooked and crumbled
• 3 tbsp unsalted butter, melted
• Salt, to taste
• Cracked black pepper, to taste

Preparation

Step 1

Begin by preheating your oven to 400 degrees. Poke the top of each potato with a fork and place on a baking sheet. Cook in the oven for 1 hour. Once cooked, remove from the baking sheet, and place on a plate to let cool for about 15 minutes.

Cook your bacon, low and slow on the stove, for about 15-20 minutes. The low and slow process, in my opinion, is the only way to cook bacon as it really yields perfect bacon every time. Remove the bacon and let any additional fat drain on some paper towel, before you crumble it down.

Once your potatoes are cooled, use a sharp bread knife and you will cut lengthwise, into three segments of one potato, long slices. Each potato will yield two skins. Place the middle slice in a bowl for later use, such as breakfast the following morning, or heck for that matter, add some butter, salt, and cream, and make some rustic mashed potatoes.

Continue this cutting process with the rest of the potatoes. You should then have 8 skins. With a small spoon, being careful, scoop out about 70 percent of the potato, as you still want some potato in your boat.

Next, melt your butter in the microwave. Get your broiler heated to high. Brush the butter on the inside and outside of each potato skin and place them back onto the baking sheet. Season the inside of each skin with salt and pepper.

Place them under the broiler for 8-10 minutes until the insides get a bit crispy from the melted butter. Remove, and place generous amounts of the cooked ground beef into each skin, topping with bacon pieces and about one tablespoon of blue cheese onto each skin. Place these back under the broiler for about 3-4 minutes until the cheese is nice and bubbly. Carefully remove from the oven, top with just a bit more blue cheese
Serve on a platter and have your guests dig in