La Buona Cucina Americana: Baked PotatOes

In the land of pizza and pasta who needs to add more starchy sugar to their diets?

Uhm … we all do! Enter – the potato.

2008 is the International Year of the Potato – did you know that? I for one am all about celebrating. This is also the first week of the O Foods for Ovarian Cancer Awareness Month Contest, so a Baked PotatO is the perfect American food to highlight as we bring back La Buona Cucina Americana.

I *heart* potatoes. I love them boiled and fried and stewed. I love them with butter, I love them alone, and they always make me think of home.

Baked potatoes are my absolute favorite and for the first year I was in Italy I missed them. We don’t have bacon bits, there is no sour cream and well, no one eats them here.

But that, my friends, is changing.

I found an incredible website with step-by-step instructions on how to bake the perfect potato, however the site isn’t online anymore. So I’ll share that wisdom with you here.

Ingredients:

>> 2-4 medium-sized potatoes
>> Olive oil (4 tablespoons)
>> Salt (1 teaspoon)
>> Black Pepper
>> Provola cheese
>> Pancetta
>> Butter

Directions:

1. Pre-heat your oven to 400 degrees.

2. Scrub the potatoes under warm water and remove any imperfections with a small knife.

3. Use a fork to pierce each potato five times.

4. In a small bowl, combine olive oil and salt.

5. Roll the potatoes in the olive oil and salt mixture and set aside.

6. Put the potatoes directly on the oven rack, placing a pan below them to catch drippings.

7. Bake 50 minutes, or until the potato skin is crispy.

8. While the potatoes are baking, grate cheese and cook pancetta.

9. Remove the potatoes from the oven, slice open and add butter, cheese, pancetta and black pepper.

Delicious!

Ingredienti:

>> 2-4 patate (medie)
>> Olio di oliva (4 cucchiai)
>> Sale (1 cucchiaino)
>> Pepe’ nero
>> Provola
>> Pancetta
>> Burro

Preperazione:

1. Preriscaldare il forno a 200 gradi.

2. Pulire le patate sotto aqua calda e togliere le imperfezioni con un coltello.

3. Con una forcetta, fare un buco in ogni patata cinque volte.

4. Unire olio di oliva e sale.

5. Mettere le patate dentro l’olio ed il sale and mettere a parte.

6. Mettere le patate sopra il forno, con un pan sotto.

7. Infornare per 50 minuti, fino a quando le patate saranno croccanti.

8. Mentre le patate sono in forno, grattugare della provola e cucinare della pancetta.

9. Togliere le patate, aprirele e aggungiere del burro, provola, pancetta ed un po’ pepe’ nero.

Delizioso!