Twice baked potatoes: kale & hazelnut pesto
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Ingredients
200g kale, 100g hazelnuts, parmigiano, 1 lemon, 20g basil, basil oil, 1 small onion.
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Cooking the perfect baked potato is an art form, and filling it is an exercise in creativity that I never get tired of. Twice baked potatoes are glorious - a crispy shell filled with fluffy potato overlaid with gungey, creamy swirls of yumminess. Kale pesto alone is unbelievably satisfying, but adding onion really gives it an extra dimension.
1) To make the perfect baked potato.
2) Fold the kale leaves in half, slice away the stalk and discard.
3) Add the hazelnuts into your food processor and pulse until they resemble fine crumbs. Add the parmigiano and onion (peeled and sliced into quarters), then add the kale and basil leaves bit by bit until everything is thoroughly pureed. Squeeze in a little lemon juice, salt and black pepper to taste.
4) Add the kale mixture to a pan along with the basil oil and stir on a low heat until the kale is soft and the onions are cooked. (Raw kale is wonderfully springy, by the time the onions are cooked, this quality should no longer be present)
5) Slice open the potato and scoop out as much of the potato as possible without compromising the integrity of the structure. (Oh yes, I went there!).
6) Stir the potato in with the kale pesto, then spoon back into the potato shells and bake for a further 10-15 minutes before serving.
