This year I have decided to share my small batch recipes as much as I can. There are only two of us in our home now and we only seldom have company for supper, especially since the Virus hit! I think a lot of us older people are in the same boat . . . empty nesters, or even singletons. We don't necessarily want full sized recipes. This Twice Baked Mashed Potatoes is my latest small batch recipe!
Twice Baked Mashed Potatoes is the perfect size for two people to enjoy and makes great use of store cupboard ingredients. Frozen mashed potatoes, crumbled cooked bacon, minced chives, sour cream, cream cheese . . . a bit of cheddar on top.
Rich and delicious this casserole is perfectly sized for two people, but can also very easily be doubled to feed more. You can also use leftover mashed potatoes in which case you will need about 1 1/2 cups.
You can also leave this with full fat dairy ingredients, or substitute the full fat ones for low fat ones, with no discernable difference in either the texture or the flavour! Yay!
It goes together in a flash. You just mix the warmed potatoes with the sour cream, cream cheese, bacon (can't low fat that unfortunately) seasoning and chopped chives all together and spoon it into a buttered baking dish.
A sprinkle of cheese on top and quick bake in the oven and about half an hour later you are enjoying it. And trust me, with this when I say enjoy, I really mean ENJOY!
If you don't have chives you could use minced spring onions. If you don't like bacon (as if!) or are a vegetarian, leave the bacon out completely, or use the equivalent in a vegetarian style of bacon.
We enjoyed a Caesar salad on the side as well.
The potatoes were rich and creamy and oh so delicious!
The leftover chicken was also oh so delicious!
In between mouthfuls Todd kept exclaiming . . . "This is a really, really delicious dinner!" I love it when I can please my meat and poatoes loving husband!
Twice Baked Mashed Potatoes (small batch)
Yield: 2
prep time: 10 Mcook time: 20 Mtotal time: 30 M
This fabulous casserole is a cross between twice-baked potatoes and rich mashed potatoes. Down-sized to feed two, this makes an elegant yet favourite side dish any time of the year and on any occasion. Easily doubled to feed more. Quick and easy as well! You can also use full fat or low fat ingredients with no problem.
Ingredients:
- 1/2 of a four serving sized bag of frozen mashed potatoes
- 60g cream cheese (2 ounces)
- 30g dairy sour cream (1/4 cup)
- 2 TBS chopped fresh chives
- 2 slices cooked streaky bacon, crumbled
- 1/4 tsp seasoned pepper (see below)
- pinch salt
- 30g grated cheddar cheese (1/4 cup)
- chopped fresh chives to garnish
Instructions:
- Preheat the oven to 180*C/350*F/ gas mark 4. Butter a 2 cup sized casserole dish.
- Heat the mashed potatoes in the microwave according to package directions. Stir in the cream cheese, sour cream, chopped chives, seasoned pepper, crumbled bacon and salt. Combine well together. Spoon into the buttered casserole dish and sprinkle the grated cheddar cheese on top.
- Bake in the preheated oven for 20 minutes uncoered. Sprinkle with the chive garnish and serve.
notes:
To make your own Seasoned Pepper: Whisk together 1 cup of ground pepper, 2 TBS ground paprika, 1 tsp sugar, 1/2 tsp allspice, 1/2 tsp celery salt, 1/2 tsp curry powder, 1/2 tsp garlic powder, 1/2 tsp mace, 1/2 tsp dry mustard powder, 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg and 1/2 tsp onion powder, until well combined. Store in an airtight covered container in a dark place for up to 2 years (alternately you can make seasoned salt, by subsituting the pepper in this recipe for salt and the salt for pepper.)
I always keep bags of frozen mashed potatoes in my freezer. They come in handy for so many things and are a great store cupboard ingredient for me. I have to say that I almost never mash potatoes from scratch anymore if I can help it. These work so well and with a few additions are always, always as good as from homemade.
When making them just to use as mash, I always stir in a knob of butter, some warm milk and seasoning. You really can't tell the difference. Easy to use. Quick to make, and easy to adapt for all sorts of uses. You really can't lose by keeping several bags of these in the freezer!
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