Creamy Cheesy Twice Baked Potato

Elegant and flavorful this is a favorite side dish of my son. It can be served as a side to almost any meat dish or on its own for lunch.  The sweet potato and nutmeg gives this potato dish a great subtle sweetness.

Ingredients:

4 large  russet potatoes
2 small sweet potato
1 pound bacon
4 ounces Mascarpone cheese
6 scallions chopped
5 tablespoons butter, softened
1 1/2 cup shredded sharp yellow cheddar or your favorite cheese
2 teaspoon salt
1 tsp ground black pepper
3/4 tsp ground nutmeg

Procedure:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Place russet potatoes and sweet potato on center rack of oven and bake 30 minutes. (Place sweet potato on a small sheet of foil to catch drips). turn over potatoes and prick with a fork. Bake for another 30 minutes. Sweet potato may need additional time, bake until soft. Remove potatoes from oven and allow to cool.

Lower oven to 375 degrees. In a skillet, cook bacon until crispy. Drain the bacon on paper towels. Chop bacon into small bits.  In a bowl, mix together most of the chopped bacon, the Mascarpone cheese, and scallions ( leave a few on the side to garnish later) half of the butter, shredded cheese, salt and pepper.

Cut potatoes horizontally about 3/4 from the top so that the potato still almost looks whole. Scoop out each potato down to the skin and place the filling in a large mixing bowl. Remove skin from sweet potato and place in the bowl with the potato filling.

Add the remaining butter to the potato mixture and mash both potatoes with potato masher. Add bacon and cheese mixture and stir until smooth.  Place mixture into a pastry bag and fill each potato shell with the mixture.

Sprinkle remaining chopped bacon on each filled potato and place on sheet pan. Bake for 30 minutes or until mixture is hot and just golden brown.
Sprinkle with additional chopped scallions and serve.

Enjoy