Recipe: Twice Baked Potatoes With Shrimp & Bacon

For years I didn't even understand what the term "twice baked" meant when referring to twice baked potatoes, but I got a taste one day while dining out and I was determined to recreate the climax in my mouth - whatever it took! This recipe right here will change your life! It turned out sooo delicious and was very easy to warm up leftovers in the oven and microwave for the next few days. 

Serves: 4 servings/people

Total Cooking Time: 1:45-2 hours (but it's so worth it)

Ingredients

4 russet potatoes

Vegetable oil

6 slices of premium bacon

1 lb large deveined, peeled and cleaned shrimp 

1 teaspoon of Cajun spice/seasoning

1 teaspoon of salt

1 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper

1 cup of grated Cheddar cheese

2 tablespoons of cream cheese

6 tablespoons of softened butter or substitute

1/3 cup sour cream

4 tablespoons mayonnaise

Fresh chives, chopped green onions or any other garnishes

Directions

1. Preheat the oven at 450 degrees farenheight

2. Rub the potatoes with vegetable oil, prick them all over with forks and put them on a baking sheet or pirex dish

3. Bake the potatoes for 1 hour or until they are tender. Poke them to tell if they are tender enough. If the fork can't go through without force, keep baking

4. While the potatoes are baking, cook the bacon in a skillet over medium heat until crisp, or however you normally eat your bacon (roughly 7-9 minutes)

5. Put paper towel on a plate to dry the natural oil off the bacon then crumble or rip the bacon into small pieces

6. Pour out ALMOST all of the bacon grease from the skillet but leave approximately 3 tablespoons of grease in the skillet

7. Cut the shrimp into halves and thirds

8. Reheat the bacon grease over medium heat

9. Add shrimp, Cajun seasoning/spice, and a pinch of salt to the grease. Cook until the shrimp are opaque, stirring constantly, 2 to 3 minutes. WARNING: shrimp cooks really quickly so do not overcook. Remove the shrimp as you see that they've gone from clear to a white-ish pink

10. When the potatoes are done, let them cool slightly

11. Cut off the top 1/3 of each potato and carefully scoop out the flesh (insides) of the potato into a big bowl. WARNING: don't rip the potatoes when scooping out the insides. Leave about 1/4-inch border of potato filling connected to the inside of the skin.

12. Scoop out the potato insides from the top 1/3 and add that to the bowl, then throw away the skins from the top 1/3 pieces

13. Mash the potato insides with the salt, black pepper, cream cheese, cheddar cheese, butter, sour cream and mayonnaise. Mash as creamy as possible.

14. After mashing the potatoes, add in the cooked shrimp and bacon and stir it around in the mashed potato mix with a spoon.

15. Stuff the potatoes skins back with the filling, loading any extra on top of the potatoes where the 1/3 potato would have been.

16. Place the potatoes back in the oven on the baking sheet or pirex dish and bake them for about 15 minutes - you should see a golden color in the potato filling

17. Remove the potatoes from the oven, sprinkle with the chives, chopped green onions  or any other toppings and serve.

Words and photo via Rondel Holder

IG/Twitter: KingRonTheDon