The In-Between Period
Christmas has come and gone (so quickly, as always!) and now it’s time to gear up for New Year’s Eve. We’re stuck in that slightly awkward in-between period, where time doesn’t feel that real, our eating and sleeping schedule are all over the place, and we spend most of our time on the couch. Personally, I love it! Somehow, it still feels busy, but you can actually find time to unwind and enjoy some time off. I’ll probably be spending a lot of timing cooking and baking and eating, all my favorite things to do, followed by a couple of long walks or runs outside to get some fresh air. What about you – do you love the period between Christmas and New Year’s?
Today’s Recipe
As I said, it’s already the end of December, which means getting reading for New Year’s Eve. Maybe you’re planning to go to a party, host a party, or just spend the evening with a few friends. Either way, an easy appetizer is what you’ll be looking for, so that’s what we wanted to share with you today. It may not be all that Scandinavian, but it’s definitely delicious and uses plenty of potatoes, which are a Scandi favorite. And like our other appetizer recipes, it’s perfect for any time of the year, not just Christmas and New Year’s!
Ingredients
For this recipe, the ingredients are pretty much in the name: potatoes, sour cream, and chives. Then you just need some bacon, olive oil, salt and pepper. You can easily omit the bacon to make it vegetarian, and substitute the sour cream with alternatives like Greek yoghurt or a dairy-free yoghurt. Instead of chives, you could use green onions. Even parsley would be nice! Obviously, you’ll need potatoes, but it’s up to you what kind, and you could use big ones if you prefer them to the smaller ones – they’ll just need a big longer in the oven.
Instructions
The process for making this appetizer is super simple, and you can easily prepare the topping/filling ahead of time along with roasting the potatoes, then just assemble before serving. All you need to do is coat the potatoes in olive oil, salt, and pepper and roast until tender. Let these cool before cutting each potato in half and scooping out a bit of potato to make room for the filling. While they cool, cook your bacon – we like to do it in the oven but pan-fried works just as well. Chop up the bacon and chives and you are ready to assemble and serve. Add sour cream, bacon bits, and chives to each little bit of potatoes, and enjoy!
Baby Baked Potatoes with Bacon, Sour Cream, & Chives
Ingredients
- 680 grams baby potatoes (can be gold or red, whatever you prefer!)
- Olive oil (for baking)
- Salt and pepper to taste
- 5-6 slices bacon
- 115 grams Sour cream
- 1 bunch Chives
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400F (205C).
- Prepare a baking sheet with a pieces of parchment paper. Add washed, skin on baby potatoes to the baking sheet.
- Cover the potatoes with oil, salt, and pepper.
- Bake in the oven for 45 minutes to 1 hour, until totally tender. At the 30 minute mark, take the potatoes out and shake them around or flip them manually.
- When the potatoes are done, let them cool for at least 15 minutes.
- Right after you take the potatoes out, cook 5-6 slices of bacon. You can either do this on a pan, but since we are already using the oven, we just pop the bacon in there on a baking sheet at the same temperature as the potatoes for 15 minutes and it comes out perfectly crispy!
- Let the bacon cool slightly on a plate lined with a paper towel to absorb any excess grease.
- Once the potatoes are cool enough to handle, cut them in half.
- Scoop out a tiny bit of the inside of each half of the potato with a teaspoon. It just helps the filling to sit in each potato and not slide around, but you can feel free to skip this step! You can save the inside!
- Chop the bacon into smaller pieces; wash and chop the chives as well.
- Once you have all the potato halves prepared, transfer them to your serving platter/dish. Add about a teaspoon of sour cream to each potato, then top with bacon bits.
- Sprinkle chives over the top.
- We also like to add a little more freshly cracked black pepper on the top. Enjoy!
