Caution! This recipe will blow your diet!

One of the classes I'm taking this quarter is cheesemaking.  Cool, right?  So far, I'm really enjoying it.  Our chef instructor is this retired biochemist who owns an organic farm in Stockton.  His barbeque is award-winning, his favorite word is "killer", and he is definitely a hippie.  He runs his kitchen like a lab and we get to experiment with a wide variety of recipes.  One recipe that we recently tried out was for mascarpone cheese.  It is a very simple process- a quart of cream is heated to 200 degrees Fahrenheit, you add a quarter teaspoon Tartaric acid to it, and then strain it and refrigerate it.  It absolutely amazes me that such a simple process can result in such a delicious product.  Mascarpone is really decadent.  It is an Italian cheese often used for pastries and desserts (think Tiramisu) but it is also pretty "killer" to cook with.  I now have 2 big jars of it in my fridge, so it better be!  I think I'll use some of it to make some twice-baked potatoes to go with my husband's steak for Valentine's Day.  It's pretty indulgent and I'm not sure I even want to know how many calories one of these potatoes contains.  They're perfect for a special meal, though, and worth every calorie!  

*P.S.- You can also check my recipe out here.  I entered it as part of Eating Leed's "International Year of the Potato" recipe round-up.

Mascarpone and Parmesan Twice-Baked Potatoes

Ingredients:

4 large baking potatoes

2 Tbs. butter

2 green onions, chopped

1/4 red pepper

1/2 cup mascarpone cheese

1/4 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese, plus more to top potatoes

1/4 tsp. black pepper

3/4 tsp. salt

Directions:

-Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

-Scrub and rinse the potatoes.  Dry them and prick with a fork.

-Place the potatoes in a baking dish and bake in preheated oven until tender, about 45 minutes.

-In the meantime, melt butter in a pan and saute green onions and red peppers until tender.

-When potatoes are ready, remove from oven and allow to cool until you are able to handle them.  Leave the oven at 400 degrees.

-Use a knife to cut out an oval in the top of each potato. 

-Scoop out the flesh from each potato (including those tops!) and put into a mixing bowl.  Be careful to leave enough potato in the shells so they don't fall apart.

-Set the potato shells aside.

-Mash the potatoes in the mixing bowl.  While mashing the potatoes, add in the mascarpone cheese.

-When potato and cheese mixture is smooth and fully combined, add the butter and veggies.

-Mix together so veggies are evenly distributed.

-Finish with 1/4 cup of the parmesan cheese, as well as the salt and pepper.  Adjust seasonings as necessary.

-Spoon mixture back into the potato shells.

-Top with parmesan cheese and return to oven.

-Bake at 400 degrees until heated through and cheese is melted, about 20 minutes.

Enjoy!