Potato snacks recipe

Making a good snack or appetizer from your everyday ingredients has never been easier. I came up with this potato snacks recipe when I had 2 hrs. before guests arrived for a casual dinner and needed an opener for the meal. The idea behind this recipe is actually not to stick closely to my suggested recipe (does that make sense?). The idea is to use the general guidelines, let your imagination go wild, and — most importantly — use whatever you have in your pantry. No special grocery shopping. The process of making these potato snacks or appetizers is pretty fast, almost effortless. Bear in mind, though, that the potatoes take about 45 minutes to get soft, so it's not a 30-minute meal. You can boil the potatoes for 30 minutes to an al dente degree, or use small- to medium-sized potatoes to save time. In this recipe I used two kinds of potatoes — Yukon Gold and Desirée — just because that's what I found in my fridge. Both were good, but if I had to choose between the two, I'd go with the Desirée. It gets crispier and works as a better "vessel" for the filling. When the potatoes come out of the oven, let them rest a bit. The secret of this recipe is scraping out the inner part to make more room for the filling. If you open them right out of the oven — like I did :-) — you'll burn your fingers for sure. The filling can be made from almost anything. I used a broccoli and cheese mix along with sweet potato, which came straight out of the oven together with the potato flesh we scraped out earlier. The best part of this dish is the outer crust, made from homemade breadcrumbs — super easy to make. All you need is two bread slices (stale bread works just as well), which I threw in the oven alongside the potatoes for about 10 minutes to dry out. Mix the breadcrumbs with parmesan cheese and spread on top of the potatoes. You'll be surprised how good it gets.