Grapevine Twice-Baked Potato

One of the college restaurants in College Station where you wanted to take a girlfriend was The Grapevine. It was definitely a chick joint that served simple sandwiches, salads and sangria. But the star of the show was their twice baked potato. Theirs didn’t include cheddar cheese or sharp tasting cheeses but instead some variation of smooth and creamy cheeses. It had little bits of bacon scattered throughout. They served one half of their potato with a sandwich or salad.

The other day The Grapevine came up in conversation and it got me thinking about that baked potato. I knew one of the cheeses might be swiss and the other a muenster or gouda. I went with muenster this go round and it turned out really delicious and certainly a nod to The Grapevine twice baked potato.

For my simple sandwich I picked ham with Duke’s Mayo and a little white horseradish cheddar on a thin delicate white bread. Small little sandwiches like this remind me of a picnic, school lunch or even grandma. You can just imagine it wrapped in wax paper. A perfect little sandwich.

Ingredients
2 Potatoes
1/4 cup sour cream
1/4 cup butter
Homemade bacon bits
1 oz Swiss cheese
2 oz Munster

Directions:
1. Wash the potatoes and poke them with an ice pick. Preheat the oven to 450 degrees. Cover the potatoes with olive oil and then salt and pepper. Roast them in the oven for about 40-50 minutes until they are tender. Do not cover these with foil.

2. I went ahead and put the bacon also in the same oven to roast until crispy. Typically I like to do this at 300 degrees but wanted to take advantage of the oven while it was on.

3. When the potatoes are tender. Remove and let them rest until you can handle them. Scoop out the inside of the potato and mix it with the rest of your ingredients until well combined. Spoon them back into the potato shells and top with cheese and put them back into the oven (turned down to 350 degrees) and cook until the cheese is melted.