I have been part of food forums for a few years and this recipe was recommended by someone on such a site. I tried it and it was an instant hit. The recipe is originally from Paula Deen on the Food Network. As all things Paula Deen it is a rich recipe! Ingredients are bacon, heavy whipping cream, mushrooms, and brandy (which you ignite to burn off the alcohol content) — but it makes for a well loved recipe. Her original recipe also has peppercorns, but my kids don’t care for it, so I add ground fresh pepper instead.
Just a word of caution, you might want to warn your family you are about to ignite brandy — I forgot to mention that once and my husband was willing to douse our dinner with a fire extinguisher – do remove it from the burners – I almost melted my microwave! Oh it’s so much fun to cook. You never know what will happen!
Jacket Potatoes with Bacon & Mushroom Sauce
adapted from Paula Deen
Serves 6
Ingredients:
- 6 large baking potatoes, scrubbed and sprinkled with kosher salt
- 1 package Hormel Low Sodium Bacon
- 1 package sliced mushrooms (Baby Portobella mushrooms are nice for variety)
- 1/4 cup brandy
- 1 – 1 1/2 cups heavy whipping cream
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 tsp black ground pepper
Directions:
- Bake the potatoes at 425 for 60-75 minutes until they are soft and cooked through.
- Cut the bacon up into small pieces and cook over medium high heat in a large skillet. Remove the crisp bacon from the fat and fry the mushrooms in the baking fat until they are browned. Pour off the excess bacon drippings. Add 1/4 cup of brandy to the mushrooms. (Do NOT pour directly from the bottle, measure first, pull the skillet from the heat and add the brandy from a measuring cup. Ignite the brandy with a lighter, keeping the skillet away from face, hair, smoke detectors and the like- once the flame dies down you can put it back on the burner).
- Add the bacon bits back into the skillet and add the heavy whipping cream, bring to a boil and reduce the liquid into a sauce. Season with salt and pepper and serve over the baked potatoes with additional butter of course!
Thank you Paula Deen – it is one of our favorites.
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