Jacket Potato with Parsley Sauce

If you have some parsley that you are not sure what to make with or maybe it isn’t very fresh anymore, make a sauce and use it as a condiment for jacket potatoes, called ‘ patate al cartoccio ‘ in Italian in this specific case – a method of cooking in which the food is put into a parchment paper or a paper bag or aluminium foil, then baked. Using parchment paper is even nicer to present the potatoes without having to plate them. Smart, isn’t it?

About the Parsley Sauce, this is a light version of Piemontese sauce, but if you want to stick to the traditional one, here it is: parsley-and-vinegar-sauce-from-piedmont

Serves 2, Preparation time 10 minutes, Cooking time about 1 hour

2 medium potatoes
A bunch of fresh Parsley
3 anchovy fillets in olive oil
salt, to taste
a clove of peeled garlic
a sprinkle of grated Parmigiano
Extra Virgin Olive Oil (EVOO), 2 tbsp

Method

Chop the parsley coarsely and put it in the mixer with the drained anchovy fillets – do not rinse them under running water! Just dry them a little with absorbent paper – add chopped garlic clove, a pinch of salt, 2 tablespoons of oil, blend all together by adding a little more oil if necessary. Ready.

Pre-heat the oven to 190C/170 F/Gas Mark 5.

Rub the olive oil over the potatoes and wrap them individually in wet baking parchment:

Tip: cut 2 sheets of it large enough to hold and close each potato, rinse them under running water, then squeeze them well. In this way it is easy to wrap the potatoes and nope, it does not affect the cooking.

Bake for 1 hour to 190C/170 F/Gas Mark 5 or until the skin is crisp and the flesh is soft by putting a wooden stick to verify if is ready.

Cut a cross on top of each potato, add parlsey sauce and a drizzle of Evoo.

Sprinkle with grated Parmesan and put the baking tray into the oven still hot for another 5 minutes and then serve immediately.