Oven Baked Potatoes

I always loved baked potatoes. Every time we would go abroad, I would try to find a restaurant which serves “the real thing” – baked potatoes, baked in aluminum foil, served with a big dollop of butter, and salt.

Here in Israel, we don’t have the real “baking potatoes” as we are familiar with abroad, especially in the U.S. where large, thick-skinned Idaho potatoes are used for makingbaked potatoes. Here the potatoes have thinner skins, and the texture is different.

When I would try to prepare baked potatoes here in Israel, doing it the traditional way, in aluminum foil, they would come out with soggy thin skins. Several years ago, I learned a tip either from a tv program or a magazine, I don’t exactly remember…..but the tip was great, and I have used it ever since.

The potatoes are baked on a base of coarse salt, directly on parchment paper in the oven; no aluminum foil. Of course, if you want to serve it in the traditional way, wrapped in aluminum foil, you can wrap it up after it is ready, and serve. But I find that these potatoes come out so nice “as is”, almost as if they have been roasted…so I skip the aluminum foil. The coarse salt serves to dry out the potato a bit, and the skins come out crispy and delicious.

Ingredients:

• red skinned potatoes, as many as you need. Best when all the potatoes are approximately the same size.
• about a Tablespoon or more of coarse salt.

Preparation:

1. Line a baking tin with parchment paper.
2. Sprinkle some coarse salt on the parchment paper.
3. Wash and dry as many potatoes as you want to bake.
4. Place on the parchment paper (on the coarse salt that you sprinkled on the paper).
5. Bake at medium high heat (190 C or 375 F) till ready (about 45 minutes, but that depends on the size of the potatoes). The skin should look as if the potato has been roasted, with some black and brown spots from the heat.
6. Serve with any topping you like – butter, sour cream, yogurt, chopped scallions, etc.