What’s cooking today: Jacket potatoes with a creamed mushroom topping

There’s something about baked potatoes, whether cooked in the coals at the braai or in an oven. Out there, they need to be wrapped in foil, although there are exceptions to this, such as what Americans call “ash-baked” spuds.

When cooked in a conventional oven, they can either be wrapped in foil or baked naked. I prefer the latter approach, because the skin, if cooked long enough at a very intense heat, turns nutty, brown and supremely crunchy. And inside, that luxurious softness which needs only butter and salt to make it the perfect meal.

This is also the way to cook them in an air fryer, with the difference being that they’re best baked in this kind of oven with a coating of oil. Other than that, they need to be pricked all over with a fork, and I also crisscross the top side with a sharp knife.

(Makes 4)

Ingredients

4 large potatoes, washed and patted dry

3 Tbsp olive oil

Salt

For the creamed mushrooms:

3 Tbsp butter

500 g button mushrooms

1 large onion, chopped

2 garlic cloves, chopped

3 rosemary sprigs, needles only, finely chopped

1 glass dry white wine

200 ml fresh cream

Salt

Black pepper

Method

Preheat the air fryer to 200℃.

Prick the cleaned potatoes all over with a fork, and make a criss-cross on top with a sharp knife, about a quarter of the way into the flesh.

Pour olive oil into a bowl and add salt and black pepper. Toss each potato in this and place in the air fryer basket with space in between for air flow.

Bake in the air fryer at 200℃ for 30 minutes, then turn them over and cook for 15 minutes more. Check, and if not cooked through give them a few minutes more.

For the mushroom topping, melt butter in a deep, heavy pot and simmer the onions and garlic in it until softened.

Add the sliced mushrooms and finely chopped rosemary and stir well to combine. Season with salt and black pepper. Turn up the heat and cook until the mushrooms have released their liquids and cooked through.

Add the wine and cook it down.

Add the cream and let it simmer for about five minutes for the sauce to enrich. Serve the mushroom sauce on top of the baked potatoes, garnished with rosemary. DM

Tony Jackman is Galliova Food Writer 2023, jointly with TGIFood columnist Anna Trapido. Order his book, foodSTUFF, here

Follow Tony Jackman on Instagram @tony_jackman_cooks.