Regrettably, we only managed to capture a single picture, but it should give you an idea of the scale you'll be working with before you begin. Our grocer was out of small Yukon gold potatoes, so we grabbed some new red potatoes instead.
First, the potatoes are roasted in olive oil, thyme, salt, and pepper. Once out of the oven, they're cooled to room temperature and the top one-quarter to one-third of each potato is removed. (Try not to eat the tops as you slice them off - we dare you!)
Scooping out the potato flesh is a time-consuming operation. We did it with a tea spoon, but we'd be willing to bet that a melon baller would have been much easier to work with. The flesh is reserved in a small bowl and, once all of it has been collected, it's mixed with bacon, chives, and sour cream (or creme fraiche, which is the path we chose). The mixture is spooned back into the potatoes, topped with grated Parmesan, and baked for about 10 minutes in a 450-degree oven.
As the recipe suggests, you can do most of this prep ahead of time, provided that you diligently wrap the potatoes and filling separately in plastic so they don't dry out. We wrapped out filling bowl a little too loosely, so it was a little difficult to work with when we went to spoon it into our spuds.
We've had several guests from our party call and e-mail us for this recipe, some of them planning to use it for their own holiday meals. We'd guess that makes it a success, although we couldn't provide a ruling ourselves - by the time we made it to our buffet table for a sample, the potatoes were already all gone! So we're relying on reviews from our critics as we proudly bestow upon this appetizer the label of "YTK Favorite"!
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