Potato Dice

Last week in Hawaii we had some Potato Dice in the Mai Tai Bar at the Royal Hawaiian hotel. They were so fantastic that we went back a few days later and ordered them again.

Now I have decided to recreate this recipe at home. My husband gets slightly annoyed when I try to recreate restaurant recipes at home. Because I will be making Potato Dice for the next few weeks with a variety of different herbs. Tonight my Potato Dice were almost perfect. I really wanted to add some rosemary. However, I went to two stores and neither one had rosemary. And I had other things to do - like the Trina Turk Labor Day sale - I bought two cute dresses!

So I will try to buy some rosemary this week. Also my family wanted to know why I didn't make the bacon dip that they give you with the Potato Dice. So this week I will also be working on the Smoked Bacon Dip.

Ingredients:

4 large potatoes, washed and cut into cubes

1 tablespoon of finely chopped dill

1 tablespoon of finely chopped sage

1 tablespoon of finely chopped flat leaf parsley

1 teaspoon finely chopped fresh garlic

salt and pepper to taste

1/3 cup olive oil

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Wash your potatoes. You do not need to peel them. Yeah! I don't like peeling potatoes.

Cut your potatoes into tiny cubes. And place the potato cubes on a large baking sheet.

Now sprinkle the potatoes with the sage, dill, parsley, garlic, salt and pepper. I use a herb chopper from Williams Sonoma that finely chops all of herbs. Drizzle with the olive oil.

Bake the Potato Dice in a 400 degree oven for about 40 minutes. Try to stir the potatoes every 10 or 15 minutes. They should be golden brown and crispy.

I put the Potato Dice in a serving dish and used them as a side dish for chicken kabobs.

Twice Baked Potatoes

The best thing about twice baked potatoes is that you can make two or twenty or more! You can customize the potatoes with your favorite cheeses. You can add in whatever you want or whatever you have in the fridge. I usually add butter, cheddar cheese and bacon. You could also add diced pieces of ham, sour cream, chopped green onions or chopped fresh basil.

I like to make the potatoes early in the day and bake them the second time right before dinner.

Scrub the potatoes under warm water then prick the potatoes with a fork multiple times. Bake potatoes at 400 degrees for 45 minutes to one hour and 15 minutes depending on the size of the potato.

Allow the potato to cool. Slice the top third lengthwise off the potato. Use a spoon to scoop out the insides - forming a potato "canoe" leaving about 1/4 inch of potato on the skin.

Place the scooped out potato insides in a bowl with butter, cheeses, bacon etc. Mash the potatoes with the other fillings. Then spoon the potato mixture into the potato "canoes."

I place the filled potatoes in a small roasting pan and cover with foil. Then I place the potatoes in the fridge until dinner time.

Before dinner preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Remove the foil from the pan and bake the potatoes for 20-25 minutes. After the potatoes have baked the second time you can sprinkle them with paprika or finely chopped chives.

Serving suggestion: With meatloaf and a green salad or with ribs and fresh coleslaw.

This is double delectable!