Duchess-Style Twice-Baked Potatoes

Duchess-Style Twice-Baked Potatoes

Unlike American-style twice-baked potatoes, which are laden with cheese and sour cream, these potatoes, inspired by the French dish pommes duchesse, get their richness primarily from egg yolks. While you can scoop the filling back into the skins with a spoon, piping it with a star-tipped pastry bag makes the potatoes especially fancy.

Yield: 8 servings

6 medium russet potatoes (about 3 pounds), scrubbed

¾ cup whole milk

½ cup unsalted butter

⅛t easpoon ground nutmeg

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

4 large egg yolks, at room temperature

Sweet paprika, for topping

Arrange an oven rack in the center position and heat the oven to 425 degrees. Bake the potatoes directly on the oven rack until the flesh is soft and tender and the skins are crispy, 1 hour to 1 hour 15 minutes. Remove the potatoes from the oven and let them sit at room temperature just until they’re cool enough to handle (they should still be hot). Leave the oven on.

Meanwhile, combine the milk and butter in a large saucepan and bring to a simmer over medium-high heat, then reduce the heat to the lowest setting just to keep the mixture warm. (It should not be bubbling.)

Cut 2 of the still-hot potatoes in half lengthwise and carefully scoop the flesh into a food mill, ricer or drum sieve, taking care to keep the skins intact. Set the skins aside, then mill, rice or press the flesh into the saucepan. Repeat with the remaining potatoes in 2 more batches, reserving 8 skins total (you can snack on or discard the 4 other skins).

Add the nutmeg to the saucepan and generously season the potato mixture with salt and pepper. Remove the saucepan from the heat and gently fold until the mixture is smooth, then taste and adjust the seasoning. Gently stir in the egg yolks until combined. Set the saucepan aside and let the potato mixture cool completely to room temperature, stirring occasionally.

Place the 8 potato skins on a rimmed baking sheet, spacing them evenly. For a fancy (but optional) look, scrape the potato mixture into a pastry bag fitted with a large open star tip and pipe the mixture into the skins, dividing evenly and using all of the mixture so that each skin is mounded with filling. Alternatively, spoon the potato mixture into the skins and smooth the tops.

Lightly dust the top of each potato with paprika, then transfer to the oven and bake until the surfaces are lightly browned in spots, 15 to 20 minutes. Transfer to a platter and serve.

Tip: DO AHEAD: The potato skins can be filled up to 1 day ahead. Cover and refrigerate, then bring to room temperature before topping with paprika and baking again. They will take a few minutes longer to heat through and brown in the oven.

Made these tonight and they were delicious! I think that the outside of the potato ought to be oiled and salted somewhere along the process to help it crisp, and also to give the skin itself more flavor. For that reason I almost shaved off a star but the yolky filling is very delicious.

For the filling, I used buttermilk instead of milk as its what I had on hand. I plan on making these potatoes for thanksgiving.

Excellent recipe. I added a bit of green onion to the filling because it sounded good (it was). I also added a bit of salt to the “boats” before filling them and that seems like the right call. I wonder if I slightly over baked my potatoes the first time round, because I found the skins slightly too tough. But I will make it again! Highly recommend: delicious, lovely presentation, and flexible.