Twice Baked Potato Stuffed With Shrimp And Blue Cheese

Directions

1. Wash and carefully scrub the potato skin. Prick the potato with a fork in several places. This will release steam during baking. Place potato on a cookie sheet and bake 1 to 1-1/2 hours. Turn the potato over about mid way during baking. To test for doneness, gently squeeze the sides and press down on the top. There should be about 1/8 inch of give.
2. Cut the potato lengthwise into two halves. With a small spoon, scoop out and place the flesh of the potato in a medium size bowl. (When you scoop, leave about 1/8" flesh attached to the skin.) Smash 1/4 of a stick of butter into the potato filling and mix well. Add 1/2 cup of sour cream. Stir until smooth. (If you like your mashed potatoes light and fluffy, you may want to use a food processor or just use a hand mixer.)
3. Gently fold in the blue cheese. Then gently fold in the chopped shrimp. Divide mixture evenly into two parts. Scoop one part into one half of the potato. Be careful not to press too hard on the mixture to avoid breaking the skin. Repeat this step for the second half potato.
4. Return stuffed potato halves to the baking sheet and bake for 15-20 minutes. For nice brown peaks on your potato halves, change the oven setting from baking to broiling. Broil the potato halves for approximately 3 minutes. On this step, watch very carefully not to burn the stuffing. Remove from oven and set aside.
5. Garnish with Additional Shrimps and Blue Cheese: On the stove top, turn the burner to a medium high heat. In a skillet, melt the remaining butter and add the garlic infused olive oil. When this is very hot, add remaining whole shrimps. Brown on one side, turn over and brown the other side. (Remember, these are pre-cooked shrimp, so don't over due the cooking.) Casually place 3 shrimps over each of the two stuffed potato halves. Pour any remaining oil and butter over the shrimps and potato halves. Sprinkle additional blue cheese on top of the potatoes
6. Optional: For a little more color, sprinkle chopped chives on top of the stuffed potatoes.
7. Cooking Notes: For this recipe, the potato is 1.6 pounds because it is intended to be the main coarse. If you want to make it as a side dish, try a 9 oz baking potato. Just be sure to adjust the ingredient quantities for a smaller baking potato. You can also freeze the stuffed potato halves.