I spent the summer between high school and college working two jobs, one as a hostess at a Chinese restaurant and the other as a waitress at a T.G.I.Friday’s. Most of my time at T.G.I.Friday’s was spent (1) trying to raise my voice enough in the kitchen that they could hear me when I asked for more ranch, (2) forgetting to enter orders, or (3) eating breadsticks out of the breadstick bin. (I may have been the worst server they had.)
Every once in awhile we got free appetizer or free dessert cards for doing a good job, which smarter servers than me kept in their back pocket to give to customers to encourage bigger tips, and which I interpreted literally and used to get free potato skins. Even after someone clued me in, I think I kept half to use them the savvy way (for me, usually to apologize to a customer for spilling something) and half for free appetizers, because I’m pretty sure it’s perfectly reasonable to choose potatoes, bacon, and cheese now over a bigger tip from a customer later. (In case there was any doubt over which kid I’d be in the marshmallow test.)
I forgot all about this until just before the Super Bowl this year, when B2 said, in a sudden onset of one of his good ideas (which almost always have to do with potatoes, it seems), “You know what would be really good? Kimchi and potato skins.” Yes! Yes, it would. So there was only one thing to be done that Sunday, and that was revisit my old favorite appetizer (even if it meant paying for them this time). A pile of cute little potatoes were bought, baked until crisp and filled with melted cheese, a quick kimchi relish, sour cream, and scallions. Kimchi goes and makes an already wonderful thing even better — it adds a little bit of heat that goes perfectly with the cheese (I am always a supporter of kimchi and cheese) and a pungent tang that matches the sour cream and sharp scallions. On top of that, the tart spice and fresh crunch helps to lighten everything up just a little bit. If you wanted, you could crumble some bacon or fry up some slivered pork belly to add more heft, but we loved these just as is, and between us, finished the entire pan by the time Lady Gaga came on.
Kimchi potato skins
Bacon crumbles or thinly sliced and cooked pork belly wouldn’t be amiss here, added to the potato skins along with the cheddar; we omitted it just to keep things a little, little bit lighter.
Ingredients
- 8 small to medium Russet potatoes (about ½ lb each, 4 lbs total)
- 4 tablespoons vegetable or olive oil, divided
- Salt and pepper, to taste
- 1 tablespoon sesame oil
- 1 cup kimchi, finely chopped
- 1 tablespoon honey
- 1 tablespoon rice vinegar
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 6 ounces (1 ½ cups) shredded extra sharp Cheddar cheese
- To serve:
- Sour cream (or plain Greek yogurt)
- Cilantro
- Scallions, sliced
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400° F. Thoroughly scrub the potatoes until clean and let dry. Rub the potatoes with oil and sprinkle with salt and black pepper. I used about 2 tablespoons oil and ½ teaspoon each salt and black pepper. Prick potatoes all over with a fork or knife, then place them on a baking sheet and bake for 50-60 minutes, or until skin is crisp and potatoes are tender.
- Remove the potatoes from the oven and turn the oven up to 500° F. When the potatoes are cool enough to handle, halve them and scoop out the flesh, leaving a thin border of potato attached to the skins. (Save the flesh for another use; we mashed them with a bit of milk, butter, and salt and pepper.)
- Mix the remaining 2 tablespoons vegetable oil and 1 tablespoon sesame oil together in a small bowl. Brush both the skins and the insides of the potatoes with the sesame oil mixture and season the insides with more salt and pepper. Place the potatoes cut-side down and bake until skins are crisp, about 5-8 minutes, then flip and bake with the cut-side up until edges are browned, another 5-8 minutes. Meanwhile, stir together the kimchi, honey, and rice vinegar in a small bowl.
- When the potatoes are done, sprinkle each potato skin with garlic powder and 2-3 tablespoons shredded cheddar and return them to the oven for a final 3-4 minutes, just until the cheese is melted. Serve topped with kimchi relish, sour cream, cilantro, and scallions.
Notes
These are a bit more involved than I realized before I tackled them, but they’re not hard, just time-consuming, and can easily be broken down into manageable pieces if you plan ahead more than I did. Bake the potatoes one day and scoop them once chilled, then save the skins to crisp up and fill with toppings on the day you’d like to serve them.
Abby @ Heart of a Baker
I concur, anything involving potatoes is usually a great idea! Love these little skins of goodness, I’m just now discovering how amazing kimchi is! xo
heather (delicious not gorgeous)
whenever it was my turn to pick restaurants as a kid, i’d pick tgi friday’s just for the potato skins. love the sound of adding kimchi to them! and agree that kimchi and cheese should always go together (kimchi quesadillas with a quick sriracha mayo are also delicious).
Dixya @ Food, Pleasure, and Health
potatoes are great in itself but i could see them slathered in kimchi. i have never made potato skins before, so that needs to change. i have worked briefly at a restaurant and i can relate to all of the above…
billmacblog
I always enjoy your writings and recipes-And your story today of summer jobs brought back memories- Like your hubby, I like anything potatoes- mashed, baked, fried, french(?) and so forth
While I was in the Army I had a Korean friend intro me to Korean food and especially KIMCHI which I LOVE- So my question, is any chance you are going to open a restaurant soon?
jan dash
It would be nice to have a kimchi recipe for this dish
Eve
I work at a sort of Korean-fusion diner (I’m the only one who describes it that way, but that’s what it is), and kimchi potato skins sounds AMAZING– but I’m not sure we have the capacity for potato skins per se. But now you’ve got me thinking about– why don’t we have, say, kimchi cheese fries? That would be really good. Thanks for the inspiration…
bakingwithanastasia
Love the idea of potatoes with kimchi!
Lyndsay // Coco Cake Land
OH how I loved learning that you worked at both a Chinese restaurant and TGIFri. And so cute, hilarious and earnest that you would use your free appy cards on actual free appies. SMART and I woulda done the same!! My food service job was working at Mmmarvelous Muffins (yes, there are that many M’s in the marvelous)… selling horrifically huge basically high-calorie CAKE muffins wearing a visor. Honestly I don’t think I’ve ever seen potato skins look so delicious as these ones in your pictures. We watched the Super Bowl (hey it’s your own sporting event!!! BOWL!) starting at the half time and then became enthralled with the game – Teddy has since said he wants to be on the “Captain America” football team when he grows up … Hehe. XO
Liren | Kitchen Confidante
Oh my gosh, I love kimchi with fries, so this is next level — and easier to eat since the skins are the perfect vessel for all that wonderful filling!
Tilly
Trying to eat more Kimchi for its health benefits with a recipe like this I don’t think it’s going to be hard!
Deanna
I used these as a jumping off point to make twice baked potatoes, and they were so good! They went really well with the Korean marinated skirt steak we had for dinner.