Seasonal Recipes February: Stuffed Baked Potatoes with Roasted Brussel Sprouts

As promised, here is the first of our monthly recipe series featuring seasonal produce. Sometimes, even when you know what is in season at a particular time, it can be hard to figure out how to put seemingly random vegetables together to create a meal that, um, isn’t soup. We’re keeping these recipes as cheap and simple as we can, but we’re also of the opinion that food should taste really, really good first and foremost. 

If you haven’t seen our blog post on seasonal produce from last week, check it out here! In any case, the vegetables that are in season in the Netherlands in February are mushrooms, kale and Brussels sprouts; and in Europe in general celery, potatoes, carrots, leeks, beetroot and cabbage. Obviously, a whole meal can’t come from these vegetables, but they are the centrepiece of the dish (or some of them, in any case).

Without further ado, here is our recipe for roasted Brussels sprouts, baked potatoes and a lentil and mushroom topping for said potatoes.

Ingredients:

2 large potatoes

2 tbsp olive oil

Salt

Smoked paprika

Two handfuls of Brussels sprouts

150g mushrooms, chopped finely

1 can of lentils, or 1.5 cups cooked (they must be cooked in advance!)

1 tbsp soy sauce

1/2 tbsp balsamic vinegar

1 tsp cumin

1/2 tsp turmeric

1 onion

1 cloves garlic

1. Preheat your oven to 200 degrees, and line a baking tray with come greaseproof paper or a reusable baking mat.
2. Give the potatoes a wash and then, when the oven is hot enough, put them on the baking tray. Stab them viciously, or gently, with a fork a few times each, to let the steam out while they cook. Bake in the oven for twenty minutes.
3. In the meantime, prepare the sprouts. Take off the top layer of leaves of the Brussels sprouts and cut them in half. Put them in a bowl with a tablespoon of olive oil, some salt and some smoked paprika. After the potatoes have baked for twenty minutes, add the Brussels sprouts to the same tray and bake both together for a further twenty minutes. The sprouts should be golden brown on the tips of the leaves when they’re done, and perfectly soft inside.
4. During this final twenty minutes’ baking, prepare the stuffing for the potatoes. Fry off the onion and garlic in some olive oil until softened and golden brown, and then add the mushrooms and lentils. Add the soy sauce, balsamic vinegar and spices. Cook until the mushrooms are soft.
5. When the potatoes and Brussels sprouts are done, allow them to cool for five minutes. Split the potatoes lengthwise down the middle so that you can stuff them with the mushroom and lentil mixture. Then add the Brussels sprouts on top, or separately on the plate, as you wish. You can also add fresh leaves, tomatoes or avocados, but none of these are in season at this time of year, so we haven’t included them in this recipe.