Tuna & Sweet Corn Jacket Potatoes

The Jacket Potato.
Who doesn't love a good jacket potato? Crispy, salted skin, fluffy, buttery potato, delicious filling, oozy melted cheese... A good jacket potato makes a truly delicious meal. However, after having the same generic toppings of baked beans and cheese on potato repeatedly, it gets a tad boring. I for one do NOT like baked beans on jacket potato, so I decided to try other toppings. Therefore, after a shopping trip, I decided to go to spud-u-like, and try a tuna jacket potato. It was nice, but I thought it could do with a little improving. The tuna filling was cold, for one, which tasted odd on the hot potato. The skin was not crispy (which is vital for a good potato) and it was lacking general seasoning. This recipe for a tuna filling that I came up with is delicious, hot, and well seasoned with salt, pepper, and chopped jalapeños in brine, has a creamy tuna topping, and lovely oozy melted cheese. Of course, the crispy skins were very much there too. As an accompaniment, I made my avocado salad, and a coleslaw. The resultant meal was tasty and satisfying, the way all good home-made meals always are.


TUNA JACKET POTATO
This recipe makes enough for four potatoes. Amounts of sweet corn, jalapeños, and mayonnaise can be adjusted according to personal preferences.

INGREDIENTS:
4 large Potatoes

1 tin Tuna in brine
1/2 tin of Sweet corn
Handful of Jalapeños in brine, drained and diced
2-3tbsp of Mayonnaise, according to your preference
Salt and lots of freshly ground black pepper to taste
Grated cheese

METHOD:

1. Boil potatoes for 15 minutes. Drain and remove from pan.
2. Place in a baking tray and drizzle generously with olive oil until the potatoes are evenly coated. Season with coarse sea salt.
3. Cover with foil and bake on medium heat, for approximately 1- 1&1/2 hour until done, turning midway. Remove from the oven, take off foil, and place in oven again until skin crispens, turning midway so both sides crispen.
4. Meanwhile, make the filling. Drain tuna and place in a bowl with sweet corn, jalapeños, mayonnaise salt and pepper, and stir thoroughly with a fork so the tuna chunks break and separate.
5. Cut each potato in half and spread the flesh generously with butter. Heap each half with the tuna filling, and top generously with grated cheese.
6. Replace in baking tray and bake for a further 10-15 minutes, until the filling is heated and the cheese melts and browns slightly.
7. Serve immediately with avocado salad and coleslaw, or accompaniments of your choice.

Avocado Salad with Zingy Lemon Dressing

For now though, all plums aside, lets talk about salads! Salads are wonderful, are they not? Fresh crispy and delicious, they make a wonderful accompaniments to almost all dishes, from grilled chickens, meats and veg to lasagnes and rice dishes. They can also be a whole meal of their own, with shredded grilled chicken pieces, chunks of tomato, pasta, and crunchy croutons, flavoured with a zingy dressing. This salad, however, is a personal (and family) favourite, and can be eaten as a side with almost anything (try it with tuna jacket potatoes!), although it makes a perfectly filling and healthy meal with fresh crusty bread. So here it is, give it a try, you'll be hooked!

AVOCADO SALAD WITH ZINGY LEMON DRESSING:
The avocados go wonderfully with the cheese. Using only slightly ripe avocados is preferred, although you can make do with ripe. Although it can be missed out, I strongly recommend adding the basil, as it makes it tasted fresher and altogether more delicious.

So incredibly healthy, is it not?

2 fresh Avocados, peeled and cubed
1 large Tomato, cubed
1/2 Cucumber, cut into medium sized cubes.
1/2 head Lettuce, sliced
50g Cheese, cut into cubes
Handful of fresh, rinsed Basil leaves, shredded.

FOR THE DRESSING:
2tbsp olive oil.
Juice of half lemon
2tsp sugar
1tsp salt
Pepper to taste.

METHOD:

1. Toss all the ingredients of the salad together.
2. To make the dressing, whisk all the ingredients together, then drizzle over the salad.
3. Serve as a side to a main meal, or with crusty bread for a quick and satisfying meal.

Salad for breakfast? Whyever not?

NB: This will serve approximately seven people as a side. To make a lesser quantity, simply reduce the amounts.