So I failed at staying away from my blog, it just took me to open Lightroom and see a flash of the recent food photographs I took for me to realise how much I wanted to make a post. What can I say? It relaxes me, and flushes out any stress that I am holding at the moment. I finished another roll of film today, a little last minute but is quite typical of my character and sums up my entire time at university!

I’ve almost become a little numb to the worry I should be feeling at the moment in regards to my final show, there is a lot more that I need to sort out than I thought, and everything else including keeping a tidy home, eating healthy and – what I should be doing – enjoying the sun,  are exempt from my priority list for now.

1 Freddi + 1 large stuffed crust pizza + Game Of Thrones marathon procrastination must = major deadline times.

So to celebrate my heightened craving for carbs season, I’m doing Nigel’s baked potato in three ways. For years I thought I had my baked potato skills down, I was no fool. Fed up of sticking a large potato in the oven for an hour and a half to find the inside still quite firm and not fluffy was a major, ongoing disappointment. So then I tried to microwave for about ten minutes, then bake for about half an hour, this way the potato was almost certain to be soft, however the skin never had that firmness and crunchy-ness that I craved. So I tried to leave the skin without any oil added before baking, wetting it, sprinkle with salt and then prick the skin here and there. And voila! Nigel saved me again from a simple problem.

” My friend Rosie Stark told me to hit my baked spud with a neat karate blow instead of a knife as it comes from the oven. It guarantees a baked potato that is as light as snow inside.” Nigel Slater, Real Good Food.

Rosie wasn’t wrong, I find this little technique useful and also a little endearing. So first up is pretty much pesto, mixed in with the fluffy potato insides. I had never made my own pesto before, you can totally taste the difference from shop bought, the flavour is much more intense and the process a hell of alot more satisfying.

A quick hello to my new followers! It’s good to have you here.

1 baked potato per person

2 large handfuls of basil leaves (my basil plant is now naked)

3 plump cloves of garlic

2 tablespoons pine nuts

2 tablespoons grated parmesan, plus extra to finish

You will also need 4 tablespoons of olive oil!

Prepare the baked potato as described above and bake in the oven at 200C for an hour or so.

Cream the garlic to a paste with a little salt using a pestle and mortar. Add the basil and pine nuts, pounding to a thick paste. Trickle in the oil then mix in the Parmesan until you get a bright green paste.

Crack the baked potatoes open, scoop out the insides and mix the pesto and potato together, pile back into the skins, grate some Parmesan on top and return to the oven until bubbling!