baked sweet potatoes with bacon

Twice Baked Sweet Potatoes with Bacon Topping Serves 6

The skins of the sweet potato are edible and add an earthiness to the dish.
When shopping, look for sweet potatoes that are uniform in size with rounded ends.
If possible, avoid irregularly shaped potatoes with pointy ends.

INGREDIENTS
 4 small (8 ounce) sweet potatoes, lightly pricked with fork in 3 places
 4 ounces goat cheese, crumbled (1 cup)
 2 slices  white sandwich bread, crusts removed and cut into 1/8- to ¼-inch pieces
1 teaspoon minced fresh thyme
 Salt and pepper
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
 ½ ounce Parmesan cheese, grated (1/4 cup)
 1 large egg, lightly beaten

METHOD
1. Place potatoes in shallow microwave-safe baking dish. Microwave until skewer glides easily through flesh and potatoes yield to gentle pressure, 9 to 12 minutes, flipping potatoes every 3 minutes. Cool potatoes for 10 minutes Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 425 degrees.

2. Toss goat cheese, breadcrumbs, thyme, 1/8 teaspoon salt and ¼ teaspoon pepper together in bowl.

3. Halve each potato lengthwise. Using soup spoon, scoop flesh from each half into bowl, leaving about 1/8 to 1/4-inch thickness of flesh. Place 6 shells cut-sides up on wire rack set in rimmed baking sheet (discard remaining 2 shells). Bake shells until dry and slightly crisp, about 10 minutes.

4. Meanwhile, mash potato with ricer, food mill, or potato masher until smooth. Stir in butter, Parmesan, egg, and ½ teaspoon salt.

 5. Remove shells from oven. Divide mashed potato evenly between shells. Top each filled shell with breadcrumb mixture. Bake until breadcrumb mixture is spotty brown, about 20 minutes.

 Cool 5 minutes before serving.