A couple of months ago I was sick, and stuck in bed for a week, and during that time I read about 700 books. One of these books was Diane Mott Davidson’s Prime Cut. Its a culinary mystery book, with recipes intertwined with each chapter. One of the recipes was something called ‘Slumber Party Potatoes’ and even though I was so sick I could only ingest soup, it sounded so incredibly good I almost became delirious.

A few changes: I used a bag of frozen broccoli cuts, because that’s what I had. I prefer to cook my broccoli in a pan with a little butter or oil so that’s  how I prepared it for this. I did not use chicken broth granules either, I had regular chicken broth but I didn’t bother to use it.

SLUMBER PARTY POTATOES

(Makes 4 servings)

Ingredients:

• 4 large baking potatoes
• 2 T. (¼ stick) butter
• 3 T. all-purpose flour
• 1 T. chicken broth granules
• 1 ½ cups milk
• 1 cup grated Cheddar cheese
• 1 pound fresh broccoli, trimmed of stems and separated into florets, lightly steamed
• 1 pound bacon, cooked until crisp, drained and chopped

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
2. Scrub and prick the potatoes in 3 or 4 places with a fork. Bake them for about 1 hour, or until flaky.
3. While the potatoes are baking, melt the butter in a large skillet over low heat. Stir in the flour; cook and stir just until the flour bubbles, 2 or 3 minutes. Add the chicken broth granules, stir, and then gently whisk in the milk. Heat and stir constantly over medium heat until the sauce thickens, about 10 minutes. Add the cheese and stir until it melts, 2 or 3 minutes.
4. Split each of the hot potatoes in half and place them on a platter. Place the steamed broccoli florets and chopped bacon into bowls. Pour the cheese sauce into a large gravy boat. Diners serve themselves assembly-line style, ending with the cheese sauce.

OH. MY. GOD. So good. So good you won’t be able to move after having one… or uh *cough* three.

I doubled the cheese sauce recipe so I could serve more, and it worked just fine.

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