Baked Potato Bites

1. Preheat the oven to 450ºF.
2. Cut the potatoes in half lengthwise (so the cut surface is oblong-ish rather than circle-ish). Put them in a 9″x 11″ cake pan (if your pan is prone to sticking, add some foil or parchment paper first).
3. Toss the potatoes with 1 teaspoon of the olive oil, ¼ teaspoon coarse salt and ⅛ teaspoon coarse black pepper. Scoot the potatoes to one side of the pan and arrange them cut side up. Lay the slice of bacon along the other side of the pan. Put the pan into the preheated oven.
4. Roast until the potatoes are tender when pierced with a fork, about 15 minutes. Do check on them sooner, especially having a peek at your bacon. It will be done before the potatoes if it’s on the thin side. When the bacon looks crispy, remove it from the pan and transfer it to some kitchen towel to blot and cool. When the potatoes are done, remove the pan from the oven and allow them to cool as well.
5. Meanwhile, toss the asparagus with the remaining 1 teaspoon of oil, a good pinch of salt and a grind of pepper. Put the spears on a baking sheet and pop it into the oven. Cook until bright green and only just yielding to the pressure of a fork (4 minutes for this asparagus, 7 for really thick ones). Remove from the oven and transfer them to a plate to cool. Cut each asparagus spear into three equal lengths. Chop up the bacon.
6. Arrange the potato halves on a serving plate, cut side up. If any are particularly tipsy, cut a thin slice off of the rounded bottom, making it flat so that the potato can sit with some dignity. Top each half with ¼ teaspoon of sour cream, a little sprinkle of bacon and one length of asparagus. Give everything a small grind of pepper.

See our Bake a Potato page for help on how to bake a potato in the oven.