ottawa foodies

We bake and sell baked potatoes and wedges with hot/cold delicious toppings at various events in and around Ottawa. Our regular spot is at the Ottawa Farmers' Market, Thursdays and Sundays and NEW at the Carp Farmers Market on Saturdays.
Here's the thing...we need your input to help us bring you the very best baked potato experience we can.
As baked potato fanatics we know what we like, BUT what do you like on a baked potato?
Use your imagination and send us your fav toppings.

Thanks

Spud Guy

I'm a classicist, myself: bacon and gorgonzola. Chives optional.

If I were to suggest something a bit non-traditional, why not do an "Indian-spiced" (AKA panchporan aloo) one? Rather than frying cubed potato in the spice, you can do that twice-baked thingy, or just coat the baked potato, with butter that's been infused with turmeric, chilli powder, fennel seed, nigella, fenugreek, coriander, and mustard seed.

I like canned peaches with cottage cheese on a hot potato.

I've just been looking at thisiswhyyourefat.com, how about an Elvis potato? Bacon, caramel, bananas?

Typically if I eat them I like the classic - butter, salt and sour cream (or plain yoghurt)...

I'm also a fan of the twice baked potato. Almost doesn't matter what's inside as long as it's yummy. Of course, you could always try to make an Obama-to....

where do you get your potatoes from? i have had your baked potatoes and your wedges at the landsdowne farmer's market. i was not a big fan of the wedges, they were too big to be a french fry, but too small and crispy to enjoy with the baked potato toppings.

i had traditional toppings on the baked potato and it was good.

i would love to see new baby potatoes, i love these with sour cream & chives.

one thing i am not crazy about are the big containers of dried seasonings. at the farmer's market stall, it would be nice to see some of the local herbs and spices from the stalls around you available to sprinkle on the potatoes. fresh basil - so much better than the bulk dried stuff.

on a personal note, if you ever introduced shoe-string sweet potato fries, i'd be there every sunday :)

our potatoes come from PEI or Quebec and sometimes up the road from Curran Ontario when available. We are constantly trying to source local potatoes, but constant supply is not always available...we have even thought of growing them ourselves!
The wedges are very popular, a healthy french fry, not fried but baked.

We do baby or mini potatoes...we introduced them in October last year. We bake them with rosemary, sunflower oil and a dash or sea salt. I personnaly love them with our garlic or curry dip.

I really like and appreciate your idea re: fresh herbs...its got me thinking...sometimes the most obvious idea is right in front of your eyes...
We do try to source the toppings from the OFM vendors when in season...when its brocolli time at the market, we get those huge heads...I love brocolli, especially raw...my mum would be proud!!!

sweet potato fries...okay enough already, I'm getting hungry!

Spud Guy - Well I'm a classic sort... Sour Cream (lots), Chives and maybe some Bacon (occasionally cheese).

Like to think of my Baked Potato with the fixings as Scalloped Potatoes with an "edible dish"... so the skins better be perfect.

As much as I love toppings, and I doooo love toppings, for me when it comes to Baked Potatoes it is all about the potato.

I like the interior of my potato sort of "mashable" not too mealy (I know hard to describe) but it's got have some moistness, not dried out and too flaky.

Now if you really want to drive me nuts... start making Baked Sweet Potatoes. Had some of these on a recent trip to the Southern USA... they actually ask when you order a meal with a Baked Potato (Regular or Sweet)... toppings for these babies... lots of butter, maple syrup, honey (or brown sugar in a pinch)... ah my gosh, I'm drooling just sitting here!

Like HipHunkyFun if you add sweet potatoes to the menu, and you and I will be seeing a lot of each other over the course of the Summer Farmers' Markets.

Arrgh! Baked sweet potatoes! Butter, syrup, cinnamon, brown sugar, crushed pecans, topped with marshmallows and broiled/blowtorched! AMAZING.

Personaly I love mushrooms as a topping, creamed or lightly sauted in garlic butter and fresh herbs. Like the above sweet potatoes are a must for me with loads of sweet butter, I dont need anything else as the potatoes are sweet enough. Good luck!!

bacon, roasted wild mushrooms, chevre and bruschetta tomatoes
(IN THAT ORDER!)

chef Obi I think you just called the new trendy baked potato! yum! Baked sweet potatos with goat's cheese and rosemary for me, thanks!

But for regular potatoes? Sour cream, butter, salt.

Spud guy, have you ever done Hasselbach potatoes? You could slide something interesting into them eg sausage, garlic, cheese, olives, etc.
As for sweet potatoes, I love them hot from the oven, sliced open and covered with a feta-olive salad like this:

2 large sweet potatoes, 3/4-1 lb each
200g (about 1/2 lb) block good feta cheese (sheep's milk is the best - try feta imported from Greece or France), cut into 1/2-inch (1 cm) cubes
2/3 cup black oil-cured olives (or other high-quality olives), pitted and chopped
1/2 red onion, chopped
1/2 red bell or Crimson Hot pepper, chopped
1 grated carrot (optional)
1 stalk celery, diced (optional)
4 to 6 tomatillos, quartered (optional)
1/2 cup cucumber, diced or sliced (optional)
a handful of toasted almond slivers (optional)
a couple handfuls of blanched veggies - eg beans, broccoli, cauliflower, snow peas (optional)
1 clove garlic, minced (optional)
1/2 cup (packed) chopped fresh coriander/cilantro
1/2 teaspoon cumin seeds (ground ok)
1/2 teaspoon coriander seeds (ground ok)
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
2-3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
juice of 1/2 lemon
salt and pepper

Cheddar cheese, sour cream, bacon, green onion/chive and buttah! Lots of buttah! For something a little more strange... sour cream and salsa ... or chili ... or gravy and cheese! Sort of like a poutine...

Broccoli in a good quality cheese sauce.

Smashed roasted garlic cloves and chives

A vote on anything involving roasted garlic, shrooms, fresh herbs.

And Momomoto's idea sounds great.

A further variation might be something Indonesian-influenced, e.g., "gado-gado" style with a spicy-peanut sauce or w/ some sort of curry sauce.

...and any that are really charred/black on the bottom? I'll take those. :)

AMR - LOL, now that is different!
Please explain why, I'm curious... do you eat the charred part (skin), or do you find it changes the flavour or consistency of the potato itself (interior)?

AMR - I think I know what you mean, it has to have alot of butter and/or garlic butter melted into the skin, even if it black...its delicious...maybe its the butter! The skin is very nutrious, lots of fiber.

Thanks for all your responses!

Indeed spud guy. And I'm a minimalist - baked with just butter & a good sea salt. Someone else can have the rest of the potato, I'll take the charred bottom. :)

I would like to support snoopy loopy's idea for poutine-style baked potato. Get some cheese curds (there must be some locally sourced stuff) and either a gravy or marinara sauce. It would be healthier then normal poutine, sensible in quantity and at the same time, ever so tasty. Hmm, I wonder if there is any particularly good source for gravy in the local farmers community.

Note to self, try out that poutine idea myself.

A friend of mine was recently telling me about a twice baked - samosa style baked potato. He pulled it out of some vegan cookbook. I think it makes a lot of sense, basically all the flavourings of samosa-filling, substituting crispy potato skin for the baked or fried exterior. I think he mentioned that it was onions, peas, and a host of indian spices (it was something like coriander, turmeric, cardamom, chili etc). It was a dish that made perfect sense to me when I was hearing about it.

"Jacket" potatoes are incredibly popular take away items in England. Some of the toppings i remember included chili, beans and cheese, beans and sausages, curried peas...it went on and on. They are all generally pretty good, but I tend to be more of a traditionalist myself when making baked potatoes at home - sour cream, chives and butter.

On the curry theme, I made a wicked tomato based cauliflower, chick pea and potato curry. It would probably make a good topping for a vegetarian baked potato(just skip the potato in the recipe). You could top it off with Raita.

I think something like a prime rib dinner potato would be good. Some cooked green peas, chopped beef and a horseradish sour cream sauce on top.

Lots of melted garlic butter for me, with lots of strong, fresh chives.

i love one of jamie oliver's "jacket potato" recipes - cooked shrimp in marie rose sauce. yummy. my husband's allergic to shrimp to i have it almost every time i'm not with him. looking forward to trying your offerings!

at the ottawa farmer's market the spud guy has added sweet potatoes! these are whole potatoes and not wedges. i didn't have a chance to check out the toppings. we will report back once we get a chance to try them out.

I'm going with bacon fat instead of butter on this one ... mmmmmm

zym, try it with rendered duck fat!!!
hmmm and truffles! (alas my supply diwindled years ago :(. )

I do have a nice jar of self-canned duck fat that I've been looking for something to do with :-)

try it, you'll love it
rub it on the skin before baking then add alittle to the flesh later
I love doing breakfast homefries with it