Stuffed Baked Potatoes with Broccoli, Cheese, and Roasted Garlic Butter

Last week, my husband was craving stuffed baked potatoes. The last time I had a stuffed baked potato was one of Jason's Deli's glorious chili and cheese stuffed affairs, roughly the size of a football, sometime during college, which is entirely too long to go without stuffed baked potatoes in your life. What was I thinking? Here's my remedy for such an oversight: stuffed baked potatoes with broccoli, cheese, and roasted garlic butter! 

Serves 2

Ingredients

2 large russet potatoes

2 cloves garlic, unpeeled
1 head broccoli, cut into florets
olive oil
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper

1 cup colby jack cheese, grated

4 Tb butter, softened

salt and pepper

sour cream (a generous dollop for each potato)

Directions

Preheat the oven to 375 F.

While the oven preheats, prick the potatoes all over with a fork. Rub generously with olive oil and sea salt. 

Place the potatoes on a foil-lined baking sheet, and bake for a little over 1 hour (or until potatoes are tender when pricked with a knife).

About 30 minutes into baking, place two unpeeled garlic cloves on a square of foil and drizzle with olive oil. Fold the foil around the cloves into a packet, and place in the oven on the baking sheet.

About 45 minutes into baking, toss the broccoli with olive oil, salt, pepper, and a few good pinches of cayenne pepper. Add the broccoli to the baking sheet and roast for another 15-20 minutes.

Remove the baking sheet from the oven. If the potatoes and broccoli are done, remove the garlic packet, sprinkle the broccoli with the grated cheese, and pop the baking sheet back into the oven for another 2-3 minutes, until the cheese is melted. 

While the cheese melts, peel the roasted garlic and mince. Stir into the softened butter until well combined.

Remove the baked potatoes from the baking sheet to a plate. Split with a knife, and mash the flesh of the potatoes with a generous amount of the roasted garlic butter and sour cream. Finally, use a spatula to scrape up the roasted broccoli and melted cheese to top the potato. Serve immediately, and enjoy!