NonChefNick, are you crazy? Baked Potato Skin Pizza Pie?

No, NonChefNick is not going crazy. He just hates to waste and so when there are food parts remaining, he brainstorms new ideas on how to use them. This is a perfect example of what it means to recycle unused food parts.

The other day, NonChef made wonderful mashed potatoes. He loves to use baked potatoes to make his mash because they remain very fluffy and therefore wonderful   mashed potatoes are created. The secret of making NonChef Mashed Potatoes will be forthcoming in a later posting. You won't want to miss that one. So anyway, there were these crispy baked potato skins left and instead of making the regular ole standby potato skins with cheese, bacon, and chives, he chose to make this great pizza using the skins as the crust. Trust him, this was delicious and so different, not to mention so simple to do. All the ingredients you will find in your kitchen.

1 springform pan or cake pan ( 10 inches in diameter)
Potato skins from 5 medium baked potatoes
3 green onions, chopped
4 mushrooms of your choice, finely sliced
2 large shallots, sliced (not chopped)
3 cloves of garlic, chopped
4 pads of butter, cut into halves
1/2 teaspoon of cracked pepper
2 or 3 pinches of salt
1 1/2 cups of grated cheese (Gruyere, Aged Swiss, or Parm)

Preheat your oven to 400 and spray your pan with cooking spray. Make sure your potato skins are flattened, so if you need to cut them on the sides, go ahead and do that. Next, begin to cover the bottom of your pan with the potato skins so that bottom is completely well covered. At this point it would suffice it to say that hopefully you left a little of the potato on the skins, as it makes the dish all that much better.

Now begins the layering. Start by sprinkling half of the cheese over the potatoes. The reason you want to do this is that as the cheese melts, it will help fuse the potato skins together. Next, add your shallots, then the mushrooms, the green onions, the garlic, and place the pads of butter evenly around the pie. Finally, sprinkle the remainder of the cheese over the top. If you need to, grate more cheese, as you want to make sure the pie is evenly covered with enough cheese.

Transfer the pie into the oven and bake at 400 for about 25 to 30 minutes or until the cheese has well melted and turning golden yellow with some darker peaks. Remove from the oven and let rest for a few minutes before you transfer the pizza pie onto a cutting board. Using a large sharp knife, cut it like you would a regular pizza or you may cut it in a grid and make square pieces.

The sky is the limit as far as what you can add to this. Suggestions have included chunks of chicken, olives, bacon, and thinly sliced beef. Whatever you desire, you can do. Just remember one thing however, use what you already have in the fridge or pantry, leftovers, etc. This is a great way to empty out some of the stuff you might end up not using because the quatity wasn't enough to feed mor than one. So if you have a leftover piece of steak, chicken leg, or a couple of slices of bacon left, use it. Make two Potato Skin Pizzas and try them out on your next Sunday foodball viewing get together. Enjoy them !!