Do you know anyone who doesn’t love pizza?  I mean it’s just a giant open sandwich with extra drippy melted cheese.  And like a sandwich you can chuck whatever you want on it, no matter what your weird combinations might be.  I love it all, but my body doesn’t.  When we do have those completely can’t be arsed days pizza is generally what we turn to but the next day I feel like I’m full of cement.  Sluggish, low energy and generally guilty.

So I wanted something that gave me all the flavours and – let’s face it – satisfaction of pizza but with far less stodge.  Enter the humble potato.

There are a gajillion different ways you can bake a jacket potato.  And, like making a cup of tea, everyone has their own foolproof method.  But for this recipe, microwaved jackets just don’t work.  You want a crispy skin that stands up to having its innards scooped out then put back in.  And that crisp skin is so full of texture and flavour (and downright goodness) you really don’t want to miss out.

Ms Meg agrees.

I’ve also been known to make something completely from scratch, take all the relevant photographs and do all the inevitable cleaning up with my clothes on inside out.

I digress.

If you want this supremely comfort type food to be as pizza unctuous as possible I really recommend making this Marinara Sauce.  It’s SO simple, just 7 ingredients and 1 saucepan.  And you HAVE to include mozzarella because stringy cheeseness!  The rest is largely up to you – I like to keep it simple, just the potato flesh, the Marinara Sauce, mozzarella, a handful of chives, a dash of pesto and a final flourish of parmesan.  Pass the fork please ?

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