Baked Potato with Ricotta and Roasted Tomatoes

Are any of you younger siblings?  If so, you'll know what I mean when I say that younger siblings a.d.o.r.e. their older siblings.  It's true.  And we younger siblings typically don't outgrow it.  I'm the youngest of five and let me tell you.  I did everything my older sisters did.  Or asked me to do.  To this day it's a struggle for me to let my nails grow out because one of my older sisters bit her nails.  (At least she still bites hers whereas I have (mostly) outgrown it!).  I remember vividly going to visit another sister when she went to college (Hotty Toddy, y'all!) and feeling very cool because while all my other 7th grade friends were at the movies with their parents close by, I was spending the night in a college dorm.  What else I remember vividly, hilariously enough, is what she ate for breakfast.  So wanting to do everything my sisters did, for at least a month after I came home, I wouldn't eat anything for breakfast except toast with peanut butter and banana on top. 

Another thing she ate was baked potatoes with cottage cheese and italian dressing on top.  It sounds gross, but it's really quite good.  I never got over that one, and when I, myself, was in college  (again...Hotty Toddy, y'all!), my sorority house had baked potato day for lunch on Thursdays.  So every day I loaded up my baked potato with cottage cheese and italian dressing.  When I saw this recipe, it reminded me of college.  And then of 7th grade.  And then of my sister.  And literally three days later I was at the farmers' market and saw a beautiful pint of cherry tomatoes:  

AND my CSA included some potatoes.  So naturally I was thrilled when I came across this recipe on one of the blogs I check regularly.  And I'm glad I did.  It's a slightly fancier version of my sister's baked potato she ate in college calling for ricotta instead of cottage cheese and the roasted tomatoes are so pretty!

Ingredients

2 russet potatoes
1 pint cherry tomatoes 
1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspon of olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste
Fresh thyme
1 cup fresh ricotta


Directions

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Rub the potatoes with a teaspoon of olive oil.  Poke holes in them with a knife and place on a baking sheet.  Bake until they are tender when pierced with a knife, about 60 or 75 minutes.


Line a baking sheet with foil and toss the tomatoes with one tablespoon of olive oil, salt and pepper. 15 minutes before the potatoes are done, put the tomatoes in the oven with the potatoes and roast them until they start to split.

Split the potatoes.  Top with ricotta cheese, roasted tomatoes, and fresh thyme.  Serve half as a side dise or a whole potato as an entree with yummy vegetables on the side.

Printable Recipe

(Recipe from www.realsimple.com)

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