Whether you need a cheap meal for a crowd, or a slack dinner at home or an easy way to satisfy a Zambrero’s-type craving, these yummy Mexican style jacket potatoes are a great choice. They’re wonderful for satisfying other catering needs too: they can easily be served as vegetarian and are wonderfully gluten free too. Cheap to make, easy to whack together and super yummy, 8 of these fat babies with the ingredients pictured cost less than $10 to make and serves 6 people.

• 8 large and clean roasting potatoes
• 300g streaky bacon, chopped finely
• 4 shallots, chopped finely
• 1 lebanese cucumber chopped finely
• 2 roma tomatoes, chopped finely
• 1 can corn kernels, drained
• small tub sour cream
• 200g grated cheese
• 1 red or green capsicum, chopped finely

1. Preheat oven to 200 degrees. Prick potatoes all over and par-boil in a large pot of water until soft, (the time this takes will depend on the size of potatoes), drain water.
2. Place each potato inside a large roasting dish, and using a potato masher, press down gently but firmly on each one until it squashes/smashes nicely. Cover in spray oil and what in the oven until golden, about 20 minutes.
3. Organise whatever toppings you’ve decided on – chop and fry bacon and quickly chop up vegetables of choice.
4. Take all ingredients to the table and allow friends and family to assemble their potatoes as desired.