Twice Cooked Potatoes with Caviar

Serves 24

Ingredients:

Directions:

1. Place all potatoes in a large saucepan. Cover potatoes with water. Bring to a boil. Once boiling, reduce heat to simmer and cook for 15-20 minutes (potatoes should be tender but firm). Remove 24 potatoes, leaving 4 in the saucepan. Cook the remaining 4 potatoes for an additional 5 minutes.
2. In a separate pan, fill with water and bring to a simmer. Place a metal bowl in pan.
3. Cut off the very tops of the 24 potatoes that were set aside. Use a melon baller to remove a good portion of the potato flesh. Place flesh in the metal bowl. Peel the 4 potatoes that cooked longer and add the potatoes to the metal bowl. Mash together well.
4. Cut a tiny portion off the bottoms of the hollowed out potatoes (to let them stand upright). Arrange on a baking sheet.
5. Preheat oven to 375° F.
6. Pour milk and 1 tablespoon butter in a small saucepan. Let butter melt. Add potatoes from metal bowl to pan. Stir together and cook for a few minutes, until potatoes are creamy. Stir in chives, crème fraiche, salt and pepper.
7. Transfer potato mixture into a pastry bag that is fitted with a large plain tip. Pipe potato filling into potato shells. Place baking sheet into the oven and bake for 15 minutes (potatoes should be golden brown). Remove baking sheet from oven, brush potatoes with remaining 2 tablespoons of butter. Place back in oven and bake for an additional 15 minutes. Remove from oven and top potatoes with caviar and chives.