Asiago, Black Bean Dip and Roasted Red Pepper Baked Potato

Sometimes, good food can come from out of the blue. That's what has happened to us in the past week when Melissa suggested having loaded baked potatoes for a meal. And the obligatory toppings of chives, broccoli and cheddar were on the first batch that we made.

But loaded baked potatoes are such a culinary blank slate, and I yearned for something a little different. I knew we still had some spicy black bean dip that we bought for a recent recipe and was wondering how to incorporate that into a potato. The combination of red pepper (roasted and then left in a zip-top bag so the skin is removed more easily), black bean dip, broccoli and asiago cheese was what I settled on. For lunch today, I had the same potato but sans the broccoli, and the cohesion of flavors was much better; the broccoli (pictured above) simply felt out of place. (And next time I plan on making a from-scratch spicy black bean dip.)

Asiago, Black Bean Dip and Roasted Red Pepper Baked Potato
1 medium potato, baked
1 tablespoon spicy black bean dip
1 red pepper, roasted and medium diced, split
1/8 cup asiago cheese
butter
salt
pepper

1. Bake potato; cut open lengthwise and mash a few times with a fork.

2. Add butter, salt and pepper, spicy black bean dip, roasted red pepper (1 pepper should yield enough for 3 potatoes), and top with asiago.