Pork Chops and Potatos (Meal Cooking)

The Idea:

pork chops and potatoes is a classic recipe. Usually I cook the pork chops in a Pan with just salt/pepper. Then boil the potatoes in water and add butter and salt/pepper.

In this recipe I used a few different ingredients to add more flavor to the end result.

The Plan:

I started off by writing down my plan for cooking the pork chops and potatoes with little reminders and visuals so that I could keep on task as I was progressing through the steps.

The Pork Chops:

I started off by preheating the oven to 200 degrees so I could keep them warm while I made the Potatoes in the second step.

I started with making the marinade. In a bowl I added chili powder, paprika, coriander, star anise, thyme, salt, pepper, freshly chopped garlic and olive oil. I then added the pork chops to the marinade bowl and mixed it all up so they were covered in the oil and spices. [1]

Then in a hot pan I put the Pork Chops in. Browning the bottom side then turning them once to brown the other side. I used a spoon to cover the tops of them with the juice in the bottom of the pan. [2] Once they were browned on both sides I put them into the oven at 200 degrees until the potatoes were done.

I diced up half white potatoes half sweet potatoes. I then filled a pot with chicken broth. Then I boiled the potatoes in chicken broth.

In another pot I diced up onions and sauteed them in olive oil. I added coriander, salt, and pepper. [3]

I then strained the potatoes from the chicken broth and dumped the strained potatoes in with the onions. Then I mixed and mashed the potatoes and onions together until they were the consistency of mashed potatoes I like.

The result:

Adding a few more spices and using chicken broth instead of butter gave the dish a different but still satisfying savory flavor. The process for cooking the ingredients wasn't difficult, but it did require more planning to make sure I had all the ingredients before I started. Definitely worth the extra time planning it out.

Reflection for the future:

[1] I let the pork chops sit in the marinade for 10 minutes, but in the future I'll do it over night in a zip lock bag. I think it'll allow the marinade to seep further into the pork chops.

[2] I managed to fit them all onto 2 cast iron skillets, but in the future it would be better to do less so that I can maintain the heat in the pan.

[3] I was going to add sage as well, but didn't have any.