Recipe - Pork Steaks with Crushed New Potatoes and other random musings

Apparently it's 22C right now, it doesn't feel like it, not in the house anyway. My little tootsies are frozen! I'm not complaining though. I've got three washloads out on the line, my daughter's hippie hoodies which can't go in the tumble dryer, all the towels from last night and this morning's baths and showers - and I have to say, I do prefer my towels line dried. I know some love them all soft and fluffy from the tumble, but I find they dry better off the line.  

Just come back from Slimming World, 5.5 lb on in 2 weeks. My current weight loss stands at exactly 5 stone lost. Not too shabby, when you look at the bigger picture, but still. I could have been so much further by now if Covid hadn't happened. And yes, I am blaming Covid for this, because if you have a problem with food (which I clearly do), and you need the support of a group to help you lose the weight (which I personally do) then no amount of Zoom meetings or online support works. If I'm accountable to nobody but me and my own scales, then I am my own worst enemy. When I am accountable to myself, there is no angel on my other shoulder. The devil has already eaten her and is looking for a White Magnum chaser. I know group has been back since the 10th of August, so in theory there should be no excuse, but there are two main issues. Firstly - those bad habits that I've slipped back into between March and August, they're going to take longer than four weeks to break. Secondly - group isn't group. It's laid out differently. We can't sit and chat with a coffee. We're spaced apart like we're contagious and having to shout across the room, because not only are we muffled with masks, but we can't even attempt to lipread what people are saying. Today was the first day that it felt like group again. People are coming back in dribs and drabs, all the ones who made our group our group. 

I need to start being kinder to myself; I know I can do this, and just need to get into a positive mental state to state climbing the mountain again. But one thing I definitely definitely do not want to do, is dip below that 5 stone weight loss. I've had an S.A.S log from the leader this morning so if it goes in my gob, it goes on the list.

Tea last night was a request from Mr G, and when it comes to food, I am a proper people-pleaser. I love cooking recipes that they really love, and this is one of his favourites, back from when I first taught myself to cook. And the best part of it? It is so, so simple. 

Pork Steaks with Crushed New Potatoes

Ingredients 

4 pork loin steaks
New potatoes, halved or left whole if very small, skin left on
2 spring onions, chopped
Garlic, 2-3 cloves or a good teaspoon of minced garlic
4 rashers of bacon, all fat trimmed and chopped into small pieces

Method

Cook the new potatoes in boiling water until, well, cooked! (Cook as many as you want according to your appetite. On SW they are a free food, so... happy days!).

As the potatoes were cooking I made a start on the bacon and onion mixture. Spray a pan with Satan's lubricant (Frylight) and make sure it's not a pan you love, because this will eventually destroy it. If not today, give it time. If you don't need to use Frylight, use olive oil. 

Fry the onion, bacon and garlic in the frying pan until the bacon is cooked.

Once the potatoes are cooked, drain well and add to the pan. Mix them into the bacon, onion and garlic mixture.

Take a potato masher and gently crush the potatoes. All you want to be doing here is breaking them slightly, not mashing them.

Like so. If you were using proper oil here, the potatoes fry and they go really brown and crispy on the edges and taste so much better. 

Cook your pork steaks as you like them, fry, grill, oven. I cooked mine in the oven for about 20 minutes. Divide the potato mixture between two plates and top with the cooked pork loin steaks. Season to taste. Do check before seasoning because some bacon can be super salty. Sometimes all that's needed is a little black pepper.