Salty pork chops with silky mash and fresh runner beans
This complete meal is based on one of my childhood favourites, well actually, the only difference is the meat. My mom used to serve it with a meatball for each of us. And a meatball is tasty but I didn’t have mince on hand, fortunately, I did have some nice pork chops. So, I marinated the pork chops and prepared the mash and beans. The beans we traditionally always cut as diagonal thin slivers, it’s a pain to do it by hand. And if I were to eat them on a more regular basis, I would definitely invest in one of my dad’s bean cutter things.
Mashed potatoes
I absolutely adore mashed potatoes, they are so rich and creamy. But they have one enormous advantage over any other kind of potato dish, especially when eating with small veggies like these runner beans or peas. I like to use my mash as a sort of glue to make sure that my beans can’t fall off my fork, it just makes life so much easier.
When you want to make mashed potatoes, you want to try and get nice floury potatoes. I tend to use Rooster potatoes but in the US a russet would be similar. In the Netherlands we just had 2 big bags, one simply called floury and the other waxy. The waxy potato version holds its shape and tends to be really tasty if you just want plain boiled potatoes, that don’t fall apart. But my favourite and luckily for me also the Irish favourite so it seems, are floury potatoes. They aren’t just perfect for mash but also make really tasty chips and are lovely when roasted.
Runner beans
When I was younger, we had an allotment where among other veggies we used to grow runner beans. I absolutely loved all the different types of beans, so whenever I see runner beans in the shop, I can’t resist the urge to buy some. They taste ever so fresh and slightly sweet, and with a little knob of butter and some salt are ever so delicious. Their taste is similar to your regular green beans which are a bit easier to obtain in big frozen packets at the shop. So, you can always just use those instead of the runner beans, it won’t be as delicious in combination with the mash, but still very tasty.
Pork chops
We tend to not eat big portions of meat with our dinners, which is a result of 2 things. First off, when I was growing up, we never had a whole lot of money. So, my mother tried to make what meat she could buy, last as long as she could. The second reason is that I was a vegetarian for 7 years, why I now eat meat again is a whole other can of worms though. Nonetheless, I now still eat a small portion of meat whenever we do eat meat. So, if you want regular-sized portions just double the pork chop part of the recipe.
My father in law taught me how to improvise different marinades because if you just follow some basic rules, they tend to work out just fine. But the marinade I thought of for these pork chops came out ever so scrumptious. Like any marinade, leaving it overnight is best but just half an hour to marinate the pork will work too. It’s what I tend to do, mainly because I never know what I’m going to eat the next day.
Want to try some more delicious dinners then why not try:
- Simple Chicken enchilada recipe
- How to make delicious ramen noodles
- Rustic beef stew recipe for Crockpot
- Vegetable and roast beef pie recipe
- From scratch pizza that is easy and tasty
- Vegetarian broccoli au gratin
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Soy marinated pork chops with runner beans and mash
Ingredients
- 800 gr potatoes floury
- 400 gr runner beans
- 30 gr butter + 10 gr for beans
- 1/2 cup milk
- salt & pepper to taste
For the pork chops
- 250 gr pork chops diced
- 3 tbsp soy sauce
- 3 tbsp olive oil or oil of choice
- 1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
- 1 tbsp vinegar or juice from pickled onions
- 1 clove of garlic grated
Instructions
- Cut the pork chops into bite-sized chunks, (I prefer to keep these on the smaller side, to give the impression of there being more then there is) mix all the ingredients for the marinade in a small bowl and mix it with the pork. Set aside for now but stir it now and then to ensure everything is properly marinated.
- Then peel and chop the potatoes, then in a pot with enough water to cover, bring them to a boil and let simmer for 15 to 20 minutes.
- After you’ve put the potatoes into their pot, wash and slice the runner beans into thin strips. Put them into a second pot and cover with water, when the potatoes have approximately 10 more minutes to go, bring them to a boil and simmer for 5 minutes.
- At the same time as the beans, you put the pork into a hot frying pan and fry on high until most of the liquid has evaporated, then turn to a medium to low heat until cooked through. Stir frequently to prevent the burning of garlic.
- Once the potatoes are done so that they are soft and fluffy, add the 30 grams of butter along with the milk, salt, and pepper. Mash all this together until it is nice and smooth.
- When the beans are done at the 10 grams of butter and salt to taste, stir well to cover all the beans.
- Serve all together on a plate in their own corners and sprinkle with some fresh ground pepper if you like, and don’t forget to enjoy your meal.
