Meat and two veg

I'm a huge fan of one pot meals and semi-fancy experimental food. Sometimes I have to force myself back to basic cooking and serve a traditional meat and two veg dinner. It doesn't have to be boring though and depending on what vegetables you use, there may not even be a need for gravy.

Last night I had a hankering for pork. Pork chops are not my favourites though, due to the fat sitting on the outside, leaving the meat dry when cooking it. I have tried various ways of cooking chops, even braising them, but they always come out lacking that little something.

Growing up, we often had pork chops for our Sunday dinner. I always cut the rind off and my brother was always first in line to gobble it up. Yuk! Mum was and still is an amazing cook. To my recollection, she has never served dry pork chops, but I have never manage to replicate her trick. She must have magical fingers. I have inherited plenty of her kitchen skills, but not this one.

To solve the dry meat problem, I opt for pork shoulder steaks instead of chops. With fat running through the piece of meat, it lubricates while cooking and should there be any lumps left when serving, they are easy to cut away. Win-win!

This time I decided to make hasselback sweet potatoes with a sprinkle of parmesan, simply because I had it in the fridge. As a second vegetable dish, I chose a baked tomato salad and because it come out lovely and gooey, no gravy was required.

Meat marinade

soy sauce

runny honey

sambal oelek (chilli paste)

white wine vinegar

surprise herb mixture

Tomato marinade

homemade mustard

olive oil

Worcestershire sauce

regular mixed herbs

water

1. Mix the meat marinade.

2. Add the pork steaks to the marinade. Cover and leave in the fridge for a couple of hours.

3. Cut the sweet potato in half lenghwise to get a solid base. Place it between two knives to prevent the cut from going all the way through. Make even cuts along the potato, 2-3 mm wide.

4. Place the potatoes on greaseproof paper, brushed with a little oil. Also brush the potatoes.

They need very little oil, only to help the salt and pepper stick. I used what was on the greaseproof paper already. That was enough.

5. Place the steaks on a meshed baking tray with water in.

The water in the tray is my top tip. Not only will it add moisture to the meat while cooking, it will also make washing up much easier. Trust me on this one. I will show proof later.

6. Prepare the onion, tomatoes and marinade.

7. Layer the tomatoes and onion in a small oven proof dish. Finish with tomatoes.

8. Pour the dressing over the tomatoes.

9. Cook everything at the same time. It takes approximately 30 minutes. Flip the steaks once.

10. When the meat is cooked, cover in tin foil to rest for a few minutes.

11. Once the potatoes are cooked, sprinkle a little grated parmesan over and pop them back into the oven for 5 minutes, until the cheese has melted.

12. Keep an eye on the tomato bake and don't let it burn.

I could have been more careful with where I sprinkled the cheese.

13. Serve and enjoy.

I really liked this simple dinner and happily own up to inhaling it with gusto. It was the first time I had hasselbacked sweet potatoes, having grown up with regular spuds being cooked this way. As we are currently eating less normal potatoes, I wanted to experiment with the sweet variety and it worked a treat. I will definitely make it again.

Drum roll... 

Remember my tip about cooking the meat with water in the tray. Look at this. There is nothing stuck in the tray, no burnt bits, no tin foil to throw away. The greasy water runs straight off and I only had to use a few drops of washing up liquid, run the sponge over it, rinse and leave it to drain. Magic!