Hello everyone.
I've been on HIVE for quite a while now but this is going to be my first post in the Foodies arena. Or at least I think it is, my apologies if it isn't.
Normally I hang out on #actifit but I'm slowly learning that proper eating is just as important as exercise so for the next year I'm going to focus on improving my cooking skills, be more intentional about what I am eating and why I'm eating it with the end goal of losing weight and saving money.
Sure its ambitious but I have to aim high and see what I hit !
And as a bit of foreshadowing (and so I get a better title image for the community) here is a picture of myself with the finished product.
And just to prove it was me who made the food...
......
Now on with the post.
What's left sitting in the cupboard or freezer
Of course the best way to save money is to not spend it in the first place. My wife has accumulated all sorts of stuff in the cupboards so with a little help from ChatGPT I'm going to try and clear the cupboards of all sorts of useless stuff that accumulates and put in "USEFUL" things that I can make regular meals from.
Today's checklist of ingredients in no particular order:
Russet Potatoes
Margerine
Salt
Pepper
Garlic Powder
Milk
Onion
Bacon Bits
Shredded cheese
Pork Steak
Flour
Montreal Steak seasoning
What's the plan of attack
Well it is a pretty simple recipe (I hope) although I've never made scalloped potatoes before and I've never made a home made coating mix for meat before.
The general idea is as follows:
Take 3-4 potatoes and slice them into thin slices. Add to water so they don't go brown and then put them aside.
Make a Roux using margerine and flour over medium low heat. Then slowly add milk to make the sauce for the potatoes. Finally add salt, pepper, and garlic powder to give it some flavour. Then put aside.
Take a small onion and dice it. Get my bacon bits all ready to go.
Assemble the casserole dish: One layer potatoes, one layer onion and bacon bits. One more layer of potatoes, one more layer of onion and bacon bits. Repeat until all the potato, is used up.
Cover the potato / onion / bacon bit casserole with the roux I made earlier. Then put into the oven to cook.
While the potatoes are cooking--get the meat ready.
Debone the pork and cut into portion sized pieces
Mix flour and steak spice to make a coating mix.
Pat dry the pork steak then dredge in the coating mix.
Broil in a halogen oven until crispy
Let's get to cooking!
Time to go down the process -- with pictures.
Take 3-4 potatoes and slice them into thin slices. Add to water so they don't go brown and then put them aside.
I actually washed 5 potatoes but after cutting three of them it looked like enough. Here's what they looked like after cutting.
Make the sauce.
It going to be a Roux which is flour and butter to start. 1/2 cup of flour and 2 tbsp of margarine. Placed onto the over at medium/low heat.
I find the spatula is great for mashing out lumps and stirring things together.
Then when the lumps are out add the milk little by little and whisk together to make sure it is well mixed. 1 and 1/2 cups of milk are used.
The whisk really helps to bring things together. The spatula is great for getting rid of lumps but the whisk makes things blend better.
Finally once the sauce is made add some seasoning. In this case I used 1/2tsp of garlic powder, 1/2tsp of salt, and 1/2tsp of pepper.
Take a small onion and dice it. Get my bacon bits all ready to go.
As you can see it is just one very small onion. As for the bacon bits they weren't actually part of the recipe ChatGPT gave me but I figured a little on each tier wouldn't hurt.
Here is the end result of the chopped onion.
Assemble the casserole dish: One layer potatoes, one layer onion and bacon bits. One more layer of potatoes, one more layer of onion and bacon bits. Repeat until all the potato, is used up.
First a layer of potatoes
followed by a layer of onion and bacon
Repeat until everything is used up.
Cover the potato / onion / bacon bit casserole with the roux I made earlier. Then put into the over to cook.
Once all the layers are in place its time to add the sauce over everything. It should cover the entire casserole dish. I was a little short so I cheated and added some milk to make sure everything was submerged.
Side note: again the recipe didn't call for cheese on top but I thought it would be tasty so I threw some on.
Put the cover on the casserole dish and place in the oven.
Covered at 350F for one hour
Uncovered at 350 for one-half hour.
While the potatoes are cooking--get the meat ready.
Debone the pork and cut into portion sized pieces
The pork steaks were huge. Far more meat than I thought appropriate for a single person's serving.
So they got cut up into a little more portion sized pieces
Mix flour and steak spice to make a coating mix.
I love things with a little extra crunch so I tried my hand at some coating mix. The recipe said 1/2 cup of flour mixed well with 2 tbsp of seasoning salt.
This is what the mix looked like.
Pat dry the pork steak then dredge in the coating mix.
I was told they get crispier if you pat dry first. So out came the paper towels and they each got dredged before getting thrown in the halogen oven.
Broil in a halogen oven until crispy
I love the halogen oven. It heats up super quick. I can see what is happening. It does broiling and taking both at the same time. In this case it was 375F and 13 minutes on one side.
Then flip it over and do the other side.
Time for the finished product
Once the casserole is done in the oven and the pork is done in the halogen oven its time to take them out. Put them on a plate and let is cool a bit before eating.
The finished pork chop
The finished scalloped potato
On the plate ready for dinner.
Although my son is sleeping and the dog is keeping him company. Not very enthusiastic about eating dinner.
However, it is ready to go when he wakes up :)
Grocery list for the future
Side note: When I take things out I'm going to be careful on what I replace in the cupboard.
After this cooking foray :
Milk needs to be replaced
Potatoes need to be replaced
Garlic needs to replaced. I'll buy fresh and powder it.
Onion is cheap and necessary as a spice Replace it too.
Overall thoughts.
Overall it wasn't a great dish but is wasn't a total failure either.
First and foremost...My son and my homestay student ate it. If they eat it I'll count it as a win!
However, the presentation is poor. I think I should have let the Roux sit and thicken longer to improve consistency.
The onion was also overpowering. Next time I'll either add much less onion or omit it all together. Perhaps a different spice set would have been better. Have to look into other options for next time.
As for the pork. Didn't come out as crispy as I would have liked and it was kind of gamey. Perhaps use chicken instead next time and perhaps use some corn starch instead of flour?
Overall edible but presentation wasn't great and onion was a bit overpowering.
And that's it...
..... my first foodie post.
If you have any constructive feedback about how this fits into the community I would really appreciate it.
I realize my cooking skills aren't great and this is a bit basic for the community....but I'm a novice so I'll do what little I can. Hope you stand by me while I learn.
Thanks everyone.
Until next time.