So I found a great boneless pork chop recipe: https://www.eatwell101.com/boneless-pork-chops-in-creamy-garlic-butter-sauce and it’s actually really tasty. But I’m having trouble finding a good starch side for it. Sauteed green beans are good for the vegetable, but even my kids think that plain mashed potatoes are too mundane for this dish. I tried some garlic angel-hair pasta, which was okay, but I’m thinking there is a better side to try.
I like to do a basic variation on a classic baked spud. It’s very simple, just take a classic Russet potato, cut it lengthwise and place it cut side down in a liberally oiled and salted cast iron skillet. Pre-heat your oven to 400 degrees and start to cook the spuds on the stove top. After the cut sides of the potatoes have picked up a bit of color and the skillet is nice and hot, oil and salt the tops of the potato skins and slide them into the oven. Bake for 35-45 minutes or until done to your liking. Enjoy just like a nice, crispy skinned baker but with the added yum of browned goodness.
And, now that I’ve looked at the recipe, I just think it’s hilarious that you looked at a recipe that’s proud to be low carb and thought “Hmm, how do I add potatoes to this?”
Mashed purrusalda. Cook together potatoes, a couple of chopped-up carrots and a chopped-up leek. Drain and purée. If you don’t do the drain and purée part, the soup is called purrusalda (leek is puerro in Spanish).
Not fancy, but one of my husband’s favorites is when I slice up some onions and cube some potatoes, then fry them up together. It’s quick and easy if nothing else.
I like to make mashed potatoes using rutabagas and potatoes, whipping them with milk, butter, and cream cheese.
I’ve also been making amazing steak fries in an air fryer recently.
The first thing that popped into my mind was something like a twice baked potato. Bake a couple of spuds, slice in half and scoop out the innards. Mash up with some of the sauce from the pork chops til you get a nice creamy consistency and pipe back into the potato skins. Put em under the broiler to get crispy and browned on top.
In essence, you boil your potatoes, and then treat them kind of roughly, then bake them in a hot oven. Those parts you beat up end up adding surface area and get super-crispy.
Looks like a good choice. Given that your main dish is very much rich and saucy, I’d go with something straightforward and more plain as a side. I was going to suggest either the smashed roasted potatoes a la jasg and bump, or something like a German potato dumpling/Kartoffelklöße/Knödel or even a gnocchi-type thing. Certainly the smashed roasted potatoes and the fondant potatoes are more interesting, but the Central/Eastern European in me is a sucker for potato dumplings when it comes to any kind of really saucy dish (kopytka were a staple for such dishes growing up–they’re the Polish version of gnocchi, basically. Or kluski śląskie, “Silesian dumplings,” another type of potato dumpling.)