Well, my first attempt to get my kids to eat roast pork actually worked out well. My own memories of pork as a kid are these little dried up cutlets. So since I don’t have a lot of tenacity when it comes to meat, I looked for something that looked yummy before I had enough guts to try it. What do you know? A victory!
I served it with roasted potatoes because potatoes are one of the easiest vegetables for all my kids to stomach. And they were so simple. (I added steamed asparagus for the adults). Don’t listen to the “potatoes are the devil” voices because they are starchy, but you cook them with the skins, so the fiber helps metabolize all those carbs. Besides, most kids don’t need low-carb diets.
Almond Crusted Pork and Potatoes
- Convenience: medium long/medium-easy
- Health factor: 4
- Yum factor: 4
Ingredients:
- 1.5 lb roast pork (boneless, skinless loin) or get a 3lb and cut it in half.
- half a bag of almonds (8oz??)
- minced garlic
- 2 egg whites
- 1 bag of clean, small white or red potatoes
- olive oil
Directions:
Pork
Preheat oven to 375.
Unwrap roast and cut any bigger strips of fat off with a knife. (A little tricky).
Beat 2 egg whites (or three, if medium sized eggs) with mixer until soft peaks form. This took me a couple more minutes of beating than I thought it would, but “soft peaks” are when you turn off the mixer and lift the beaters out, and a little lump or mountain forms without totally melting away.
Crush almonds with a nut grinder or by putting them in a closed ziploc bag and smashing with a hammer (on the floor). Give this job to a kindergartner because they love it!
Pour the crushed almonds into a bowl and mix some garlic in there. Then pour onto a dinner plate. Pour the egg whites into a small dish, like an 8×8 (big enough for the roast to fit). Roll the roast around in the whites and then around in the almonds, to coat. Now the silly sounding part: do it again. Yes, I know it sounds like the egg whites will just wash off your first coat, but it’s not totally true. Coat all over again with whites and then nuts.
Place roast on rack in a 9×13 pan (line pan with foil first, if you hate clean up). Press any remaining nuts onto roast.
Cook until 140-145 degrees internal temperature, about 75mins. You’ll have to check periodically, though, with a meat thermometer, starting at about 60mins. Getting the roast out between 140 and 145 is the key to eating it without needing sauce =)
Let sit and then slice.
Can you believe it? The kids loved this!!!
Potatoes
Now for potatoes, it’s easy because they go in the oven with the pork, for the same amount of time.
Scrub a small bag of white potatoes and cut any blemishes out. Leave any tiny potatoes whole as they are, but cut larger ones into medium chunks, about the size of a lemon or lime wedge.
Pour potatoes into an 8×8 baking pan or dish, and coat with minced garlic and oil. It’s easiest to mix with your hands, tossing and turning until coated well.
Put them side by side, next to the pork, and let them cook about the same amount, checking for tenderness around the 60 min mark too. They should be soft and crumbly when poked. When I did this, they took the full 75 mins, or just a little longer.
Season with salt and pepper if desired.
