Now for something truly different here...A recipe! "What? No more rants against MS?" you ask. Well, not today. I have to eat too, and I promised this recipe to a few folks. Time to honor that promise.
A little narrative about where my recipes (this one included) come from. Both of my parents could cook fairly well, meaning my brother and I never went hungry even when we didn't have the "best" ingredients or the fanciest of feasts. My dad tended to cook comfort foods he had grown up with and rarely deviated from the recipes. Mom on the other hand, would get bored with the same recipe and tweek it every time she cooked it. She also tended to look at cookbooks as getting started guides, rarely following the recipe as presented "exactly" the way it said. Neither of my parents really used measuring devices for precise amounts - "that looks about enough..." - which made learning to cook more difficult. Both my brother and I learned to blend our parent's cooking styles into our own style and our styles were completely different from each other.
As I got older, I tended to experiment with foods. I'd see something being made, or taste something new, and I'd think about how I could do it. For better or worse, I'd take my idea and play with it until I had something edible. Just like my mother, I would never force anyone to eat my mistakes - just give it a try, don't eat it if you don't like it, but at least try it.
I also like to camp. As a former Boy Scout and Marine, I know a little something about camping. I also like to eat well when I go camping, which presents all sorts of problems that must be overcome. Anyone can throw a slab of beef onto a grill and call it a steak, but to make a steak dinner takes a bit more thought and planning. What spices are you going to be using? How are you going to cook it (the entire dinner, not just the steak)? All this planning comes into play before you ever leave the house (be prepared!), or you end up doing a "Dinner: Impossible". Not that that is a bad thing, but I like to at least have an idea of what I am making (and the necessary stuff to make it) before I have to start cooking. At the same time, I like to have "options" to deviate from my plan in case I have to (something spoils or I forgot something) or want to (I got an idea, let's try this...). Thus was born "One Pan Potatoes". And now, on to the recipe - makes about 4 servings.
Materials (software)
- 1/4 pound peppered bacon
- 1 tbsp butter or margarine
- 5 medium-sized Yukon gold potatoes
- 1/4 yellow onion chopped
- 1 - 2 cloves garlic minced
- about 3 cups of water
- salt to taste
Materials (hardware)
- a wooden spoon (for stirring things)
- a sharp knife (for cutting things)
- a 3 qt straight-side sauce pan with lid (needs to be big enough to hold everything)
Programming (putting it all together)
Total prep time is about 10 minutes, and cook time is about 20 minutes. Depending on your cooking skills, you can cook and finish the prep at the same time.
Start by chopping the bacon into bits. I like to cut the sliced bacon into 1/4" widths cutting perpendicular to the slices. Cut across all of the bacon slices at the same time, don't worry about separating the bits as they will separate during cooking. This isn't rocket science here. Set aside or start cooking as you will (see cooking instructions below).
Note: If you don't have peppered bacon (bacon with cracked pepper corns), just coarse grind some pepper to add in when you start cooking the bacon. Do by taste, but you probably want about 1 - 2 teaspoons of cracked pepper.
Chop the onion into 1/4" squares and set aside. If you are wondering where the rest of the onion is at, I used another 1/4 for grilling with the meat and saved the other 1/2 for another meal. Mince the garlic and stash it with the onion.
Wash the potatoes and then cut them into about 3/4" - 1" cubes. Leave the skin on! Set aside when done.
Put pan on your camp stove (or home stove, or right on the fire with medium heat). Put in the butter/margarine to melt and drop in the bacon bits. This ups the fat content slightly and helps the bacon render out its fat a bit faster. Stir continuously to cook the bacon crispy, but don't worry about the bacon sticking to the pan. You want it to stick a bit, that brown stuff is going to be needed later. Once the bacon is cooked, scoop out the bacon bits and set aside. Don't dump the grease, don't clean the pan. Just dump the onion and garlic in to sweat until the garlic is browned and the onion is slightly translucent. Now add your bacon and potatoes to the pan and, stirring gently to not break the potatoes, add the water. Once you have the water added, stop stirring and cover. Lower the heat to low to simmer. What is going on here is a steam bath for the potatoes. You will want to stir occasionally (this is where all that brown stuff from cooking the bacon lifts off the bottom of the pan and melds with the potatoes) until the water evaporates and the potatoes are softened but not mush. Salt (and pepper) to taste.
Give the potatoes a final stir before serving to get all the bacon, onion and garlic mixed. Serve hot, and enjoy!
