Side Dishes of Note

I'm not even going to bother posting a recipe because I changed it or it's so very basic.  Last weekend, I bought a pre-seasoned pork tenderloin.  It wasn't my original plan, but it worked well.  As sides, I roasted broccoli and made mashed potatoes.


For the roasted broccoli, I made florets from a handful of heads of broccoli.  I sprayed a baking sheet, drizzled olive oil down and maybe salt and pepper.  I added 4-5 garlic cloves and stuck it in the oven at 425 degrees for 20 minutes or until it started to brown.  After it came out, I sprinkled some lemon juice and parmesan cheese.  The original recipe had some lemon zest and pine nuts, but I didn't want it too lemon-y and I was too cheap to buy pine nuts.


For the mashed potatoes, I boiled mashed potatoes and then added a heavy cream, butter and roasted garlic mixture.  Beforehand, I threw 2 heads of garlic in a 425 degree oven which nicely preheated it for the broccoli.  Then, I threw the liquid in with the drained potatoes and whipped.  I don't normally whip as I prefer mashed, but there was a mess and a minor kitchen disaster so I ended up whipping them.  They still tasted good.  I cut back on the amount of heavy cream and butter than the recipe called for so they weren't as moist as they probably could have been, but they were still good.  They could have used some salt, but I notoriously don't salt anything.  I salted the potato water, but I can see where some salt and pepper would add a lot to the dish.


I have never roasted broccoli before, but I think it was delicious and really flavorful.  Potatoes are potatoes for me.  We agree on roasted potatoes more, but mashed potatoes are a nice treat every so often and really hit the spot.