Ready for Prime Time ...

... not quite!

Do you ever envision yourself on a competitive cooking show?  What would you do with a basket of roasted pork butt, a scruffy sweet potato. and a can of diced tomatoes? 

That was my challenge on Tuesday night.  Though I am not accomplished enough to compete, I do like to imagine that my disparate ingredients are in a basket on Chopped.   I made pork stew, or a variation of ragu.

Pork Ragu -- The Remnants

(Should have thought to take a picture before dinner .... this food reporting is new to me.)

Taking cues from a couple of recipes, I browned about a half cup of fresh pork bits trimmed from loin chops in some olive oil.  I added finely chopped onion, celery, garlic and carrot and cooked until the vegetables turned translucent.  I added salt, pepper, and a teaspoon of cumin then the can of tomatoes.  I had a couple hunks of roast pork butt that I had saved from a batch of BBQ (before the sauce!).  I cut those into small chunks and added them to the pot and let everything perk on simmer for a while. 

In the meantime I peeled and cut up a sweet potato that was on its last legs, salvaging the good parts.  About 20 minutes before serving time I added the sweet potato along with some red wine and the remnants of a jar of Ragu chunky vegetable to add more liquid.

Served over a bed of polenta.  Oh, my, was it delish!