We’ve returned to Pig: King of the Southern Table for another culinary adventure.  It was a good idea (good pick, husband).  This stew did take a while to simmer, I’ll admit.  But the active prep time wasn’t bad.  So if you can just get motivated for 10-20 minutes at the start of the cooking process, you can enjoy hours of good smells as the dish simmers away on the stove.

Our only edit in this recipe?  Well, we didn’t have dried sage, but we did have dried rosemary.  Rosemary it is!  I’m sure it’s also delicious with sage.

It looked roughly like this:

Carolina Pork, Apple, and Sweet Potato Stew (a la Pig: King of the Southern Table)

makes 5-ish servings

Ingredients

• 2 lbs. boneless pork shoulder, trimmed of excess fat and cut into 1-inch cubes
• 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 3 tablespoons butter
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 1 celery rib, chopped
• 1 Granny Smith apple, cored and thinly sliced (this just melts into the stew for flavor… yum!)
• 1/4 teaspoon of dried sage or rosemary
• 1 cup dry red wine
• salt and pepper to taste
• beef broth as needed
• 2 sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into large cubes

Instructions

• On a plate, dredge the pork in the flour, tapping off excess flour.  In a large, heavy pot, heat 2 tablespoons of the butter over moderate heat.  Brown the pork on all sides and transfer to a bowl.
• Heat the remaining tablespoon of butter in the pot, add the onion and celery, and stir until softened (about 5 minutes).
• Return the pork to the pot.  Add the apple, sage (or rosemary), wine, salt and pepper, and enough broth to just cover the ingredients.  Bring the liquid to a gentle simmer, cover, and cook until the pork is almost tender (about an hour).  Add the potatoes, stir, return to a simmer, and cook until the pork and potatoes are tender (about 30 minutes).  Seriously.  The pork will be so entirely tender at this point.  It’s kind of amazing.  And very delicious.

So right now, other than cooking, I’m trying to do the following things:

1. Finish Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.
2. Take the ornaments off of our Christmas tree (yes, our tree is still proudly decorated in our living room).
3. Deal with major life choices.
4. Clean up boxes of stuff that we’ve left packed in our basement for a year and a half.

What will I probably get done this week?

1. Work.
2. Sleep.
3. Make dirty dishes.

At least I know the pattern of lists vs. reality, right?  I think that’s a good thing.