“I’m tired of pretending.”
These were the words I heard from my husband while we sat by the edge of an closed-for-the-season swimming pool in South Carolina over the holiday break. The kids were getting dressed in the locker room after an hour on the tennis court. It was the last week of December and the sun was white in the lonely winter sky.
“Really?” I say. “So that’s it? Fifteen years of marriage and I find this out now?”
“Well, this is important — it’s our first vacation dinner and I don’t want to ruin it by pretending that I like what’s on the table.”
I had just told him I was thinking of making some kind of pork and sweet potato stew with hominy — a riff on a recipe Victoria Granof had developed for Time for Dinner.
“You could’ve told me before now,” I said, at this point more confused than angry. “All those sweet potato fries? All those Thanksgiving mashes with oranges?” The room narrowed and widened simultaneously. The many sweet potato moments in our lives together started pulsing before me like a scene from Run Lola Run. “Your father’s birthday party in our first apartment!” I said, louder than I had intended to. It was one of the first times we had ever entertained, rotating our scrappy desk sideways against the wall to create a makeshift dining room table. “We made Emeril’s Three Potato Lasagna that night — and you ate every bite!”
His eyes were fixed a heron gliding across a lagoon. He said nothing.
“You’re telling me all this time you never liked sweet potatoes?”
“Nope. Not really. Cloying. Overpowering. Too sweet. Like dessert, only bad.” Pause. “Figured I’d tell you before we go shopping. I’m tired of acting like sweet potatoes are good.”
The heron landed on a small upturned log in the lagoon. His eyes scanned the water, like he was looking for some lunch.
“And what about hominy?” I asked. “Should I even bother?” The girls were coming out of the locker room, their hair smooth and brushed in the front, but gnarly and knotted in the back where they couldn’t reach. I looked at him.
“Why don’t you just let me go shopping,” he said.
Braised Pork in Adobo with No Sweet Potatoes
2 1/2 pound pork loin, salted & peppered
2-3 tablespoons olive oil
1 14-ounce can diced tomatoes
1 tablespoon oregano
1/2 teaspoon cumin
1 bay leaf
(or 3 tablespoon chili powder instead of above three spices)
1 chipotle in adobo (not the sauce, just the dripping single pepper; you can freeze the rest)
1/4 cup water
1/2 cup cider vinegar (or vinegar-based bbq sauce like Shealy’s)
2 garlic cloves, halved
1 medium onion, chopped
handful fresh cilantro
Preheat oven 350°F. In a small-ish Dutch oven or heavy-bottomed pot, over medium-high heat, brown pork in oil on all sides, about 4-5 minutes a side. Add everything else to the pot so the pork is 2/3 immersed in liquid, stirring. Bring to a boil, cover and place in oven for 2-3 hours. Remove pork, shred with two forks, and place back in the braising liquid.
Serve with polenta and shredded cabbage that’s been tossed with chopped apples, lots of freshly squeezed lime, cumin, a scoop of plain yogurt, chopped cilantro, and olive oil.
P.S. We wanted to do this with hominy instead of polenta but couldn’t find it in where we were staying. (Usually, you can find a 15-ounce can in the Goya section.) If you want to use the hominy, add a can (drained and rinsed) to the stew about 10 minutes before you plan to serve and heat through.
P.P.S Any leftover pork: Amazeballs on nachos under a pile of melted cheese.
this has got to be one of my favorite posts of yours, and I have read them all
Love it!
I recently made the DALS chicken potpie, and was very relieved that the recipe gave me permission to substitute a regular potato for the sweet potato.
Shredded cabbage + apples, such a colorful side 🙂
Jenny, this recipe looks delicious, but I’m a little confused about substituting chili powder for oregano, cumin and bay leaf. In my experience, chili powder has quite a bit more heat than the other three spices. Is the chili powder version just a spicier alternative version of the recipe? It seems like the flavor would be pretty different. thanks!
I couldn’t agree more…..sweet potatoes suck…
We are a yam family. I actually bought some sweet potatoes a couple times by mistake. You have to actually either break the tip off or scrape the skin off with your thumb, to make sure the dreaded sweet potatoe doesn’t make it in by mistake. Yams are darker and orange and sweet potatoes are yellowish. Anything that has to be adulterated like sweet potatoes, are a complete waste of time. Yams….just need salt and butter. The smaller ones taste the best, in the oven unpeeled, a little overdone, yummmm the potatoe scrapped off the peel has to be heaven.
Hilarious! I know these types of conversations well. You captured it perfectly.
Thank you, thank you!
I made this last night for dinner. Wow, it was delicious!! Easy and delicious pork. I liked that it had all the smoky elements I like of BBQ pork, without the overpowering sweetness of traditional BBQ sauce. And my husband, who is not a big fan of “visible” onions in dishes loved it too. Everything cooks down beautifully.
I used the 3 spices instead of chili powder, thinking it would be too spicy for our kiddos. Next time I will cook for closer to 2 hours since it wasn’t quite as “saucy” as the dish you pictured. (I have a weird fear of undercooking large pieces of meat, and cooked it for 3.) Freezing the remaining chipotle peppers individually in foil muffin cups (thanks for the tip!), will make it an easy go-to main dish. Again, I love the great leftover potential. The polenta was great sliced/grilled this morning, as a side to my omlet. And the pork made a fantasic taco for lunch.
This post makes me want to look up the original recipe you were going to make from Time for Dinner–with sweet potatoes AND pork–and make that. Not only does it sound delicious and hearty, but I imagine I would find joy in making it in bold opposition to my boyfriend & Andy’s misguided tastes.
Oh, the writing. What melodrama. Thanks for the laugh!
I hate sweet potatoes with a passion when they have sugar, maple syrup, or marshmallows on them. SO GROSS. Otherwise, I am very fond of them. Cookie and Kate’s blog has a great sweet potato kale soup I’m making tomorrow.
To me, the most shocking thing about this post is that people are able to play tennis outside in December! Not on the Canadian Prairies, that’s for sure! As an aside, Jenny, I made your Rainbow Salad tonight alongside some shrimp scampi. Yum!
That is so funny!
(But he is crazy) (;
Hysterical! And I’m with him on this: I want to like sweet potatoes (I like sweet things) but they somehow just seem wrong.
i will definitely make this
i have leftover wonderful ham in the freezer
and petite peas
the only kind i ever buy from a store
and my mouth is watering.
Come eat with us anytime – I ADORE sweet potatoes!!!!! Love them all sliced up layered in a veggie bake – and so doing that tonight! As for pulled pork – leftovers into a taco thank you very much. Yumbo!
My husband pulled the same stunt on me, after a few years. “I’m not really a fan of soup.” What do you mean? I love all soups, so I was kind of shocked. Then he really let loose, “It’s not food, it’s a drink! Why would someone drink their dinner?!” and so on. I was rather… irked when I thought of how many soups I had so lovingly made and thought, “Perry is really going to like this.” Although, I think the bomb I dropped was bigger when I said, “I hate bacon.” The look on his face…
Made this last night – fabulous! I cooked for 3 hours and like the previous commentator found there wasn’t quite enough sauce left. Next time I would either add another 1/2 cup water or cook for 2.5 hours. Now to try the leftovers with nachos….!
Ok had to come back and leave another comment – a-MAY-zing nachos w leftovers! Love it!
So. My New Years resolution… To cook at home. I have about 1 pound on pork tenderloin left and need to know what amazeballs are!
Haha, agreed—I hate sweet potatoes! Sorry everyone!
My husband, though likely being less than completely honest, still claims to like sweet potatoes. Would they just go in when the pot goes in the oven?
“I am a newsletter subscriber. Do I win the Lodge cast iron skillet?”
A great meal when serving a crowd!
“I am a newsletter subscriber. Do I win the Lodge cast iron skillet?”
Kids let you know right away – spitting stuff across the room is usually a clue they don’t like a particular food – too bad adults can’t do things like that, it would make life so much easier.
I am a newsletter subscriber. Do I win the Lodge cast iron skillet?