Pork Cobbler

Like a good, frugal, home cook, I hate throwing out leftover food. I'm also not a fan of eating the same thing over and over again so when I do something with leftovers, I like to change up the flavor profile a bit. That batch of pork ribs with barbecue sauce created a ton of left over porky goodness, some of which Mr Minx used in a pasta sauce. The rest I turned into what I'm calling "pork cobbler."

I wanted a more chili-like flavor, so to the 2 cups or so of leftover meat and sauce I added a 15-oz can of chopped tomatoes, a small can of chopped green chiles, half a cup or so of frozen corn, a tablespoon of chili powder, and dashes of dried oregano, chipotle, and smoked paprika. I let it all simmer together for an hour or so until the meat fell into shreds, then poured it into an 8" square baking pan. On top, I dolloped a kind of cornbread biscuit.

Cornbread Cobbler Topping (adapted from Epicurious)

2/3 cup yellow cornmeal
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/3 cup whole milk
1 large egg
2 tablespoons vegetable oil (or bacon grease)
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 ounces grated or chopped cheese of your choice

Whisk together cornmeal, flour, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl. Whisk together milk, egg, and oil in a small bowl, then stir into cornmeal mixture until just combined. Fold in half of the cheese.

Spoon mounds of the batter over pork, then sprinkle remaining cheese over batter. Bake until a wooden pick or skewer inserted into center of corn bread comes out clean, 15 to 25 minutes.

So maybe it doesn't look so pretty, but it was pretty tasty. And it used up all of of the leftover pork.