Crossword Genius

Purposely prolong dreary entrée with meat stew (4,3)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

drag out

I'm a little stuck... Click here to teach me more about this clue!

'purposely prolong' is the definition.
'drag out' can be an answer for 'prolong' (I've seen this before). I'm not certain of the 'purposely' bit.

'dreary entree with meat stew' is the wordplay.
I cannot really see how this works, but
'stew' could be 'ragout' (ragout is a kind of stew) and 'ragout' is present in the answer.
A single letter 'd' remains which might be clued in a way I don't understand.
This explanation may well be incorrect...

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for drag out that I've seen before include "Prolong" , "Make tedious" .)

I've seen this clue in the Sydney Morning Herald.
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