It’s the middle of winter here in Montana. Last week we had temperatures that as cold as –25° F! When it gets that cold, I seek out comfort food that warms my belly and takes the chill off. Here is a super-simple, paleo-friendly dish that you can make in a crock pot, set it, and enjoy a hearty meal. It requires minimal ingredients and makes for a great middle-of-the-week dish. This dish is inspired by a recipe I saw on Everyday Paleo, and modified to the squash and veggies  that I wanted to play with.

Fall and winter seasons are a great time to experiment with all the bizarre winter squashes that you’ll find in your grocery. One of my favorites is the venerable hubbard squash, a giant, warty, minty green hunk. In this recipe, I’ve paired the hubbard with a sweet potato for an extra flavor boost.

Ingredients:

2.5 lbs pork loin chops, cubed
1 hubbard squash (they can be pretty large, you might not need it all), cubed
1 large sweet potato, cubed
2 leeks, trimmed and sliced
4 celery stalks, chopped
1 medium to large red onion
1 head of garlic, chopped
4 cups cubed butternut squash
4 tps. garam masala
1 tps. cinnamon
Kosher salt and crushed black pepper
Juice of 1 lemon
1 can coconut milk
2 cups low-sodium chicken broth
Fresh italian (flat-leaf) parsley
1 or 2 red chiles or jalapeños (if you like a little heat)

Directions:

With a large knife, trim the fat off the pork chops, and dice the meat into half- to 1-inch cubes.

Add the cubed pork to your slow cooker. Season the pork with salt and pepper. This is a simple crockpot dish, but you can certainly brown the cubed pork in a large cast-iron skillet with a little coconut oil if you wish.

Okay, this is a hubbard squash:

We’re going to break this bad boy down until we have nice bite-sized cubes for our stew. First, cut it in half, and then with a spoon, scrape out and discard the “guts” and seeds. Because a hubbard is so large and unwieldy, now slice it lengthwise into several manageable wedges.
Next, peel off the outer skin with a vegetable peeler. Take your time and be careful, the skin on this squash is thick, and we don’t want any bloody slips with the peeler. Once peeled, now cube the squash into roughly 1/2- to 1-inch cubes.

Next peel and cube the sweet potato.

Add the cubed squash and sweet potato to the crock pot, and with a large spoon, stir to combine with the pork.

Now we’re going to prep our veggies for the stew. Cut the leeks cross-wise into thin discs, and dice the onion and celery. Next, crush and mince the garlic.

Add the veggies to the crockpot, and stir to combine with the pork and squash.

Now add some more salt and pepper, the garam masala and cinnamon. Pour the coconut milk, lemon juice and chicken broth over the ingredients, and stir well to combine.

Cook in your slow cooker for 5 hours on high, or 7 hours on low heat.

When you’re ready to eat, taste the stew, and if needed, season with more salt and pepper to taste.
Scoop into bowls, and top with freshly diced chiles and chopped parsley. Enjoy your winter comfort food!