Lamb Stew with Butternut Squash

This week in my CSA share we got butternut squash. With the weekly newsletter was a recipe for pork and butternut squash stew in a slow cooker. I don't have a slow cooker, and I didn't have any stew pork in the house, but the idea intrigued me. Participating in both vegetable and meat CSA shares often means that I can't strictly follow recipes, because I just don't have certain ingredients. I have learned certain cooking techniques though, that let me make use of what I do have in interesting ways.

So, I had the butternut squash, but I didn't have the pork. I did, however, have a package of lamb for stew, and a leftover leek, a tomato, and some scallions that needed eating. Here's what I did.

Brown lamb in a little olive oil. Remove lamb from pan. Add chopped leek and scallion. Saute until wilted. Add chopped rosemary and tarragon from the garden and saute a bit more. Add lamb back in and saute for a few minutes so that it sucks up the onion flavor. Add a peeled, seeded, and chopped tomato. Once the tomato releases its juices, scrape the bottom of the pan. Add salt and water, cover the pan, and let simmer for 2 hours. Add peeled and chopped butternut squash. Simmer until the squash is tender. Done!