Some years ago our dear friend Hilary decided that we needed to eat in a more ‘heart-healthy’ way, and she sent us a recipe that she really liked to get us started on the road to salvation. There’s something about the words ‘heart-healthy’ that simply sounds unappetizing, at least to me. I know we want our hearts to be happy and healthy, but can’t we simply describe the appropriate food as ‘hearty?’ That sounds much better, conjuring up, as it does, great vats of steaming stew, mountains of fresh bread still warm from the oven with lots of butter gently melting into the slices. Maybe I’m missing the point, I hear you mutter. Well yes, maybe so.
We decided to give Hilary’s recipe a chance, though, or rather the Captain did, as he is the Chef of All Meals in this house. He perused the ingredients (chicken breast, vegetables and spices) and commented, “She’s left out the most important ingredient.” “What’s that?” I asked. “The sausage,” he answered “This is a recipe that wants sausage.”
He was right. He made it his way (you’ll find the recipe here and over on the right under ‘recipes’) and it was delicious. We revisit this dish every autumn when the winter squashes are in. This year we used half of our pumpkin crop (1 pumpkin) instead of the squash, which proved to be a happy (and healthy and hearty) substitution.
Where did the name come from? I have no idea. When Hilary sent us the recipe it was called something like “Heart Healthy Stew.” The Captain gave it a new name, and Rain Forest Chop it now is. And oh yes, Hilary likes it better our way, too!
An Ex-Expatriate 
Well, we made something related to your hearty stew this week, but it where it started and where it ended were definitely different. We took the remaining lamb off of two little legs of lamb we had cooked for Halloween and decided to make a curry, but I added too much wine (!!) — did you know that was possible? It needed sweetening up, so I added some butter nut squash ( pumpkin would have done, tho I like the texture of butternut better and we managed to get 8 out of the garden this year)which is supposed to curry up nicely — and it did — but at that point the stew was too spicy so here’s the part the captain won’t like: we added coconut milk. It was delicious, but did not resemble a lamb curry in any way.
Oh, I bet that was truly yummy. I think the Captain would approve the coconut milk – it’s me who doesn’t care for coconut, but I like the milk just fine when it’s in food. How great that you got * (that’s a capital 8) squash this year – complimenti!