Cordero al Chilindrón

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Wide heavy cazuela or Dutch oven, 28-30cm
• •Small knife or teaspoon for scraping pepper pulp
• •Tongs
• •Fine sieve, if using reserved soaking water

Instructions

1. 1

   Soak the peppers

   Stem the dried choricero peppers, shake out the seeds, and put them in a bowl with 500ml hot water. Leave them 30 minutes, until the flesh softens. Open each pepper flat and scrape the red pulp from the skin with a teaspoon or the back of a small knife. You want about 100g pulp. Keep 250ml of the soaking water, leaving any grit at the bottom of the bowl.

   If the soaking water tastes bitter, don't use it. Use unsalted stock or plain water instead. The pepper pulp is the flavour; the liquid is only there to carry it.
2. 2

   Brown the lamb

   Season the lamb with 6g of the salt. Warm the olive oil in a wide heavy cazuela or Dutch oven over medium-high heat and brown the lamb in two batches, about 4 minutes per side, until well coloured. Do not crowd the pot, or the meat stews before it browns. Lift the lamb to a plate.

3. 3

   Cook the onion

   Lower the heat to medium-low. Add the jamón, if using, and let it give up a little fat for 1 minute. Add the onions and the remaining 2g salt, then cook slowly for 18 to 22 minutes, stirring now and then, until the onion is dark gold, soft, and almost jammy. Stir in the garlic for 1 minute. This is the sofrito, the slow onion base, and rushing it gives you a thin sauce.

4. 4

   Wake the pepper

   Add the scraped choricero pulp to the onion and stir it through the oil for 3 minutes. Keep the heat gentle; the colour should deepen to brick red and the smell should turn sweet, not sharp. Pour in the white wine, scrape the bottom of the pot, and let it reduce by about half.

5. 5

   Braise until tender

   Return the lamb and any juices to the pot. Add the bay leaf and 250ml reserved pepper water or unsalted stock. The liquid should come about halfway up the meat, not cover it. Bring to a low bubble, cover partly, and cook gently for 1 hour 15 minutes, turning the pieces once or twice. Uncover and cook 15 to 20 minutes more, until the lamb is tender and the sauce is thick enough to cling to a spoon.

6. 6

   Rest and serve

   Turn off the heat and let the stew rest 10 to 15 minutes. Taste for salt only at the end, because the jamón, if used, has been seasoning the pot all along. Serve with fried potatoes, plain boiled potatoes, or good bread for the sauce. The sauce should sit thick and red on the lamb, not run like soup.

Chef Tips

• •Ternasco de Aragón, young Aragonese lamb, is the right meat if you can get it. Far from Spain, use bone-in lamb shoulder or neck. Lean boneless leg cooks drier and gives less body to the sauce.
• •Pésalo, no lo adivines: you want about 100g scraped choricero pulp for this amount of lamb. Too little and the sauce tastes like onion with colour. Too much and it turns heavy.
• •A Spanish kitchen would reach first for dried ñoras if choriceros were missing. Use 10 small ñoras for 8 choriceros; the sauce will be sweeter and less deep, but it will still belong to the pepper larder.
• •Do not replace jamón with smoked bacon. If you can't find jamón serrano, leave it out and add a little more salt at the end. Smoked bacon pulls the pot somewhere else.
• •This stew is better after a rest and very good the next day. Reheat it gently with a spoonful of water if the sauce has tightened in the fridge. A young Garnacha from Campo de Borja or a simple Rioja tinto sits well beside it.

Advance Preparation

• •The choricero peppers can be soaked and scraped up to 2 days ahead. Keep the pulp covered in the refrigerator with a thin film of olive oil over the top.
• •The whole stew can be made 1 day ahead. Cool it, refrigerate it, then reheat gently until the sauce loosens and the lamb is tender again.
• •Leftovers keep 3 days in the refrigerator and freeze well for 2 months. Thaw overnight and reheat slowly with a splash of water.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 285g)