Photography Credit: Elise Bauer

Are you familiar with Basque cooking?

Basque Country is a region bordering Spain and France at the Western end of the Pyrenees mountains. Basque descendants and communities can be found all over California and Nevada. (More on the history of the Basque people in the Wikipedia.)

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You may be accustomed to Irish lamb stew, but lamb stews are also typical of Basque cuisine, as are dishes that include both tomatoes and sweet red peppers.

My father first found the recipe from which we adapted this basque lamb stew in an old issue of Saveur Magazine. He has at least 20 years of back issues of Gourmet, Saveur, and other cooking magazines that he keeps around just waiting for a spare moment to review.

We’ve made this lamb stew several times and just love it!

It seems a little odd in that the lamb is first marinated in herbs and white wine, and then braised in stock and red wine. Mixing wines in cooking is so rarely done, but apparently it does happen on occasion in Spanish cooking (we’ve found references in Spanish cookbooks).

Updated, from the recipe archive. First posted in 2005. Enjoy!