Lamb browned hard, then simmered with peppers, wine and a pounded paste of liver, garlic and bread that thickens the pot without flour. You want a dark sauce and meat that yields. Bread, always.
Caldereta is a shepherd's stew from Extremadura and the islands — a caldero over a fire, the animals you had, the peppers of the season. The liver paste is the old thickener, before flour became a habit. Extremadura's version is the one most tables mean.
Rest it five minutes. A Toro or Ribera del Duero red. The stew is better the next day, when the sauce has settled into itself. Don't skip the paste; that is the body of the sauce.
Method
- 01
Salt the lamb well, then brown it in batches in a heavy pot with oil until each piece is well colored on all sides — hard and honest browning, not a timid gray. Lift the meat out as it colors. In the same pot, soften the chopped onion and peppers until they slump and pick up the lamb fat. That's your base.
- 02
Return the lamb to the pot with the pimentón, bay, and wine, and add water to nearly cover the meat. Simmer, partly covered, until the lamb is tender and yielding, about 1½ hours. Check now and then and add a splash of water if the pot looks dry. The sauce should already be darkening, and the kitchen should smell of peppers and wine.
- 03
Meanwhile, fry the liver in a little oil with 2 of the garlic cloves until just cooked through. Pound or blend it with the fried bread, the remaining garlic, and a ladle of the stew liquor to a smooth paste. This is the old thickener, before flour became a habit. It will give the sauce body and a deep, savory note.
- 04
Stir the paste into the pot and simmer 10 minutes more, until the sauce is thick and dark and coats the lamb. Rest 5 minutes, then serve with bread. The stew is even better the next day, when the sauce has settled into itself. A Toro or Ribera del Duero is what you want alongside.
