Cocina de la Abuela—Grandma’s Kitchen

Savory chunks of lamb's liver and heart cooked in a sauce with wine. Simple and delicious.

La cocina de la abuela is a cuisine of aprovechamiento, of knowing how to take advantage of all food. How to turn leftovers into a tasty meal—today’s fried fish go into tomorrow’s fish soup. How to use all the parts of a butchered animal. How to feed a family with little means. To describe la cocina de la abuela we use words such as reconfortante, comfort food; de cuchara, spoon food; humilde, humble; casera or de hogar, home cooking; económico, thrifty; frugal. 

 I qualify as an abuela. So, last week, when presented with a bagful of lamb viscera—we had roasted one lamb and butchered another for the freezer—it seemed appropriate to cook like an abuela. 

While cooking with wine might seem unlikely in granny's kitchen, I can assure you that, in former times, a jug of wine was more likely to hand than fresh drinking water that had to be carried from a spring. In the pueblo kitchens where I cooked alongside various abuelas, that wine was usually a dry white wine from Montilla (Córdoba), somewhat in the style of fino Sherry. 

Potatoes, usually fried, were the thrifty abuela's addition to any meal. They extended a small quantity of meat to feed a large family. 

I started with two livers, two hearts, and four kidneys. I lost abuela points for frugality because I pitched out the lungs (pulmones). I remember eating them in a tapas bar years ago and did not much care for their texture. I never found the sweetbreads (mollejas). The tripe had been discarded when the animals were slaughtered. And, I never saw the heads, so no brains or tongue. 

Organ meats are highly perishable, best consumed very fresh. So, a day after the lamb-roasting party, I cooked off all the casquería, offal or “variety meats” in a day! 

Lamb kidneys in Sherry sauce go nicely with mashed potatoes.

Patatas fritas! Fries to go with the saucy liver and heart dish. 

Sliced liver, dusted with flour and fried in olive oil, still pink in the center. This is my preferred way to cook liver. I didn't even bother with onions, but served the liver accompanied by zeilouk, a spicy Moroccan dish of eggplant with onions. 

Lamb’s Liver and Heart in Granny’s Sauce

Asadurilla en Salsa de la Abuelita

Heart is a muscle, more like lean meat than it is like visceral liver. It can be sliced and quickly grilled or else cooked slowly until tender. Abuela probably would cook both the firm heart and delicate liver (and lungs, if using) all together. However, I added the tender liver to cook only a few minutes at the very end. 

Serves 6 (or, with potatoes, more).

2 pounds lamb hearts and liver

¼ tablespoons olive oil

1 cup chopped onion

¾ cup chopped red bell pepper

2 cloves chopped garlic

1 grated tomato

1/3 cup white wine

¾ cup meat or chicken stock

Salt to taste

Freshly ground black pepper

1 bay leaf

Sprig of thyme

Chopped parsley

Soak the hearts and livers separately in ice water to remove all traces of blood. Drain.

Cut the hearts and liver into bite-size pieces, discarding any hard bits and membrane. Keep the two meats separate. Pat dry.

Heat half the oil in a heavy skillet on medium-high. Fry the pieces of liver until lightly browned on all sides and skim them out. Brown the pieces of heart and remove to a separate plate.

Add the remaining oil. Sauté the onion, red pepper, and garlic until they are soft, 5 minutes, moderating the heat so they don’t brown. Add the tomato pulp, raise heat and cook until the liquid evaporates. Add the wine and cook off the alcohol. Add the stock. Taste and add salt and pepper as needed. Return the pieces of heart to the pan. Add the bay leaf and thyme. Simmer, covered, until the hearts are tender, 15 minutes. Add the pieces of liver and cook 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Serve garnished with chopped parsley.

Lamb Kidneys with Sherry

Riñones al Jerez

Serves 4.

8 ounces clean lamb kidneys

Milk to soak the kidneys

2 teaspoons flour + more for dredging

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

3 tablespoons olive oil

¼ cup finely chopped onions or shallots

1 ounce chopped bacon

4 ounces sliced mushrooms

2 cloves minced garlic

¼ cup dry Sherry

¾ cup meat or chicken stock

¼ cup peas

Pimentón (paprika)

Chopped parsley

Cut the kidneys in quarters, removing the kernel of fat in each. Place the kidneys in a small bowl and cover them with milk. Let them soak, covered and refrigerated, at least 1 hour. Drain them well and discard the milk. Dust the kidneys with flour that has been mixed with salt and pepper. 

Heat 2 tablespoons of oil in a skillet on medium-high. Fry the kidneys quickly, turning them to lightly brown both sides. They do not need to cook through. Remove and reserve them.

Add the onions to the oil and sauté on medium 2 minutes. Add the bacon, mushrooms, and garlic. Drizzle with remaining 1 tablespoon of oil. Sauté until mushrooms are browned, 4-5 minutes. Add the Sherry and cook off the alcohol. Stir in 2 teaspoons of flour. Add the stock and cook, stirring, until sauce is thickened slightly. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Return the kidneys to the pan and simmer them on medium-low until they are cooked through, 5 minutes. Add the peas. 

Serve the kidneys and sauce sprinkled with pimentón and parsley.

More recipes with offal:

Lamb Kidney Kebabs 

Lamb's Liver with Onion Sauce (Encebollado) 

Sweetbreads and Mushrooms in Sherry Sauce 

Sauteed Chicken Livers 

Tongue with Tomato-Sherry Sauce

Braised Pork Cheeks 

Slow-Cooked Pig's Feet

Andalusian Tripe Stew with Chickpeas

 

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CALDERETA—A TRADITIONAL LAMB STEW

 

Lamb stew with potatoes and herbs.

    I´ve been craving lamb stew, the sort of aromatic, slow-cooked meal that’s perfect for cold weather. 

    

    Shoulder meat would be ideal for stew, but I can never bring myself to cut up a gorgeous shoulder or leg of lamb for stew meat. So I boned out several lamb shanks, using the bones to make broth and cutting the meat into chunks. Other possibilities for stew are necks, lamb riblets, flank or breast meat. 

     Caldereta is a very traditional lamb stew, found all along the shepherds’ migratory routes from Aragon and Navarra to La Mancha, Extremadura and Andalusia. A caldereta is a “cauldron” or iron pot for cooking on a woodfire. In its rustic, shepherds’ versions, the stew, eaten with bread, is chunks of meat, lamb or young goat, braised with wine and wild herbs with the possible addition of wild mushrooms or wild artichokes. Domesticated, the stew usually has onions and peppers as well and is served with potatoes as well as bread.  

Typically, the stew is thickened with pieces of fried lamb’s liver, mashed to a paste with garlic. If you can’t get lamb’s liver, substitute chicken livers. Or thicken the sauce with a slice of bread, fried in oil and processed to a paste.     

Stew is brown. Maybe that’s what inspired me to scatter a handful of ruby-red pomegranate kernels on the finished dish. And, once that was part of the plan, why not add a spoonful of tangy-sweet pomegranate molasses to the stew? No, this is not authentically Spanish. Pomegranates are used in Spanish cooking, but the thick, dark syrup is a Middle Eastern product. 

Pomegranate adds a pop of color to lamb stew with a side of fried potatoes.

Lamb simmers with wine and aromatic herbs until very tender. The sauce is thickened with a paste made of lamb's liver blended with garlic and spices.  

Lamb Stew

Caldereta de Cordero

Fried liver (top) to thicken the stew.

Serves 4-6.

2 pounds boneless lamb

Salt

Freshly ground black pepper

¼ cup olive oil plus additional for frying potatoes

4 ounces lamb’s liver or a slice of bread, crusts removed

4 cloves garlic

1 ½ cup chopped onion

1 cup chopped red and/or green pepper

1 ½ teaspoons smoked pimentón (paprika)

½ cup grated tomato pulp

¾ cup white wine

3 cups lamb broth or water plus additional for the blender 

2 bay leaves

Sprigs of thyme

Sprigs of rosemary

Peppercorns

2 cloves

2-3 potatoes

1 tablespoon pomegranate molasses (optional)

Chopped parsley

Pomegranate kernels to garnish (optional)

Cut the lamb into 2-inch chunks, discarding excess fat. Sprinkle with salt and pepper

Heat the oil in a heavy skillet or stew pan such as a Dutch oven. Cut the liver into 1-inch pieces and fry it on moderate heat until browned. (If using bread instead of liver, fry the bread until crisped.) Remove the liver from the pan and put it in a blender..

Lightly crush the garlic, but do not peel the cloves. Add them to the oil with the lamb. Fry the meat on moderately high heat until nicely browned. Skim out the meat and garlic cloves. Peel the garlics and put them in the blender with the liver. Reserve the lamb.

Fresh herbs flavor the stew.

Add the onions and red/green peppers to the pan. Reduce the heat and sauté gently until onions are quite soft, 8-10 minutes. Stir in the pimentón and fry 30 seconds. Stir in the tomato pulp. Cook 2 minutes, stirring. Add the wine. Raise the heat and cook off the alcohol, 2 minutes. Return the pieces of lamb and any juices to the pan. Add enough lamb broth to almost cover the meat. Add the bay leaves, thyme and rosemary. Season with salt to taste. Cover and cook the stew 15 minutes. Remove and discard the bay leaves, thyme and rosemary. Continue cooking the lamb until tender, about 25 minutes longer.

While the stew is cooking, crush the peppercorns and cloves in a mortar. Add the crushed spices to the blender with the liver and garlic. Add enough additional stock or water to allow the blender to function, about ¼ cup. Blend to make a smooth paste.

Potatoes fried in olive oil.

Liver blended to thicken sauce.

    Cut the potatoes into 1-inch cubes. Heat oil in a skillet and fry the potatoes until they are browned and just cooked through. Drain the potatoes on absorbent paper. The potatoes can be finished right in the stew or served as a side.

Pomegranate molasses.

   When the lamb is tender, stir the blender mixture into the stew. Stir in the pomegranate molasses, if using. If desired, add the fried potatoes to the stew or serve them as a side. Cook the stew, uncovered, 10 minutes more until the sauce is thickened. Stir in a handful of chopped parsley.

Serve the stew with the fried potatoes, garnished, if desired, with pomegranate kernels.

More recipes for lamb stews and braises:

Lamb Stew with Red Peppers (Caldereta).

Lamb Stew with Peppers (Chilindrón).

Lamb Shanks with Prunes.

Lamb and Bean Stew.

Lamb Riblets with Garlic Sauce.