This recipe is from my Granny, and was obtained by my Dad and my Uncle Al. Here's the long story on the stew, from my Dad:
"Antonio Stew? Really long story. See, there was this alfalfa field... like 40 acres or so, owned by Mrs. Mazetti. She was a cantankerous old woman with a history of chasing off kids with her shotgun... or at least that was the rumor we all heard as kids. One poor sap even got shot in the butt with rock salt... at least that is how the story went. Mrs. Mazetti's field was right across the street from Sequoia School, with a dirt road between them. That dirt road was Locust Street... and if you headed south on it for half a mile, you'd get to where I lived... in sandy soil in a bunch of tumble weeds, with a fish-and muskrat-filled, tree-lined drainage ditch on one edge of our property.
"Well, one day, a sheepherder with a shepherds trailer and a couple of border collies and a flock of sheep showed up in the fields of Mrs. Mazetti... they were there to graze for a month or two on the already harvested alfalfa stalks in the fall. The year was 1964, and the sheepherder was an old Basque man named Antonio. Alan and I would go visit him, usually on weekends while we were running around, and we'd tell him the latest news and he'd tell us about raising sheep and such. He hadn't heard that President Kennedy had been assassinated. He had no radio or TV... just his traveling bunkhouse. But he invited us in for lunch... and it was a lamb stew that was absolutely mouth-watering. It was spicy, the lamb was braised; there were potatoes and other vegetables... but the lamb was so delicious. We rarely ate his meager meal, but he was insistent that we try it... and it was wonderful.
"Alan did his best to remember how Antonio created this dish, and my mom tried to recreate it... it was close, but there is no better lamb stew than that created in the small confines of a sheepherders meager surroundings.
"By the way, one day, Antonio and the sheep were gone... on to 'greener pastures'. A couple of years later, Alan, Rod and I were riding our bicycles following the railroad tracks all over the countryside surrounding Manteca... near the "Bargain Barn"... a flea market weekend business held in a former WWII Magnesium plant... and we could see a sheepherder in a field in the distance. I think we recognized the well-trained dogs first... then there he was... Antonio. It was a sweet reunion... he was so glad to see how we had grown... and we were glad to see the old Basque sheepherder was still alive and doing what he loved. And yes, quickly came the aroma of a fresh batch of Antonio Stew as only Antonio knew how to create it."
lamb meat - 3 or 4 lbs.
cooking oil (enough to brown the meat)
salt, to taste
1 onion, chopped
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1 small dry red pepper, finely minced
3 or 4 Del Monte hot chili peppers, chopped
2 1/2 tsp. Louisiana hot sauce
potatoes, in chunks
peas, frozen or canned
Brown lamb meat in cooking oil. Drain. Add salt, and transfer to cooking pot. Add all ingredients except for potatoes and peas. Simmer until tender. Add potatoes and simmer. Add peas, and simmer a little longer.
