Back to her roots, with plenty of peppers

CAMBRIDGE - If your garden or local farmers' market is overflowing with a seasonal excess of peppers, Miren Etcheverry has a simple solution: Go Basque. The cuisine of the Basque region of southwest France and northern Spain is perfect for this time of year; in the Basque chicken dish Etcheverry prepares frequently, peppers predominate and tomatoes come a close second. It's a meal made for late summer, when its two key ingredients are at their peak.

On a recent warm evening, Etcheverry prepared the dish in her cozy Cambridge home. "Every culture has some version of this dish," she says as she browns chicken pieces in olive oil, then sets them aside as she prepares the pepper-tomato sauce in which the chicken will simmer. It's the number and variety of peppers, she says, that make this one particularly Basque.

Etcheverry, who is 52, was born in Paris but has deep roots in the Basque region. "My father was from the Basque country, and Basques stay close to their hometowns," she says. In her father's case, the closeness was more cultural than geographic: He was a career diplomat who moved the family to the United States when Etcheverry was 6. They settled in Washington, which was then a bit more of a backwater than it is today. "You couldn't find French products," recalls Etcheverry, who says her mother would resort to smuggling shallots back from France, where they returned for visits. Nonetheless, she says, "my parents loved it here," and they outstayed their planned three-year stint, returning to France only when Etcheverry went off to college, at Stanford.

Etcheverry's mother is a skilled cook who taught her how to prepare traditional Basque specialties. But her mother's Basque culinary lineage doesn't stretch back for generations; it's a tradition she adopted only when she married. "My father was a typical Basque male who expected my mom to cook Basque," says Etcheverry - despite the fact that her mother hailed from a different region of France. "My father's sister taught my mother; marrying a Basque man required you to learn Basque food."

Her mother learned her lessons well. As Etcheverry sauteed shallots, onions, and garlic in her favorite cast-iron skillet, she recounted calling her mother in France earlier that day, to discuss the recipe with her (although it's a dish Etcheverry has made many times, she wanted her mother's imprimatur). "She shamed me into getting fresh tomatoes," Etcheverry confessed, nodding toward the bowl of tomatoes she'd blanched, peeled, and cored earlier. "Usually, I'd use canned." Either one will work in this recipe, but at a time when fresh tomatoes are abundant, it makes sense to use them.

More crucial in this dish are the peppers. Etcheverry uses piment d'Espelette, a signature Basque seasoning, to spark the flavor; it's a ground, dried red pepper that's both hot and sweet. It can be purchased from mail-order sources, but Etcheverry also suggests substituting a mixture of cayenne and sweet paprika. Espelette, Etcheverry explains, is a Basque town in France famous for its red peppers; visitors are greeted by the sight of houses covered with strings of the colorful peppers drying in the sun.

The dish gets its characteristic taste from both dried and fresh peppers. A Basque pepper, says Etcheverry, is long, thin, and green, "typically strong in flavor," she says, "but not hot." She hasn't located the same one in this country, but she approximates it with a mixture of hot peppers and bell peppers that varies each time she makes the dish. "I'm always on the search for the perfect pepper," she says. You can use whatever hot pepper is available, but keep in mind that the finished dish should be warmly, not searingly, spicy.

As Etcheverry prepares the dish, she points out ways in which her version deviates from her mother's. "My mom would not use ham," she says, as she adds a handful of diced Serrano ham (itself a substitute for the jambon de Bayonne used in Basque country). But her dish remains true to the spirit of her mother's cooking. "From my mother I learned to keep it simple," she says, and this dish succeeds by bringing out the best in its simple ingredients.

Etcheverry serves the tomato-and-pepper-sauced chicken over rice, and accompanies it with a glass of the rosé wine she says is popular in the Basque region. The flavor of peppers is pronounced - not spicy-hot, but an essence of capsicum that's a bit surprising, a background character suddenly moving center stage. Etcheverry takes a taste and pronounces herself satisfied: "It's tasty, not watery and bland. It tastes like peppers. It's Basque."