Wine for Aromatic Lamb Stew

Our answer

Nigella's Aromatic Lamb Shank Stew (from Nigella Bites and on the Nigella website) has a mildly curried sauce. The sauce actually contains Marsala wine and not Madiera, though they are both fortified wines. It can be useful to keep a bottle of dry Marsala for cooking as it keeps very well after it has been opened and a splash added to sauces and soups helps to add flavour and depth. In the lamb shank recipe contains only 3 tablespoons of Marsala.

As the Marsala should be dry we would prefer not to use a sweet sherry, though you could use a dry sherry, such as an amontillado. Otherwise red wine could be used, or a dry port if you have a bottle handy.