The Friday Poem: ‘Lamb stew with bonus’ by Kevin Ireland
New verse by Devonport writer Kevin Ireland.
Lamb stew with bonus
Gently fry tomatoes and green peppers. Toss them in a casserole.
Use olive oil, not butter. Flavour them with home-cured bacon,
and throw in plenty of shallots – they’re better halved or whole.
Don’t forget turmeric, herbs, black pepper, and, of course, some salt.
Add a dollop of tomato puree mixed with a lavish slug of wine
and a touch of cornflour in some stock. It’s entirely your own own fault
if you ruin it with mushrooms. Now simply flop the butterflied leg
of lamb onto the bed you have so lovingly prepared, then top
the lot with stalks of rosemary and thyme and grate some nutmeg
on it all – just enough to add exotic hints of mystery to the stew.
Then shove the dish into a gentle oven and forget about it till it falls
apart. Meanwhile, drink whatever wine’s left over. I always do.
Kevin Ireland, 2018
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Kevin Ireland
Kevin Ireland is the chatty gourmet of New Zealand letters. He worked for The Times of London for 20 years, and returned to New Zealand to make lamb stew in Devonport. He is the author two superb memoirs (Under the Bridge and Over the Moon, 1998; Backwards to Forwards, 2002), and 24 collections of poetry. Kevin was born in Auckland in 1933.
