I have this particular dish which, I cook once every 12 years. It is a lamb stew with onions, carrots, potatoes, herbs, tomato paste and pork sausages (my sister’s favourite). Why 12 years, you may ask? This is because the carefully selected prime lamb meat has to be cleaned and dried for three weeks, soaked in malt whisky and herbs and kept in an airtight container for up to 12 years. Where this dish originated, they call it the Black Label Lamb and Sausage Stew.

Sorry folks, I really could not resist pulling a fast one. Actually the reason for the 12 years is because that was how long ago I last cooked this dish for anyone.

Now … let me dwell a little on the most misunderstood meat amongst Malaysians, especially Chinese - lamb. The mere mention of lamb to most people would bring a response like: “Aiya, that notorious smell!” The problem is most of us tend to associate lamb meat with mutton. So let me set the record straight here - lamb meat is from the lamb (little sheep) and mutton is from the goat. And good quality lamb meat whether roasted or stewed is simply fabulicious.

I was assigned to cook for some friends of Steven Poh (The Weekend Chef publisher - remember him?) this weekend (July 24). My mission was to ensure that the host, plus his invited guests have a great dinner and an enjoyable evening together. And at the end of the evening, they in turn were asked to comment on the food and given the unenviable task of telling me that I should stick to my full-time job.

In addition to the “12-year old” lamb stew, I decided to roast some chicken, make some salads and pasta and pan-fry some fish or something.

The roast chicken should suit those who are not too keen on lamb. I have a simple recipe for this. I included some other herbs to the original recipe. It is called French-Style Roast Chicken. When I first looked at the recipe, I was a bit amused - the only French thingie about the dish was probably the wine. But don’t sweat it, French, Italian or Tahitian, we had two yummy tasting roast chickens.

Then there’s salad - my favourite. There are no fixed recipes for salad. I just simply imagined how I want the whole thing to taste and look like and pooof! It somehow turned out OK. This time I decided to use fresh vegetables, canned peaches and different types of beans including French beans. The sauce was yoghurt-based.

The pasta (macaroni this time) goes with the lamb stew. But I felt it should be good enough to stand on its own, so I threw in some sliced ham, garlic and herbs. The pasta was still light enough to go with the stew and even the roast chicken. Bread will do trick as well with the stew, if you don’t want pasta.

Finally we had Pan-fried Dory. I will summarise the cooking of this dish into five simple steps.

1. Get a Frying Pan.
2. Get Fish or anything that can be pan-fried without disintegrating or that doesn’t stick to the pan like glue when fried.
3. Fry the fish, please.
4. Make a simple sauce and pour over the pan-fried fish, garnish it with lemon slices and parsley and serve it on a large white plate.
5. Smile and announce to everyone “Dinner is served!”