No plans to simmer down

Cooking is artistry in motion. With high notes and vibrant colours, ingredients, when plated or heated, are set apart by flavour. Chef Patrice Malcolm stands out as a leading female chef in the field, dedicating close to two decades of her talent to the craft.

Her speciality is Mediterranean foods, and her reason for tapping into this area of expertise is pretty simple: she loves cooking fresh food. “My signature dishes are seafood paella, grilled fish, Greek salad and a variety of bruschettas. I love preparing these dishes because they are not just fresh but, [most] important, healthy,” she told Food.

Chef Malcolm first discovered her love for food as a child, learning the skill from her grandparents and mother, especially when it came to cooking traditional Jamaican foods and pastries using a wood fire. “I decided to turn my passion into a profession based on the reaction of my family members [to] whatever I cooked and how well put together the food was. It was amazing what I could do, being self-taught, doing my research and exploring food at another level,” she said.

After attending Oberlin High School in St Andrew, she went on to enrol at the HEART Trust/NTA, now HEART/NSTA Trust, in Boys’ Town, and is currently pursuing a culinary degree at the Culinary Institute of America.

Of her 18 years as a chef, she has spent 15 of those years working in the kitchen of The Jamaica Pegasus hotel. She enjoys the process because it allows her to hone her fiery skills locally, as well as overseas. Working under Executive Chef Mark Cole’s tutelage, she described the experience as both fruitful and eye-opening. “Working in the culinary arts as a woman is never easy. You have to work thrice as hard as the men. But working with a boss who sees my potential and pushes me to achieve more has been quite empowering,” she added.

The experienced chef has cooked for local and international dignitaries. She is one of the key members of the Culinary Federation who plans the annual ‘Chefs on Show’, and she has functioned in the capacity of a Culinary Federation trainer from 2018 to the present. Some of her accolades include earning the top spot as Chef of the Year at the 2015 staging of the Taste of Jamaica Culinary Competition and training team members from The Jamaica Pegasus who received the bronze medal for Team of the Year at the Taste of The Caribbean Culinary Competition held in Miami in 2016. She is grateful to pass on her sea of knowledge to the younger generation of chefs.

Because her ultimate goal is to entice palates with bursts of authentic flavour, she shared her parting gift in the form of a recipe of her scrumptious Beef Wellington encased in callaloo, served with a jerk hollandaise sauce, sautéed herb butter lobster, sticky rice stuffed with crab, pumpkin purée and seasonal vegetables. Enjoy.

Surf and Turf with a Twist

INGREDIENTS

Beef

3 ounces of beef tenderloin

6 ounces of callaloo

Salt and pepper to taste

6 ounces of puff pastry

1 egg

1 ounce of cornstarch

2 ounces of onions

1 peg of garlic

½ teaspoon thyme

Jerk Hollandaise Sauce

3 egg yolks

3 teaspoons of vinegar

6 tablespoons of melted butter

1 tablespoon of jerk seasoning

¼ teaspoon of garlic powder

Salt and pepper to taste

Lobster

½ lobster tail

2 cloves of garlic

¼ teaspoon of thyme

3 tablespoons of butter

1 bamboo skewer

Salt and pepper to taste

Pumpkin Purée

6 ounces of pumpkin

4 ounces of heavy cream

Salt and pepper to taste

1 teaspoon of onion

1 clove of garlic

Sticky Rice

½ cup sticky rice

1 egg

2 ounces of crab meat

½ teaspoon onion

1 clove of garlic

¼ teaspoon Scotch bonnet

¼ teaspoon thyme

½ teaspoon poppy seeds

Vegetables of your choice

DIRECTIONS

For Beef Wellington

1. Heat skillet and sauté aromatics, then add callaloo and cook for 3 minutes.

2. Add ½ cup of water to the cornstarch and mix it.

3. After the callaloo is cooked, add cornstarch [and] mix until thick enough to make a paste.

4. Season beef tenderloin with salt and pepper, then sear in a hot skillet or grill for 2 minutes, then put to rest.

5. Roll out puff pastry and add callaloo to the middle, leaving edges dry.

6. Add tenderloin in the middle of the callaloo, and puff pastry, then roll, encasing all ingredients.

7. Egg wash puff pastry, then poke holes to ensure puff pastry rises evenly.

Bake for 15 minutes.

For Hollandaise Sauce

1. Melt butter, then skim impurities. Combine all ingredients and whisk in a bowl until thick or emulsifies.

For Lobster

1. Use the ½ lobster tail and poach in seasoned water for 1 minute.

2. Remove lobster from the water and push the bamboo skewer through it to maintain shape.

3. Melt butter in a skillet and sauté aromatics.

4. Sauté lobster for 2 minutes on each side.

For Pumpkin Purée

1. Sauté all aromatics.

2. Boil pumpkin in a small amount of water.

3. Remove the pumpkin water and purée the pumpkin in a bowl.

4. Mix purée and aromatics and add heavy cream and salt and pepper to taste.

5. Strain the purée and put in a squeeze bottle for presentation.

For Sticky Rice

1. Boil rice for 20 minutes.

2. Sauté crab meat in aromatics and allow to cool.

3. Add whisked egg to rice, then form a ball with the rice and add crab meat in the middle.

4. Sprinkle rice with sesame seeds.

5. Sauté vegetables of your choice to pair with the rice and serve.

krysta.anderson@gleanerjm.com