Cooking up a storm at Half Moon

WESTERN BUREAU:

The red snapper was flawless, the salsa danced its way on to the best-taste list, the usually bland cho cho took on life.

Half Moon's General Manager Aram Zerunian, Conde Nast Traveller's Sarah Siese, Martha Stewart Living's Melissa Goldstein, and The Gleaner's own Janet Silvera created waves at the Montego Bay resort's Pepper Pot restaurant last Thursday evening, when they dominated the hotel's 2013 Cook-off.

Displacing defending champion, hotel manager, Shernette Crichton, forcing her two notches down, the Zerunian-led team skilfully created a grilled snapper in a light ginger-orange sauce, paired with a fantastic cho cho papaya salsa, with fresh mint, red onions, infused with a little bit of sugar and vinegar and lots of lime juice. Topping this exciting menu was thinly fried green bananas.

The winning team scored 91 points, but lost two, owing to a leader who could not stay away from a cigarette puff.

"This group got the highest points for cleanliness and organisation. They lost two points when caught smoking," reveals executive chef and chief judge, Steve Sowa.

PERFECTLY PREPARED

For Sowa, who has been in the business of deciding on what's good and what needs to be thrown out, the fish was cooked perfectly.

"Nice presentation. The salsa was excellent. Everything worked together," he said.

The criteria for the cook-off was to appear and have fun. Each group was given a mystery basket containing one protein, one fruit, one starch and one vegetable. They were given 15 minutes to decide on what to cook and one hour to prepare the meal.

"Points were allocated for cleanliness, order and originality and the use of the mystery basket, but taste was the big thing - 40 points were allocated to taste," said Chef Sowa.

"Pretty much everything in the winning team was perfect, even though they were running down to the wires as it relates to time."

He notes that as amateur cooks, the three teams were really good.

The second-place winners - led by Sharon Logan, director of sales - presented a flavourful peppered steak, copping 77 points, while Crichton's jerked chicken breast with a pumpkin mango sauce, and steamed pak choi with fried plantains, walked away with 76 points and third place.

Crichton's boiled pumpkin, blended with mangoes, will be talked about for years to come, mainly because of the zest she added with white wine and ginger.

Both the second- and third-place teams were assisted by Half Moon's events coordinator, Sheraine Reid; John Siese; Jennifer Allford of the Calgary Herald; Karen Cardwell, Half Moon's senior revenue manager; Joy Hernon of Marie Claire; and Anna Janowska of Poland's Voyage magazine.