Mélange Travel & Lifestyle Magazine October 2017 | Page 594

Chef Sonia Cuffy shared with Mélange

About her background About cooking tips
I was born and raised on the beautiful island of
St. Vincent and the Grenadines, a stratospheric
paradise of rolling streams, rivers and an unending
haven of black and white sand beaches - an ode to
idyllic harmony. My first recollection of putting “pot
to fire” was at the tender age of ten. As I reminisce,
I cannot help but smile. We were not rich growing
up and you definitely ate what you were given –
period, but I was always looking for more. My mom
was at work that day, so I hurried into the kitchen
and stole some rice, secured a pot, along with the
necessary ammunition of matches, and grabbed a
few other random ingredients. Always the culinary
ringleader, I assembled my siblings under the
awning of the big mango tree in the yard, got some
stones and an array of sticks and twigs which we
used as our improvised stove, and proceeded to
cook. We couldn’t figure out why the rice turned
out so hard, and sadly, we had no choice but to
feed it to the chickens as we certainly could not eat
it. But we did have a good laugh. I fondly smile at
this memory which is etched in time on the fibers
of my mind. Through this experience, a curiosity for
perfecting my cooking was born. I’ve been cooking
since that day, at every opportunity. Follow your heart. That gut instinct will guide your
hands to create masterpieces. When following a
recipe, always think outside the box. Feel free to
tweak it as you see fit, adding spices of your choice
- make it your own. Be daring and play with the
spices a s you can dress up or down, do not be shy
- express yourself through your food, become bold
and be creative.
About her cuisine
It is an eclectic world-flair fusion of foods from
around the globe, fused together with soul, love
and an endless array of spices.
About a favourite dish she loves to cook
Most definitely that will be Paella. This dish dates
back to the 19th century and it is history plus
diversity that allows for such versatility. For me,
this dish presents me with a blank slate to work
and I can produce many variations of it, be it
Tropical, Italian, Thai or other - a culinary ode to this
spectacular dish.
About her special recipe
Ricotta-Citrus Cheese Cake is a recipe which is very
dear to my heart. It was my first claim to fame. My
cheese cake was featured in the made-easy edition
of ingredients by Saputo, a registered trademark
company of DairyLand Canada. The company,
through its affiliations with George Brown College,
where I was a student, came in and offered us
students an opportunity to create an innovative
recipe using three or more of their products. It
was the height of summer so I was inspired and
decided to put a citrus spin on ricotta - I consider
ricotta to be the "the tofu of cheeses” as it adapts
well to any flavours added to it. It was a success,
winning me the coveted 1st place and validated my
yearning to take on and conquer new challenges.
That winning streak continued throughout my
tenure at George Brown, earning me a place on
the Dean's Honor List. I graduated with Honors
and went on to win Chopped Canada in 2015. I am
also proud to say that my protégé, Evan Kirlakou
also won the Chopped Junior Champions in 2016.
Hence my belief that “When you challenge yourself,
the sky is your only limit.”
I hope you can have as much fun making my
Ricotta-Citrus Cheese Cake as I did creating it.
Remember to think outside the box and put your
own spin on it. Bon Appetit.