Born and raised in Wait-a-Bit Trelawny, until moving to the Bronx with his family at about 11 years of age, Chef Conroy Arnold can remember “watching my granny cook when I was a little boy, and running around in the yard, grabbing wood to make a fire for food” he told Thursday Life a week ago. “From these small things, I built up, and I started cooking with my mum when I was 13,” he continued.

Fast-forward, the now 41-year old chef graduated with a degree in Political Science, trained as a chef at the Culinary Institute of America (CIA), and has worked at several excellent restaurants, in several cities known for culinary excellence, including Nobu in Manhattan for three years. It is from this iconic restaurant that Chef Conroy has created his philosophy of cooking. “Taking what I’ve learnt from Nobu, as that was a big part of my training,” he informed us, “I’ve developed my specialties, which are based on clean flavours and fresh ingredients.”

By happenstance, Arnold met a like-minded English-Jamaican chef, Dennis McIntosh, who asked him to participate in an event in Miami with him. The two kept in touch over the years, McIntosh mentoring Arnold many times, perhaps without Chef McIntosh even realising it.

When Americans Deb and Clayton Korver, proprietors of Hermosa Cove Villa Resort in Ocho Rios, were looking for an executive chef to run their on-site restaurant, Christopher’s, they spoke with Dennis McIntosh, executive chef at Rio Neuvo Village in St Mary, who recommended him. “As Dennis is very serious about Jamaican cuisine and using local produce, we were confident in his recommendation,” Nrs Korver said. “We hired Chef Conroy because of his passion for the culinary arts and his commitment to local cuisine,” she gushed about the man who has been true to all that he promised since he started making waves at this boutique seaside resort a year ago. “In our garden at Hermosa,” she divulged, “we grow breadfruit, pear, coconut, soursop. And Chef Conroy’s passion for growing fresh herbs fits into exactly what we were looking for. He literally takes guests into the garden and together they choose what they are going to cook (Chef lets guests cook with him). Truly farm to table.”

Chef Conroy described it as a “garden surrounding the kitchen, full of rosemary, escallion, arugula, okra, red and green spinach, bell peppers and pumpkins”. “We got these blossoms from the pumpkins last week, which I stuffed with a king fish ratatouille.” As if the bashful boasting (really, that’s how it was) did not stop there…. “We take our scraps of vegetables and use that in a natural process of fertilisation; we smoke a lot of our meat – ribs, chicken, bacon; we make our own ice cream; we basically try and keep everything fresh and simple.” Both Conroy and the Korvers, whom he also describes as mentors, use the term “DNA” to describe the culinary foundation from which they are working.

Chef Conroy’s idol is the French Laundry chef Thomas Keller, “I met him when I first graduated (from CIA). He was doing a show event at Radio City Music Hall, and I assisted him,” Chef Conroy said with pride. “He gave me a box of chives to pick, which I did for four hours. And then he gave me his cook book.” Keller says cooking is about having patience and finesse. This man has really paid attention all along, and his fame did not come until he was older.”

The lesson here – Thomas Keller’s devotion, hard work and skill have paid off. Conroy Arnold believes that these characteristics are threaded in chefs right here in Jamaica. “There is a good crop of chefs all over the island,” he praised. “But there is no spotlight on the core driven chefs as yet. We need people to sit and listen to them. They have gone abroad and returned with new techniques of cooking and presentation, but they remain tied to the local produce in Jamaica.” He referenced Chef Dennis McIntosh several times here.

Chef Conroy is completely content where he is at the moment, but he admits that he has a lot to learn on the business side, before opening his own restaurant one day. With the kind of discipline and attitude this man holds close to his soul, it would not be surprising to see his dream materialise soon enough.

Conroy Arnold’s Recipe (Christopher’s at Hermosa Cove)

This dish which incorporates the use of pumpkin blossoms (flowers), exemplifies and reflects the new direction of Christopher’s at Hermosa Cove. It pays homage to Jamaica’s vast abundance of untapped ingredients and at the same time lends itself to new ideas within the culinary marketplace.

N.B. The pumpkin blossoms came from Christopher’s Garden Crop. The King Fish is our ‘local catch of the day.’ Christopher’s restaurant also does a great deal of smoking, hence our tomato sauce is smoked which gives it a unique flavour.

Seared King Fish with Okra Ratatouille Stuffed Pumpkin Blossoms, Smoked Tomato Sauce & Cucumber Salsa: Serves 10

Ingredients:

10 x 6 oz King Fish ‘steaks’ (just under 4 lbs in total)

Marinade For the King Fish

Ingredients:

Salt & pepper to taste

1 tsp chopped Scotch bonnet pepper

1 tsp diced onions

1 tsp thinly sliced escallion

2 tablespoons of olive oil

Okra Ratatouille Stuffed Pumpkin Blossoms

Ingredients:

10 Pumpkin blossoms

2 fl oz vegetable oil

1 lb okra, finely sliced

1 white onion, finely diced

1 tablespoon of freshly chopped garlic

1 teaspoon finely diced scotch bonnet pepper

1 cup of finely diced carrots

2 cups of freshly sliced fennel

4 oz tomato paste

Smoked Tomato Sauce

Ingredients:

10 lbs plummy tomatoes

1qt water

2 fl oz vegetable oil

1 onion, finely sliced

1 whole garlic, finely sliced

2 Scotch bonnet peppers, finely sliced

1 kitchen spoon of Tomato Paste

1 bunch thyme

1 bunch scallion, chopped

A large handful of freshly chopped basil

Cucumber Salsa

Ingredients:

1 cucumber, finely diced

2 oz finely diced red onions

1 teaspoon finely chopped garlic

2 tablespoons of olive oil

1 tablespoon of rice wine vinegar

A small handful of chopped basil

Salt & pepper to taste

Method

1. Place the marinade ingredients in a blender and puree until smooth. When ready remove blended seasoning from the blender and place in a bowl. Coat the fish with the seasoning and allow to marinate for 30 minutes.

2. Cook the ratatouille: Heat 2 fl oz of vegetable oil in a large ovenproof pan. Add the okra, onion, garlic and Scotch bonnet pepper and cook until tender. Stir in the tomato paste and cook for 8-10 minutes. Place carrots and fennel in mixture and cook until tender. Cover and transfer to a 350F oven and cook for another 20 minutes. Remove from oven and cool.

3. Make the smoked tomato sauce: Heat the vegetable oil a sauté pan, add onions, garlic, Scotch bonnet pepper and cook until tender. Add tomato paste and continue to cook until tomato paste is just about dark. Add 1 quart of water and bring to a complete boil. Add the remaining ingredient, bring to a boil and simmer for 1 hour. Place in a smoker (optional) and cook for another 1 hour or until sauce captures the aroma of the pimento wood flavour. If you don’t have a smoker just cook for 1 hour only in the pan, then puree it.

4. Make the cucumber salsa: Mix all the ingredients together and season with salt and pepper.

5. Stuff the pumpkin blossoms: Take each pumpkin flower and season with salt and pepper. Stuff each flower with the okra ratatouille, and place on a tray in the fridge.

6. To cook the stuffed blossoms:Ccoat each one in flour. Heat vegetable oil (2-3 inches deep) in a pan, fry each flower until golden brown. Place on a plate with paper towel to absorb excess oil.

7. Cook the fish:

Heat a large frying pan, sear the fish on both sides for 5 minutes.

Reheat the tomato sauce.

8. Plate up: Pour some hot tomato sauce on each of the 10 plates, place a piece of the King fish on each, gently rest a stuffed blossom next to the fish, and serve with cucumber salsa on the side.