As we countdown to the 17th staging of the Jamaica Observer Table Talk Food Awards on Thursday, May 28, three caterers showcase their culinary options.

Tooksie Kay Catering

Twenty-four-year-old caterer Alexa Von Strolley is looking to make an impact on the catering scene in Jamaica.

Along with an associate’s degree in hospitality from Broward College in Florida, Von Strolley has gathered cooking experience from watching The Cooking Channel and Food Network.

“I started watching Iron Chef America and I wondered if this could happen in Jamaica. I found a passion in researching and cooking [the food I crave]. I used my friends as guinea pigs and they have been enthusiastic with all that I have created,” Von Strolley shared with the Jamaica Observer Table Talk Food Awards judges, sponsors and supermarket purchasing managers at the Spanish Court Hotel in New Kingston. Her friends were certainly not flattering to deceive!

Her entrée of parsley and garlic marinated beef fillet, truffle mousseline, button mushroom purée, English pea purée, red wine sauce, balsamic reduction, puff pastry, gremolata; and a dessert of chocolate mousse, amaretti crumbs, flourless chocolate cake, salted caramel and coffee ice cream passed muster with even the most discerning around the table.

Von Strolley’s business, Tooksie Kay Catering (Tooksie is a term of endearment courtesy of her dad while Kay is her middle name), started in November 2014.

“I wanted to incorporate family. My aunt first taught me how to cook breakfast and it [my love for cooking] just grew from there,” she explained.

Proclaiming her love for food research, Von Strolley continuously looks for new recipes and techniques to try out.

“I am in constant research mode. I love it and I continuously challenge myself,” she said.

Entrée

Parsley and garlic marinated beef fillet, truffle mousseline, button mushroom purée, English pea purée, red wine sauce, balsamic reduction, puff pastry, gremolata.

Dessert

Chocolate mousse, amaretti crumbs, flourless chocolate cake, salted caramel and coffee ice cream.

Trevanne Donegal

“I wanted to take the judges on a journey. While I was cooking, I felt like I was taking that journey as well,” said Donegal, who listed her antecedents as Chinese, Syrian, Cuban, and Irish.

Thirty-three-year-old Donegal started her presentation with a tabbouleh salad, a nod to her Syrian heritage.

Made with cilantro and Thai basil, the salad was topped with crumbled feta cheese, olive oil blistered plum tomato and a drizzle of pomegranate molasses, and was served with pita chips and roasted garlic hummus.

The entrée was a Thai coconut curry salmon stuffed with baby Bella mushrooms, vidalia onions and papaya chutney, topped with a skewered spicy mango shrimp and served with herb mashed sweet potato.

The meal ended with a coconut lemon key lime layered cake. The creamy layers of lemon and key lime cheesecake were alternated between layers of moist coconut cake and lemon cake with coconut whipped cream and curds.

Trained at Johnson & Wales University, North Miami Campus, Donegal’s pastries are available at the CPJ Market, the Devon House ice cream store at Sovereign North and at her parents’ restaurant Jerkaz.

Allison Porter Smalling

Ally’s Kitchen proprietor Allison Porter Smalling early childhood memories are of her parents’ passion for entertaining. Indeed emphasis was on ensuring that all felt welcome and left suitably nourished. It is perhaps this memory that has influenced her own foray in catering — creating plates of tasty, comfort fare. Her offerings at the Spanish Court Hotel were exactly that forkful after forkful of explosive palate delights.

* Baked goat cheese dip served with herb toasted pita chips (inspired by a Scandal night)

* Steamed grey snapper with roasted vegetable medley and creamed pumpkin purée

* Mixed berry coconut parfait

The accountant-turned-chef, Porter Smalling believes in cooking the old-fashioned way — oxtail goes on the fire early in the morning and simmers all day long; two meats on the Sunday lunch plate; and always cooking with love.

The one-and-a-half-year-old catering outfit, Ally’s Kitchen, operates from her home, which is in line with the ease of comfort food and entertaining.

Porter-Smalling describes a passion for cooking that pushes her to always be and do different in the kitchen.

“I consider myself a foodie. I love to eat, go out to different restaurants and travel and eat a lot. I take the recipes that I find on the Internet and try to make them my own. I ask, ‘how can I make this different, mine, better’?” she told the Food Awards judges and guests.