The Rockhouse Foundation served up the latest edition of its highly anticipated fund-raising initiative, ‘Dinner on the Beach’, on Wednesday, December 28, 2022, with guest chef Nyesha Arrington from Top Chef, Chef Hunter, and Chopped Next Gen fame. The event was hosted by Chef Andre Fowles of Miss Lily’s Restaurant at Skylark Resort in Negril.

Arrington explained that the evening’s courses were influenced by her style and background. Describing her style as having fun textural elements, fresh, light, and bright and heavily influenced by her classic French fine dining background.

“I come from a classic French fine dining background, which is kinda bougie but I’m more rustic elegant, and that will be reflected in the menu. It’s very honest, authentic, straightforward, beautiful cuisine to be enjoyed against the beautiful backdrop of Jamaica,” Arrington said.

During the cocktail hour guests were treated to passed canapés consisting of spiny lobster with carrot turmeric soup, oxtail toast, and crispy okra fries. The first course was red snapper crudo with crispy rice and peas salad, Scotch bonnet pepper and mango vinaigrette.

The second course included braised goat with ginger, tamarind, sweet potato polenta and greens. Chef Arrington explained that special use was made of the sweet potatoes and the greens including butter lettuce and the peppery arugula used to accent the goat. The greens now utilised by Rockhouse and Skylark are grown specifically for the resorts through their new hydroponics farm. The final course of dessert was caramelised plantains with coconut tapioca pudding, sugarcane and pepita seeds.

“Nothing is ever forsaken on the plate; there’s a lot of intentionality that goes into the entire journey and the inspiration for the dessert came from the terroir of the land and specifically the sugarcane. The sugarcane on top of the dessert is spiked with dark rum, hot molasses syrup also derived from the sugarcane. It has the vibe of a fancy crème caramel but it’s also gluten- and dairy-free with temperature variations but more so delicious, just to hug your soul and round out the experience for the evening,” Arrington explained.

“When I landed here my soul felt at peace. It’s an unexplainable energy, it feels so authentic, real and love. It was almost easy to create this menu; being here in Jamaica it spoke to me. I was able to celebrate what the land is giving. I was able to use produce and have it picked the day before, watch the snapper being snatched from the ocean and on the plate within a day. It’s actually incredible and an experience of a lifetime,” Arrington added.

Paul Salmon, chairman for Rockhouse, stated that the dinner was able to raise US$30,000.00 which will go towards the foundation’s initiatives including the Sav Inclusive School. The institution’s inclusion model has helped to transform the lives of children with disabilities by exposing them to educational, speech and physical therapies.

— Text & photos by Aceion Cunningham