Her dishes earned praise from the MasterChef Canada judges in the show's April 28 finale, but in the end, Sudbury native Marida Mohammed was the show's runner-up, coming in second to Eric Chong.
“I always remembered what I was here for – put a lot of love into my food – and I always appreciated everything and enjoyed the moment and just gave it my all,” she said, in a press release from CTV.
“I am a strong believer in envisioning things, being positive and always being happy and picturing yourself where you want to be.”
For her finale menu, she said she wanted to take traditional Trinidadian classics and refine them.
“So I did a callaloo, which is a sauce that goes with most meals, and turned it into a nice soup and for my main I wanted to do seafood, so I chose a Canadian-inspired seafood and I paired it with pigeon peas, and I made a puree out of that.
“Part of my signature (flavour profile) are my hot condiments so I made a fresh mango chutney and a cucumber sauce to go with it and some nice sweet tomatoes. For my dessert I wanted to do Canadian and Trinidadian, which are my two favourites, so I went with my favourite apple crumble and my favourite Trinidadian dessert, coconut ice cream with some coconut dust for a little crunch and garnish and some warm rum sauce because I love hot and cold.”
Though the judges liked many of her dishes they weren’t impressed that she left her apples unpeeled. So does she regret not peeling them in her apple crumble?
“I keep having these nightmares since I’ve been back about those damn apples and I’m like, ‘Should have I peeled those apples?” she said.
“Did it make it or break it for me?’ But then I think to myself, there’s nothing that can be undone about this. I honestly feel great about leaving the skin on the apples.
“I knew I wasn’t going to cook those apples for long so it wouldn’t be a soggy texture on the front and then this awful chewy skin. I knew it was still going to be crunchy. I really loved the idea of having that mint green with the brown.
“I was thinking of my plate, the beauty, the colour that was going to come out of it. I don’t regret not peeling the apples. I probably should’ve taken it as a hint, yes, but there's nothing I would’ve changed about it and I hopefully will stop having these nightmares about the apples.”
