Arts
‘Marco stood there silently observing’
An eye for talent: Marco Pierre White with Anya
You know those fantastically entertaining times on Masterchef Australia when Marco Pierre White bears down on some poor contestant, and just stands there watching them cook?
Remember how terrified they’d always be, and the silly mistakes that would happen because of the nerves? None of that for Anya De Silva.
The aspiring young chef-to-be who won the Cinnamon HSBC Marco Pierre White Challenge powered by Knorr last month says she was “surprisingly unflustered” when Marco stationed himself at her workbench.
Remarkably poised and well-spoken, Anya, 18, says she has always cooked but never very seriously until about five years ago, when aged 13 she began moving beyond her comfort zone to experiment with new flavours and ingredients.
It all started “when my mother burnt a cake,” she laughs “and I stepped in.”
A student of Ladies’ College, Colombo, Anya is currently pursuing Travel and Tourism for her Advanced Levels. Studying for the course has opened her eyes to the many facets of the hospitality industry, she says, and strengthened her resolve to be a part of it one day.
In the meantime Anya continues to experiment with flavours at home – her passion is desserts, and she enjoys “pairing flavours and trying out new techniques.”
She entered the challenge at the urging of a chef friend, and made a deconstructed Eton Mess for her entry. “I did it without expecting much,” Anya notes “but with a lot of faith that God would guide me on to the right path.”
Anya made it through to the semi-final round where the challenge was to create a savoury dish. “I’ve never been very confident with hot cuisine so I was worried,” she remembers. “But with a lot of research, and help from my friends, I was able to come up with a dish.”
Anya whipped up a dish that centred on a shiitake broth with textured seafood. She poached prawns in a vegetable broth, batter-fried cuttlefish and used ingredients like mushroom, pickled radish, watercress and fennel in her dish.
With 10 minutes left to finish Anya realized she’d over reduced her shiitake broth-“but I thought to myself that I could either panic or come up with a quick solution.” She went with the latter, quickly adding some more water and simmering it down.
The challenge at the finals would be a mystery box, they were informed. Anya prepared as one should (but usually never does); she did her research meticulously, trying out French cooking techniques, looking up classic flavour pairings.
She was up against several seasoned cooks, some amateur, some professional.
Just before the final round began (on January 30), the finalists were shown around the kitchen and could have a peek at the other ingredients they could use.
“I saw things like pineapple, beetroot and curd in the fridge,” she says. “Our brief was to make a dish with a continental base so I was wondering what on earth our ingredients would be.”
The mystery box revealed chicken, prawns, lemongrass, cinnamon and nutmeg amongst others. The contestants had to use at least five ingredients from the mystery box, and had no butter (olive oil was to be used instead).
They were also to incorporate a cinnamon element into their dish, of which there needed to be two identical portions. Anya’s initial plan was for honey chicken-half an hour later she changed her mind, deciding to poach the prawns in a white wine and parsley reduction. She would serve this with a carrot puree and a parsley pesto that incorporated chilli, cashew and lemon.
Marco wandered over several times during this time; “he’d just stand there, silently observing,” Anya recalls. Surprisingly, she didn’t feel very flustered, she says.
“He said the colour of my carrot puree was fabulous and seemed amused with the pesto. He also asked me to adjust the white wine reduction.”
At the last minute, when it seemed like her oven roasted potatoes weren’t working, she tossed them in a pan with some nutmeg and rosemary (“with pretty much no idea how it would turn out”).
Anya’s dish proved to be a winner. Marco commended her play on colours and noted that hers was the dish he would return to.
To her shock, he also invited her to train in his kitchens for six months. Astounded, Anya’s first response was “I have my A’L’s!” she laughs. “But he said that’s fine, that I could come afterwards.”
For Anya, this seal of approval from one of the world’s most renowned chefs was the strongest indicator that her career would lie in cooking.