By NAN Staff Writer
News Americas, LONDON, England., Fri. Dec. 24, 2021: A Caribbean roots star who included her heritage in her dinner menus, is the winner of MasterChef’s Celebrity Christmas special.
Jamaican roots English stand-up comedian and panelist on the ITV talk show, Loose Women in the UK, Judi Love, took the crown as champion of MasterChef’s Celebrity Christmas special, wowing Gregg Wallace and John Torode with a Christmas meal inspired by her Jamaican roots.
Her Caribbean Christmas dinner was made up of rolled turkey breast stuffed with jerk seasoning, served with parsnip puree, carrots, stuffing, roast potatoes, crispy turkey skin and a cranberry and Scotch bonnet chili jam, plated with ‘real style’.
The Strictly star shared the clip of the judges’ comments to Instagram writing: “Winner, Champion of @MasterChefUK Christmas Special 2021! #JudiLove All I can do is cook from my heart! The food I was raised up with. My parents were Jamaican born and they loved to show love with food. And that’s what I did tonight!! Thank you @greggawallace @johntorodecooks”
And Wallace was raving about it, saying: ‘We have moist turkey but also jerk seasoning the flavors of thyme and all spice and that’s giving us a lovely smoky flavor but not too chili hot. Then you go to the sauce sweet and sharp with the cranberries but hot with that scotch bonnet which is delicious potatoes are crispy. The turkey is beautiful and moist.”
Love’s dessert was traditional Jamaican black cake made with various dried fruits soaked in rum with a sorrel source and a stout and Rum Punch ice cream, got an equally glowing review.
Wallace called her ice cream absolutely delightful, saying: “If that’s not being manufactured already needs to be done right now. You get the unmistakable flavor of a pint of stout, then honey, it finishes with the heat of rum. That is a delightful thing.”
Torode was equally impressed saying he… loves it. “What you’ve done is you kept the heart and soul of the world that you love so much and grew up with and you made them look fantastic. Good on you,” he said.
The comedian was quite overwhelmed with the comments, saying; “Thank you, I feel very blessed.”
She beat Oti Mabuse, Jenny Eclair and Joey Essex to the title.
