Gabrielle Wells, 17, a graduate of C.R. Walker is the sixth Island Flare Food Fight champion.

A stuffed and rolled jerked chicken, warm sweet potato and plantain salad and curry plantain and cabbage slaw earned Gabrielle, who never even took a home economics course in high school, the win of the plantain-centric competition. She took home a $50,000 scholarship tenable at Johnson & Wales University and will participate in the institution’s Career Exploration Program July 27-30.

“I was happy … I was very excited about the whole thing,” said Gabrielle of her win.

To prepare for the competition, Gabrielle practiced for a month under the guidance of Chef Jamall Petty, the food fight founder. During competition they had two hours to execute composed dishes, including clean up time.

The teen said Petty was the one who encouraged her to enter the competition and any free time they had they worked together to tweak her dish.

Gabrielle who said she cooks at home said she wasn’t scared going up against students who cook at home and have home economics experience.

“I was prepared,” she said. “I knew what I came to do and knew how to execute my dish,” she said. “What was for me was going to be for me, no matter what the competition was.”

She said if someone else had won that she would have been excited for that competitor as well.

Rico Neely was second; Dana Tucker was third; Rashae Bain, Deranique Knowles, Arianna Lightbourne and Hazen Rolle all tied for fourth place, in the battle that pitted dishes that focused on plantain against each other.

The top four competitors usually travel to Johnson & Wales for the summer immersion program. This year due to four people tying for fourth, a record seven students will participate in the summer immersion program next week. Twelve students started out the competition.

After her first time in competition, Gabrielle said her advice to competitors in future food fight competitions would be to stay focused, execute well and take advantage of the time that they have and not let it run out on them.

“Have a good and positive attitude about the whole thing, and don’t be envious about what other people are doing,” she said.

This year’s Island Flare Food Fight was able to see more participants than the previous two years, through a donation of more than $2,000 from the Sandals Foundation.

“We would not have had the amount of student chefs we had this year this year if it was not for the Sandals Foundation,” said Petty. “The donation allowed the students to come down to the Marshall Road cooking studio and practice for the competition. Because of the Sandals Foundation many who couldn’t afford to didn’t have to buy a thing. They forwarded an ingredient list and we purchased all of their ingredients, utensils and stoves for them to practice.”

This was the third year the Sandals Foundation participated in the event, which was held at the Mall at Marathon.

Sandals Foundation Director of Programs Heidi Clarke said they see the event as a chance for young people to learn and pursue their passion in culinary arts as well as provide the lucky winner with an excellent scholarship.

This year, Sandals Emerald Bay in Exuma, assisted two 11th grade students from the L.N. Coakley School, Tucker and Rolle who both placed in the top seven, realize their dream of competing in the event through the donation of food and equipment.

“We had a whole lot of support this year,” said Petty. “This year, more people from Johnson and Wales came down. The talent in this year’s competition was so great that this was the first time we ever had this amount of students travelling to the school,” he said.

Gabrielle Wells’ stuffed and rolled jerked chicken, warm sweet potato and plantain salad and curry plantain and cabbage slaw

For the pork roulade

2 chicken breasts

1 bunch fresh basil, chopped

1 teaspoon garlic minced

1 tablespoons chicken dark meat trims

4 ounces ground chicken

½ oz bacon minced

Assorted mushrooms diced

½ cup Madeira

½ cup marsala

½ cup heavy cream

1 teaspoon thyme

1 teaspoon rosemary

2 teaspoons parsley

Kosher salt to taste

Sauté garlic and shallots then cool.

Grind chicken, bacon, garlic, shallots then set aside and let cool.

Sauté mushroom in a heavy saucepan add marsala and Madeira. Cook until wine is reduced and the mushrooms are dry. Let cool.

In a robocoupe (blender) mix the ground chicken mixture until smooth. Add cream for a light consistency.

Add mushroom mixture, thyme, rosemary, and parsley to the ground chicken mixture; mix until well incorporated. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Butterfly chicken flat like a book. Smooth a layer of the farce (stuffing) ¾ over the full length of the pork about ¼ inches thick. Roll chicken in circular shape and chill for 20 minutes. Unwrap roll and rewrap with bacon. Place on wire rack in convection oven at 350 degrees for 25 minutes.

Let rest, slice and serve.

Assorted mushroom and plantain dumpling with pepper jack cheese

4 pounds chicken breast diced

1 bunch fresh basil, chopped

2 ounces fresh minced garlic

1 bunch fresh basil, picked and washed

1 green plantain boiled and mashed

Assorted mushrooms roughly cut

6 porcini mushrooms fine diced

4 ounces heavy cream

Salt and pepper to taste

Pepper jack cheese diced medium as needed

Panko Bread crumbs as needed

Sauté chopped basil and 2oz. of garlic in a heavy saucepan and let cool.

Place chicken and basil in a robocoupe (blender) and puree to a smooth texture

Combine plantain, garlic, basil and mushrooms, puree 1-2 minutes.

Pulse in cream and cream and season to taste.

Add diced mushroom and mix thoroughly.

Coat mixture evenly around diced cheese and roll in bread crumbs.

Fry in oil at 350 degrees 3-4 minutes or until done. Insert skewer and serve.

Red Wine and Balsamic Reduction

2 ½ quarts demi glace

1 bottle red wine

10 ounces balsamic vinegar

3 ounces light brown sugar

Salt and pepper to taste

2 sprigs each of thyme, rosemary, basil

Heat saucepan until very hot, add wine, sugar and sprigs of herbs, reduce to a glace.

Add demi-glace and balsamic vinegar, reduce to desired consistency.

Season to taste and strain; serve.