Young cooks from around South Holland put their best aprons on for a competition.
Spalding Rotary Club organised the Young Chef competition which was held at the town’s grammar school.
It was hosted by Tim Mardle, head of Design Technology, and featured chefs from the Grammar School, High School and Bourne Academy.
Returning as head judge was chef Tom Hannam, of Peterborough College.
He was joined by Lynn Markham and Hayley Green, from Bakkavor Pizza which had sponsored the contest with Bakkavor Meals, Spalding.
It wasn’t too long before the aromas of Italian herbs were competing with the spices of South Asia.
The competitors had just 90 minutes to produce a main course and a dessert.
“We are always delighted to host this competition. One of Rotary’s key aims is to offer young people the opportunity to develop their skills and broaden their horizons. We would love to see more schools from across South Holland take part in next year’s competition,” said Rotary Club president Graham Dawson.
First place was awarded to Alero Milorin, of Spalding High School, for a dish called Simple Elegance. It was fresh tagliatelli with a creamy tomato sauce and pan-seared chicken breast. Dessert was a meringue pavlova and seasonal berries.
Alero received a £50 prize and goes forward to the district competition with is held at Loughborough College in February. She will have the chance to go to the Rotary Young Chef final which is held in London.
“The standard was phenomenal,” said Tom, who added that the scoring was very close.
Second prize went to Isla Stockdale of Spalding High School for an ‘Autumn Dinner’ of handmade tagliatelli in a butternut squash sauce with herby roasted potatoes followed by spiced pear and apple oat crumble.
Third prize was taken by Sophia Campbell, of Bourne Academy, for An Evening in Italy which was pea and mint risotto with Parmesan cylinders and a mango rose tart dessert.
The other young chefs who took part were: Jotham Suwarneraj (chicken biryani); Aymen Al-Ghazo (chicken strips and crushed potatoes); Zak Hurley-Roe (Tuscan salmon) and Shreya Dhawol (tortellini parcels stuffed with pumpkin).
