School Chef of The Year regional results announced

This annual contest puts the preparation, cooking, creativity and presentation skills of school chefs to the test with each entrant required to produce, in just one and a half hours, a healthy balanced two-course meal comprising of a main course and dessert that would appeal to 11 year olds in school. A maximum of £1.25 per head is allowed for the food cost of a main course and dessert for one child. Taking part in the North East & Scotland regional final on Wednesday 20 January was Suzanne Duncan from the Irvine Royal Academy who won the heat with her turkey kebabs with summer salsa with a mint yoghurt dip and flat bread for mains, followed by a strawberry, rhubarb and ginger layered cheesecake. Joanne Keithley from Diamond Hall Infants and Juniors was highly commended for her strawberry cupcake & strawberry milkshake dessert along with Tracey Gulvin of Glebelands Primary School who was praised for her New York cheeseburger in a granary bap with sweetcorn potato fingers and a spicy tomato salsa main dish. And in the Yorks & Humber finals, which took place the following day (21 January) at Hull College, Katherine Breackon from West Cliff Primary School was crowned the winner. She devised a cassoulet of beef, tower of vegetables, carmine gate potatoes for her main course and a Howards delight lemon cheesecake for dessert. Meanwhile Joanne Baimbridge of Reinwood Junior, Infant & Nursery School was highly commended for her chicken Jalfrezzi with pilau rice and Veronica Logan from the English Martyrs RC School for her lime mousse. Judging is based on eight strict criteria, which range from flavour and presentation to the ability to replicate the dishes en masse in school and seasonality of ingredients.