Rotary Young Chef of the Year

Yesterday I had the pleasure of judging a regional heat of The Rotary Club's Young Chef competition sponsored by our local Clifton Rotary Club and hosted by Redland Green School in Bristol.

Being asked to judge a competition like this was a great honour, and a first for me!

A number of aspiring, passionate and very focused chefs from local Bristol schools, including QEH Bristol, St Bede's Catholic College and the Red Maids School were given two hours to prepare and create a two course meal for under a tenner. The aim of the competition is to promote healthy eating and cooking skills in young people, in line with Government Policy ... and also Go Faster Food's!

The standard of each dish was impressive. Really impressive. No 'Masterchef' disasters here! Some of the young chefs had even developed their own recipes, although it was also good to see two chefs using their grannie's recipes too (one, a totally delicious salmon en croute, made by Sam, the runner up).

However, the stand-out winner was Rhian, from St Bedes, who rustled up a mouthwatering homemade gnocchi dish, followed by a fabulously light apple cake with blackberry parfait, honeycomb shards and poached blackberries.

Judging is hard ... but hey, someone's got to do it!

Gnocchi just happens to be one of my favourites. Comfort food for a cold winter's evening which also happens to be excellent post exercise recovery food! And a nice change from turkey. Click here for my #GoFaster Gnocchi recipe, with pesto.