Tanya Watkin, the 2014 Eastern Finalist, has taken the title of LACA School Chef of the Year 2014. She was voted Britain’s No 1 school chef by a panel of judges at the National Final held at Worthy Down, Hampshire on 21 May. The Competition is organised annually by LACA (Lead Association for CAtering in Education) and is sponsored by MAGGI® from Nestlé Professional®.
Winning dishes and the winner
Tanya’s winning dishes were: Main Course: Spanish Chicken Cocido – Chicken, vegetable and chickpea stew flavoured with saffron served with chorizo tortilla and rustic bread Dessert: Crema de Sant Josep – Madeleine sponge baked in citrus caramel egg custard served with orange, strawberry and mint salsa.
Tanya Watkin (40) works for Eden Foodservice under contract to Central Bedfordshire Council. She operates as a Mobile Manager for the company but her base kitchen is at Woodland Middle School Academy in Flitwick, Bedfordshire. Tanya prepares meals for 4 – 13 year olds.
Over the years, she has achieved a number of qualifications and awards, notably City & Guilds 706/1 & 2, NVQ 1 & 2 Cookery Basic and Advanced and Salon Culinaire Gold 2008/Silver 1996.
After completing her course, she started work for a London Catering company as a commis chef. Over the next seven years, she worked as a pastry chef, a sous chef, and a head chef. Tanya had a break from work then to stay at home with her two girls who are now aged 14 and 12 years. While at home she made cakes and prepared buffets. When the girls started school, she got involved in the PTA and started raising money for the school by organising fetes, writing books and running cookery demonstration evenings for the parents. She returned to work in 2006 at Eaton Bray Lower School. The kitchen there had been closed for some time because of low take up but with the appointment of a new Head Teacher, Tanya as the new Kitchen Manager, and a brand new home cooked menu, she raised the numbers from 20 a day to 70 plus. Tanya left Eaton Bray in 2011 and since then, has operated as a Mobile Kitchen Manager which she enjoys.
Highly Commendeds
The winner of the Highly Commended Main Course prize was Shereene Weston from St Mary Magdalene’s Catholic Primary School, Lewisham, South East London for her dish of: “Sticky Kicky Chicken” – Spicy Chicken Thigh with roti bread, healthy slaw, sweet potato wedges and a pepper & lime salsa.
The winner of the Highly Commended Dessert prize was Bridget McCulla from Jarrow School, Tyne & Wear for her dish of Tropical Fruit Trio – a coconut infused steamed sponge pudding served with pineapple panna cotta and a warm mango sauce.
Certificate of Merit
The Marketing Certificate of Merit went to Kate Davies from St Gwladys Primary School, Bargoed, Caerphilly. This award is made to acknowledge the creativity and efforts put into the display tables produced by the Finalists as a backdrop to their dishes.
Service Counter Marketing is one of the eight judging criteria in the competition. Kate Davies won this category for her highly creative, educational and inspiring marketing table display, the theme of which related to her dishes – ‘A Taste of the East’.
Tough competition
The Competition criteria really puts the preparation, cooking, creativity and presentation skills of school chefs to the test. Each entrant is 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 eleven year olds in school. A maximum of £1.60 is allowed for the cost of a single meal (i.e. main course and dessert) for one child.
With the Competition rules requiring recipes to reflect the global influences on school meals and the ethnic and cultural mix of a school’s pupil population, competition sponsor, MAGGI® at Nestlé Professional® has included an extensive selection of its products in the competition basket to help contestants’ enhance the creativity of their menus. The contestants are required to incorporate a minimum of two MAGGI® products in their main course and any Nestlé® product can be used in their dessert.