Aspiring young Wexford chef wins Manor Farm 21 cookery challenge
AN aspiring young Wexford chef has taken top honours in Manor Farm 21 minute cookery challenge.
Joseph Roche, aged 22, a DIT Culinary Arts student from Enniscorthy, competed against four other finalists from the prestigious school of culinary arts on Cathal Brugha Street in Dublin this week.
Vincent Carton, managing director of Irish chicken producer Manor Farm said the standard was exceptionally high this year. ‘I was particularly impressed by the creativity of the dishes.
‘ The temptation for most is to cook foods that are already partly prepared so that dinner becomes an assembly line rather than an activity where you’re cooking fresh foods from scratch. This important competition proves how limited time shouldn’t limit taste and nutrition.’
The five finalists from Laois, Dublin, Wexford, Meath and Sweden attracted high praise from the judges, who included Vincent Carton, Dr Frank Cullen, Head of the DIT School of Culinary Arts and Caitríona Redmond, food writer and blogger of Wholesome Ireland.
Each student was tasked to cook a tasty, low cost and nutritious meal in 21 minutes or less. The timing is based on research that shows 21 minutes is the average time a working mother has to cook a mid-week evening meal. The winning dish was Joseph’s Mexican inspired Pan fried Ras el Hanout chicken leg oyster with Mexican style mixed vegetables. ‘I had to keep sight of creating a dish that was nutritional, easy to prepare and also one that would be liked by the whole family, especially young children,’ said Joseph, who won €1,000 as a result of his culinary adventure. All of the recipes are available to view on manorfarm.ie.