SCHOOLS NEWS
ACCRINGTON Academy’s Masterchefs in the making put their skills to the test in a new competition.
Malaika Zaheer, Amelia Whitehead, Tariq Ali and Rhys Atkinson were selected to take part in the Reg Johnson Young Chef Schools Competition.
The contest, launched by Blackburn College in partnership with top chefs Nigel Haworth and Paul Heathcote MBE, celebrates the late Reg Johnson’s legacy of encouraging talent and innovation within the hospitality and catering industry.
The competition saw junior chefs from across the region submit their ideas for dishes, with the best ones being chosen to take part in a series of heats at Blackburn College.
The three Year 9 students represented their school, designing a dish using a range of ingredients including duck breasts, potatoes, milk, cream, eggs, butter, garlic, ginger, vegetables and herbs.
Rhys and Tariq served up pan-seared peppered duck with vanilla mash, pea and pear purée and plum sauce, while Amelia and Malaika created a duck ragu tagliatelle.
The four students made it through to the quarter finals of the competition and were all ‘highly commended’.
Blackburn College’s Paul Sharples said: “The judges were really impressed with Rhys, Tariq, Amelia and Malaika’s applications, especially with the level of research they had done and the use of local ingredients.
“The judges were also impressed with the innovation in their dish selection.”
The Academy’s head of school Nicola Palmer said: “For Malaika, Amelia, Tariq and Rhys to have been chosen to take part in the regional heats was a real achievement and they were a credit to both themselves and the academy.”