Masterchef 2019

There are a number of Facebook Live videos of the young chefs in the kitchen of the UHI preparing their dishes for the competition. They can be found here 

Previous winners of Masterchef.

2014           Ronan Melens, so far the only boy winner. Held at and won by Charleston Academy.

2015           Megan Keith. First round held at UHI. 1^st of a four year success by Millburn Academy.

2016           Lucia Savage.

2017           Lucia Savage. 

2018           Emily Megson.

2019           Lauren Bell. Dingwall Academy.

This year 9 schools were invited to compete, Inverness High, Inverness Royal, Millburn, Culloden, Fortrose, Dingwall, Alness, Charleston, and Nairn Academies.

6 actually took part, Inverness Royal, Dingwall, Fortrose, Millburn, Culloden and Inverness High.

A total of 79 kids entered and after the internal school round each school held the first of the judged rounds with up to 4 taking part. 

We had a lot of new chef/judges this year mainly because of the efforts of Simon Stuart at Williamson Food Service, and the new chefs stepped up superbly and all those that came along were very good and very keen to help in any way.

The judges who offered their services were as follows:

Geoff Malmedy,       Head Chef Kingsmills Hotel.                   

George MacKay,     Dairy at Daviot.

Ross Stovold,         Torridon House Hotel                   

Jamie Munro,          Boath House Hotel. An ex Inverness Royal boy.      

Richard Hamblin,    Meadows Nursing Home, Dornoch.

Graham Fox,          Suitor Creek Restaurant, Cromarty

Wayne Louw,          Marriot Hotel.

Steve Devlin,          Rocpool.

Gordon Kidd,          Café 112, Nairn

John Lockhart,        Fired Up Productions. Owns a couple of restaurants and has the kitchen concession in several others.

Professional Kitchen day

The finalists all spent a day in a professional kitchens as follows.

Emma Warner and Lauren Bell at Kingsmills, Charlotte Burton at MacGregors Bar and Restaurant in Inverness and Alix Callaghan at Suitor Creek.

The final menus were:-

Emma Warner

Inverness High

Caboc Cheese & Chive Souffle

Parmesan Chicken with Crispy Ham with a Chickpea & Red Pesto Stew

Lemon Drizzle Ginger Cake with Vanilla Ice Cream

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Alix Callaghan

Fortrose Academy

Tomato Tart with Roasted Red Pepper Puree

Risotto al Nero di Sepia

Tasty Pavlova with Clotted Cream and Raspberry Sauce

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Lauren Bell 

Dingwall Academy

 Seared Mackerel

On a bed of Beetroot and Horseradish Relish

Dressed with a Watercress Salad

Roast Chicken Breast

Served on top of Spinach and a Creamy Potato Purée

Decorated with a Seasoned Potato Lattice and a sprinkling of Pine Nuts

Banana Sticky Toffee Pudding

Served with a Hot Toffee Sauce with a side of Fresh Whipped Cream

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 Charlotte Burton 

Inverness Royal Academy

Prawn salad stack

 - df, gf, sf, nf

 Seared haunch of Highland venison

served with a colcannon mash, root veg

and a blueberry jus. - df, gf, sf, nf

 Sweet orange chocolate fondant 

- df, gf, sf, nf

Charlottes menu was praised by all of the judges for the use of all of the ‘free from’ ingredients.

The winner of the very close competition for 2019 was Lauren Bell of Dingwall Academy.