Top of the Class
Holly Charnock has been crowned the LACA School Chef of the Year 2020. The north west regional finalist is the chef in charge of catering at Woodlands Primary School in Formby,whose pupils won the 2019 McDougalls Young Baking Team of the Year. Holly was awarded the prestigious national title by a panel of judges at Stratford-upon-Avon College in March.
Holly Charnock has proven what a good job school chefs do, day in, day out in providing tasty, nutritious meals for millions of children.
Her winning dishes of braised beef tortellini on a bed of soya bean and spinach with a tomato and basil sauce, balsamic reduction and a parmesan crisp followed by chocolate and beetroot brownie served with banana ice cream,crumble and a raspberry and vanilla coulis impressed the judges.
“I hope that this amazing achievement will also serve to reassure parents everywhere about the high quality of school food and how well balanced and tasty the meals we provide are, not only at Woodlands Primary School but across the length and breadth of the country,” she says.
Holly, who has been a school chef for five years and is employed by Sefton Catering Services, prepares 240 meals a day for children aged between 4 and 11. She explains what makes her dish an award-winner.
“Pasta, whatever type, is always a winner with our pupils – they love it,” she says. “I also wanted to show that you can use a cheap cut of meat and still produce a high quality, restaurant-style dish.”
The parmesan crisp adds texture and provides the right salt dosage, so no extra salt is added to the dish. This is something Holly is conscious about when cooking and uses the same principle for sugar too which, where possible, she substitutes with honey.
“I come from the generation that was fed turkey twizzlers,” she says. “So if we can educate children that homemade food isn’t actually that hard to make and give them a good understanding of nutrition and ingredients, it will be better for everyone in the long run.”
Holly supports this with her weekly school cooking club which runs six-week courses to fit in as many children as possible over the school year.
“In the first class we make pizza,” says Holly. “The look on their faces when they look down into the bowl of ingredients is priceless! You can see them thinking ‘how on earth will I make pizza?’. But once they start mixing the ingredients and see the pizza evolving their confidence grows and their excitement builds. I tell them that they can bring in two of their favourite toppings and one they’ve never tried before. By the end of it they are eating mushroom and pepper-topped pizza for the first time ever!”
The children taking part in the club also make carrot cake muffins and mini quiches made of tortilla wraps instead of pastry. A copy of all the recipes is handed out to pupils and they take home their own cooking so the whole family benefits – and hopefully is inspired to cook.
Holly believes in feeding children a balanced diet and has learnt to be clever at hiding healthy ingredients in dishes. “If you call something a ‘cake’ or ‘biscuit’ then the pupils are all over it!” she says. “The pupils love my honey cake and beetroot brownies without realising they are actually good for them!”
Holly sneaks vegetables into spaghetti bolognese and blends cooked cauliflower into chicken korma. The korma is served with a mix of brown and white rice and is the most popular dish at school.
Pupils are served a choice of two hot meals (one meat, one veggie), jacket potatoes with fillings and salad, or sandwiches and salad. A salad bar is offered too. “Children assume lettuce is salad, so always pull their face at that,” says Holly. “But if you give them sliced cucumber, carrot or pepper (especially yellow as they are sweeter) sticks they’ll happily eat it as they don’t think it’s ‘salad’!”
Holly believes there is no such thing as a ‘fussy eater’ just a child that needs food education and an opportunity to experiment. “I sit the ‘fussy eaters’ with the more adventurous ones. Once they see their friend eating something, their good habits rub off on the others and they will eventually try it and realise they like it!”
The competition, organised by LACA – The School Food People – is sponsored by McDougalls, owned by Premier Foods. Second place went to Raheem Morgan from Coopers Lane Primary School, Grove Park, London and third place was awarded to Cheryl Humphries from High Weald Academy, Cranbrook. Winner Holly received a £1,000 cash prize, a work experience trip and an invitation to a calendar of high profile catering industry events. Second and third place winners received cash prizes of £500and £300 respectively.
Neil Porter, LACA business director spoke to TakeStock on what they and their members are doing during these challenging times.
“LACA – The School Food People -recognises what is happening within the industry and as school catering staff balance a reduced service,business is not where it needs to be. For those schools still open, a challenge remains to ensure that the students entitled to a free school meal, those who are vulnerable and the children of key workers all have their needs met with a continued provision of a nutritionally balanced meal.
Sadly, very few staff currently have the means to cook and serve a traditional hot meal service to pupils. Instead, a more flexible service approach has been adopted including both hot, cold and hamper options as the required methods to meet demands – especially as it looks as though schools are unlikely to re-open to all pupils until later in the year.
LACA members working alongside local authorities and the schools, agree menu choices that meet their requirements and may include a hot meal, a packed lunch or hamper style boxes that are being made up by staff which allows for a range of food for a week or two where parents or carers can produce meals for their children at home.”
