Creative Cooking impresses Celebrity Chef!
Six students from South West College competed recently in a cooking challenge at the Enniskillen Campus, aimed at creating a new dish, worthy of featuring on the menu at The Catalina Restaurant, one of the dining experiences available at the 5 star Lough Erne Resort. The competition was organised as part of an Advancing Enterprise project, being delivered in a number of colleges across Northern Ireland, which is funded by the Department of Employment and Learning. The aim of the competition was to enable the students to demonstrate their creativity and enterprising skills in order to help improve their employability potential for the future. Two students were chosen as overall winners by the Resort’s Executive Head Chef, Noel McMeel and Executive Sous Chef, Michael Mooney, who were impressed with the quality of all six finalists. Noel commented that he was ‘inspired by the creativity and skill of the students who all produced a very high-quality dish. The winners stood out for their knowledge of seasonal produce, flavours and for reflecting the ethos of the food we provide at the resort. They also demonstrated a high level of skill and showed a passion for cooking. I am delighted to feature both dishes on The Catalina Restaurant menu.’
Speaking on behalf of South-West College, Camilla James, organiser of the competition, commented that ‘it was an excellent success for all concerned and provided a wonderful opportunity for the students to impress and learn from such highly-acclaimed chefs, namely Noel and Michael. Both winners will have the prestige of seeing their dish feature on The Catalina’s menu and will also have the opportunity to work, for a week, at The Resort, under the expert tutorship of both chefs. Working with industry professionals adds such value to what we do at the college and enhances the overall learning experience of our students.’ The competition winners were Stacey Scott from the Enniskillen Campus and Andrew Leonard from the Dungannon Campus.
