He will now go forward to represent the region in the final.
For a main course he cooked sweet potato and spinach biriyani, with coriander and lime pesto, paneer cheese, omelette and poppadom shard. His dessert was coconut and cardamom cheesecake, with chilled mango lassi and ‘glass’ biscuits.
The runner-up in the heat was Matthew Bennett, who works for Aramark at Alsager School in Stoke-on-Trent. For a main course he prepared tandoori chicken with spiced lentils and crispy carrot bhajis, while his dessert was tropical pineapple and mango cheesecake.
The guest judge for this heat was Holly Charnock, LACA School Chef of the Year winner in 2020, who represented the North West region in that year’s final.
LACA chair Brad Pearce said: “Another brilliant heat, and great competitive spirit shown from all the school chef competitors. Standards continue to remain high making the judges job extremely hard. I’d like to thank competition sponsor Bisto, Premier Foods Foodservice for helping to make this happen and championing good school food.”
The heat was held at the First Choice kitchen at Cannock where competitors had to prepare, cook and present four portions of a main course and dessert with a total food cost of £1.60 per head in 90 minutes. In addition, the meal had to meet the School Food Standards and comply with the Eat Well Guide. Competitors also had to use a minimum of one Premier Foods ingredient in both their main course and dessert.
Sponsor Sarah Robb, marketing manager at Premier Foods Foodservice, added: “This week has truly highlighted the high level of skill that school chefs have. We’ve witnessed so much talent across the four heats that we’ve judged and have loved seeing the creative ways that school chefs use our products to help save them time and create consistent results. Well done to Paul Hardy for winning today’s heat with two fantastic dishes.”
The national final will be held at the LACA Main Event on Wednesday 5th and Thursday 6th July at the Hilton Birmingham Metropole. The 2023 national winner will receive a £1,000 cash prize, the 2023 LACA School Chef of the Year trophy and an invitation to a calendar of catering industry events. The national second and third place winners will receive £500 and £300 respectively.