Leading names from the culinary world have joined students from Loughborough College to make a high profile guest chef night an outstanding success.
Rob Kennedy, who has cooked for HM the Queen five times - including at the Royal Jubilee celebrations, headed a line up also featuring Alan Paton and Adam Lestrelle to help more than 20 students produce a five course dinner at the Radmoor Restaurant.
Kennedy appears on the BBC, Channel 4 and Sky and the Royal Military Academy Executive Chef was also a gold medal winner at the 2016 International Culinary Olympics - where Loughborough College Hospitality and Catering Lead Darren Creed joined him on the National Culinary Team of England, also winning a medal.
“It was a brilliant night which offered the students incredible opportunities to work side by side with chefs at the leading edge of the profession,” said Darren Creed.
“Having Rob, Alan and Adam join us in the kitchen was an incredible privilege. Each chef demonstrated their dishes and then they supported the students in recreating those dishes for seventy diners. It introduced them to a whole new range of flavours and combinations.
“Two of our students, Dionne Chikwama and Elanna Barrett, even got to put their own spin on one of the courses, an Opera Cake, and then joined Alan out in the restaurant to present what they had done for our diners.”
“We had less than an hour to break down the recipe and develop our own creation to be completely ready for service,” explained Elannna, who is in her third year of her Chef Diploma course at Loughborough College.
“We deconstructed all the elements and then used the chocolate ganache, coffee ice cream, coffee syrup and almond biscuits in our own way, topping it off with a chocolate dome which diners could cut into and be surprised by the cake within.
“It was a nerve-wracking challenge, particularly to go out into the restaurant and explain what we had done to everyone but then to see them all enjoying it so much was great. We felt really proud of ourselves.
“The whole experience took us out of our comfort zone but it was so enjoyable to be working with chefs of that calibre and to be exploring so many new things.”
Rob Kennedy added: “It was fantastic working with such a passionate team of young chefs. From our food preparation to dinner service everyone was brilliant and presented a great future for our culinary industry.”
Kennedy devised Roast Cornish Rump, neck fillet doughnuts , smooth celeriac, broccoli , haggis crumble, mint and lamb gravy.
Adam Lestrelle, sous chef at the Royal Military Academy and recent winner of a Gold medal, Best in Class and Best in Show at the 2017 Hospitality Show Salon Culinaire, was cooking Gressingham duck, Smoked parsnip and wildflower honey.
Alan Paton, who is Group Executive Head Chef of Stoke By Nayland Hotel, Golf and Spa in Colchester and is a member of The Master Chefs of Great Britain, developed Confit Dingley Dell pork belly, roast mackerel, carrot buttercream, candied bacon almonds, gin spiked blueberries and marzipan and jus.
Alan also took the lead for the dessert courses – Mango cream egg with rum and coconut straw and Opera Cake.
Darren Creed organized the guest chef night with the support of Murray Chapman’s Passion to Inspire, which works with colleges, farms and top chefs to encourage and support young people in their aspirations to join the industry.
Hospitality and catering students from Loughborough College have been invited to participate in a range of prestigious events with the charity. “Murray and Passion to Inspire have given us some fantastic opportunities and we are enormously grateful for his help in arranging this extremely special evening.”
Pictured: Loughborough College students and Darren Creed with Rob Kennedy, Alan Paton and Adam Lestrelle taking a break from preparations for the Guest Chef evening. To view a gallery of images from the evening go to: https://adobe.ly/2nMP8WC