St Pauls Masterchefs serve up winning dishes

Year 7 student, Souliman Habib, Year 7 coordinator, David McMinn, prepared a variation on the traditional beef bolognaise pie to win the final

Dishes were presented to the judging panel - Simon Humphries, Aaron McDonald, Craig Brisset and Amanda Hutchins

On Monday 28 May, the best student and teacher cooks at St Pauls Catholic College, Greystanes competed in the grand final of their own version of the Masterchef competition.

Year 7 student, Souliman Habib, and Year 7 coordinator, David McMinn, were declared winners of the 2012 competition having made it into the final as a wildcard entry following a close heat that saw them take second place in the prior round.

Since its television debut three years ago, Masterchef has captured audiences around Australia and St Pauls embraced the nation’s interest in cooking and introduced their own version of the competition to the school. Initiated by Hospitality and Food Technology teacher and former chef, Craig Brisset, St Pauls Masterchef has been running for two years and pairs a student with a teacher for the competition. The pairs had 30 minutes to prepare a dish and plate it before four judges – Simon Humphries, assistant principal; Aaron McDonald, Religious Education coordinator; Craig Brisset and; Amanda Hutchins, teacher - with a number of heats being held to determine the finalists. This year there were 16 student contestants, accompanied by 16 teachers.

The final teams were given a list of 12 ingredients five days before the final, with dishes to be prepared using only five ingredients from the list. Four teams served a dessert whilst the winning team served a variation of the traditional beef bolognaise pie.

 ‘The competition is a lot of fun and it is great to see the students getting in there and cooking,’ said winning teacher, David McMinn. ‘There is a lot of skill amongst the young men here at the college.’

Year 7 student, Souliman Habib, said that he enjoyed working with his teacher and learning new skills.

‘I like the fact that you get to cook and learn new skills, you learn about flavours and how to make food taste even better,’ said Souliman.

The final teams were given a list of 12 ingredients five days before the competition with dishes to be prepared using five ingredients from the list

The St Pauls Masterchef competition has been running for 2 years, with the talents of the student and teacher pairings showing in their dishes

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