Anna serves up success

Bellerive FCJ student Anna Carmichael cooked up a storm in London when she travelled to Westminster to take part in the final of the prestigious FutureChef cookery competition and returned as the national champion.

The Year 10 student served up a winning menu of lamb shoulder with butternut squash, turned potatoes and wilted spinach followed by chocolate fondant with raspberry syllabub and chocolate chip cookies in a MasterChef style cook-off.

Anna beat off strong opposition from 12 other young chefs, despite being ill on the day with a bout of laryngitis.

Anna entered ‘FutureChef’ along with the rest of her GCSE catering class last October (and an initial field of 8,250 students across the UK) and was selected to take part in the Merseyside heats in January.

She was mentored by Gareth Billington, the head chef at Everton FC ahead of the next stage of the competition in Manchester where she once again kept her cool in the kitchen and secured her place in the national final.

Celebrity chef and chairman of FutureChef Brian Turner CBE and TV’s James Martin were both on hand at Westminster Kingsway College to congratulate Anna on her success.

Anna’s catering teacher and competition mentor Mrs Gavin described Anna’s success as ‘brilliant’ and described Anna as ‘the most promising young chef in the country’.

Anna has a long standing interest in cooking and baking and is keen on pursuing a career in this field in the future, she said: “I’ve always helped my mum out in the kitchen, I really enjoy it. I hope to be a chef in the future and open my own restaurant.”