I have to confess that I was not a disinterested observer of the Tesco Young Cook of the Year competition this year. No, given that my friend Paula Buckley's 10year-old niece, Joelle Grogan, was in there as the youngest competitor battling it out in the Junior section, I'm afraid I had placed all my money on Joelle's three-course dinner - crudites with homemade mustard mayonnaise; garlic chicken with charred vegetable puree and rice; and pineapple upside-down cake - and was standing back waiting to pick up my winnings.
With these extraordinary kids, the competition and the creativity was intense: Brian Walpole (12) from Castleconnell in Limerick was making a starter of grilled vegetables and basil-scented risotto. Peter Roddy (17) from Dundalk offered prawn lasagne with a tomato concasse to begin, while Kate Howell from Ballynally in County Clare (15) had casserole of duck baked with peaches in white wine and served with mange-tout and new potatoes as her main course. Who could pick a winner from that sort of quality?
But winners had to emerge, and in the junior section Enda McManus from Newtownforbes in Co Longford won for his amazing meal: garlic mushrooms in puff pastry; a salad of spicy chicken with an avocado and tomato salsa and balsamic cream; and glazed apple tart with cinnamon and cream. In the senior section, Peter Roddy grabbed the prize, following his prawn lasagne with an escalope of fresh cod with a cream basil sauce, and a cracking sticky toffee pudding to finish. Our Joelle bagged third place, an incredible feat for the youngest person in the competition, and I suspect she will be back next year. The winners scoop a prize of a weekend working with Gerry Galvin in Galway's marvellous Drimcong House.