Limegrove care home Chef reaches finals of Chef of the Year competition

A chef from a care home in East Horsley has beaten off rivals to secure a place in the finals of a national catering competition.

Jamal Battioui, 57, who has worked at Limegrove care home in St Martin's Close for 18 years, said he was thrilled to be among the top chefs in Anchor’s Chef of the Year award.

Chef Manager Jamal will now face seven finalists from Anchor care homes across the country to see who gains the top place in the competition.

Each finalist will have two hours at the Grand Final on 5 September to prepare a fortified snack, which is packed with nutritious ingredients which help maintain residents’ healthy weights, and a two-course meal.

The menu Jamal will be making for the final will be as follows: for his fortified snack, he will prepare a variety of pinwheel sandwiches followed by macarons filled with chocolate ganache while his main course will be chicken breasts stuffed with apricots and couscous on bed of leeks served with carrots and swede, and his dessert will be lemon raspberry swirl, with butter cookies and molten chocolate cake.

Jamal, who has worked in the catering sector for 24 and was formerly a sous chef at a golf club in East Horsley, said: “It’s a great achievement to have reached the final and I’m really excited about it.

“I’ve chosen meals from different countries as I know my residents like them. I did a taster session and they really liked the chicken with apricots and the lemon swirls. I think it’s a different combination of ingredients which complement each other.

“Every day I like to cook different menus for the residents so it gives them variety and makes them happy and healthy.”

Competition judge and organiser Richard Herne, Anchor’s Catering Manager, said: “The Chef of the Year competition is highly competitive as the top chefs from Anchor’s 114 care homes fight it out to gain this prestigious title.

“Meals are an important milestone in the lives of our residents so making sure that we continually improve our standards is essential. The Chef of the Year helps with that as it’s an opportunity for our chefs to share ideas and recipes.

“Encouraging residents to eat a wholesome and seasonal diet which they enjoy helps them lead happy and healthy lives.”

For more information about food in Anchor’s care homes, visit www.anchor.org.uk