Imperial Food Awards: The Results

We would like to thank everyone who contributed to the first Imperial Food Awards and proved how important food is in our lives.

Surely, nothing could have happened without the support of our generous sponsors. Let us thank once again the Cypriot Society, Dishoom Bombay Café, Riverford Organic Farm, Lakeland, Ebury Publishing and Relish.

A big thank you to all contestants, who did their best to prepare delicious and creative dishes. Your positive energy and enthusiasm makes us believe that even more students will take part in the next Imperial Food Awards.

Winner – Braised Lamb Shanks, served with baby potatoes and cherry tomatoes by Olivia Tillbert

Ingredients

2 tsp Plain Flour 4 lamb shanks Olive oil 2 onions 2 cloves of garlic 750 ml chicken/lamb stock* 3 large carrots 1 tbsp Dijon mustard 500g spinach (trimmed if you aren’t lazy like me) Handful of fresh basil A few pinches sea salt A few turns of fresh pepper

• You can buy ready stock however I usually add 1 chicken and 1 beef cube into 750 ml of boiling water and mix to dissolve the cubes.

Recipe

Slice the onions into medium sized chunks. (Try your best not to cry – mission impossible!) Take of the carrots skin and chop them into medium chunks. Measure out the flour in a bowl. Season the flour with some sea salt and pepper. Take the lamb shanks and turn them in the seasoned flour. The shanks should become dusted but not have excess flour on them. Take the flour coated shanks and fry in a frying pan on medium to high heat in a dollop of olive oil. Turn them so they have a golden colour on all sides. Put the golden shanks into a casserole dish/big pot. Start to fry the onion pieces on medium heat. Add extra oil if necessary. Add as soon as possible the crushed garlic to the frying pan. Once the onion and garlic mixture is soft and translucent, add them to the casserole dish/pot where the shanks are sitting. Put the stock into the used (‘dirty’) frying pan and scrape off the residues from the sides to dissolve the left over tastes into the stock. Do this at medium heat. Add the “seasoned” stock into the casserole dish/pot with the shanks. Add the chopped carrots into the casserole dish/pot with the shanks. Add the mustard into the casserole dish/pot. Bring the casserole dish/pot to a boil on the hob and then reduce it to a simmer. Leave the casserole dish/pot on gentle enough heat to keep it at a simmer for 2 hours with a lid. Stir occasionally. Add some water (e.g. 100 ml at a time) if it looks a little dry. Serve one shank per person on plates. When the shanks are removed from the casserole dish/pot, add the spinach and basil leaves and stir until they have wilted. (Don’t worry: the spinach will fit!) Do this at the same gentle heat. Serve beautifully with the potatoes and tomatoes! Salt and pepper to taste.

First runner-up – The Which Came First by Sam Gonshaw and Navid Nabijou

Ingredients

2 poussins 8 eggs 100g minced chicken breast ¼ lettuce 1 sprig spring onion 3 cloves garlic 1 lemon 3 tbsp mayonnaise 3 tbsp olive oil 3 tbsp white wine 3 tbsp red chilli powder 2 tbsp dried basil

Recipe

First, hard boil the eggs. We shall return to these later. To prepare the marinade, first crush the garlic. Mix the basil in a bowl with the garlic. Squeeze half a lemon into the bowl. Add the white wine and the olive oil. Now unwrap and untie the poussins and clean them with boiling water. Apply the marinade over the poussins and inside the cavity. Optionally, the poussins may be left to marinate for a few hours. Now, peel the eggs. Insert one into each poussin. Put the poussins in the oven in a roasting dish, uncovered, at 190°C and cook for 40-45 minutes. Be sure to baste regularly with their own juices, so that they don’t dry out. Halve the remaining eggs and carefully remove the yolks, placing them in a bowl. Add to the bowl the minced chicken breast, spring onions, mayonnaise, chilli powder. Mash together to form a paste. Spoon the paste back into the egg whites, into the space left by removing the yolks. Prepare the plates by covering them with a bed of lettuce. Once the poussins are done, place one on each plate and surround with the finished eggs. Enjoy served immediately with a chilled bottle of sauvignon blanc and an open mind.

Second runner-up – Crispy Pork Belly by Chew Jermaine

Ingredients

A slab of pork belly Salt Ground white pepper Sesame oil Herbes de Provence Rosemary herbs

Recipe

Preheat the oven at 200°C for 15min. Rinse the pork belly, dab dry the pork belly, especially the skin. Mix the salt, pepper, and sesame oil in a bowl. Coat the skin evenly with the mixture. Take the time to sprinkle some Herbes de Provence and Rosemary herbs onto the skin. Place the pork belly on an Al foil with skin faced up. After 20min, nudge the pork belly to ensure it doesn’t stick to the Al foil. Put the pork belly in again and heat for another 15-20min. The pork belly is ready when the skin has turned golden brown and looks crispy. Carve up the meat and the crispy skin separately to be served.

Runners-up

Jens Wilting, Yiango Mavrocostanti, George Trigeorgis, Stephen Gallagher and Yap Chinhua