St Teresa's chefs aim to cook up win

CHEF QUARTET: The St Teresa's School cookery team that will join battle in the televised lower North Island regional finals of the fifth annual Maggi Kitchen Showdown includes Ashley Pugh (left), Jacob Watson, Keegan Culkin, and Silvia Koncke. PHOTO/SUPPLIED

A quartet of young chefs from St Teresa's School, Featherston, have been named as finalists in the lower North Island regional Maggi Kitchen Showdown.

Principal Karolina Surynt-Tapiki was rapt St Teresa's School was fielding the only Wairarapa team to win through to the televised final and said teacher Carrie Watson, who had prepared the squad and put them forward, had been vital to their success.

Mrs Surynt-Tapiki said the cookery programme was part of a Year 7 and Year 8 leadership programme that aimed "to provide opportunities for our students and develop skills in a variety of curricular areas to support them for the future".

Each team competing at the regional final of the nationwide intermediate school cooking competition will have 50 minutes to prepare and cook a main meal for four people, at a cost of no more than $20, using at least one Maggi product, says judge and celebrity chef Mike Lee.

The lower North Island regional finals screen on TV2's The 4.30pm Show on September 18 and will give the young chefs a chance "to showcase their culinary skills to other Kiwi kids on national television", Mr Lee said.

A panel will select a top team from each region to compete in the grand final, where $5000 is up for grabs for the winning school.

"Every year the judging gets harder and harder as school teams step up the quality and creativity of their submitted recipes, and it will be exciting to see the delicious meal creations the teams conjure up," Mr Lee said.

"We also have some surprise celebrity judges taking part in the regional finals, by joining the judging panel, which will be a lot of fun for the participants as well as the fellow judges."

The other Lower North Island regional finalist teams are from Hastings Intermediate, Havelock North Intermediate School, five teams from Palmerston North Intermediate, Wanganui Intermediate, Chilton St James School, and a pair of teams from Ferguson Intermediate.

Mrs Surynt-Tapiki said "everybody will be glued to the television" when the kitchen showdown goes to air and "we'll all have our fingers crossed" the St Teresa's School team will win a berth as national finalists in the competition.