Hospital chefs from St Mary's in Portsmouth make it through to finals of NHS Chef competition

Jim Richardson and Joe Hennigan, who work at St Mary’s Hospital in Milton, have made it to the finals of the national best NHS Chef competition 2022.

The two chefs ‘won the judges’ hearts’ when they presented their winning vegetarian soup of roasted butternut squash with chilli and lime as part of a three-course meal on a £5-a-head budget.

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Jim has worked as an NHS chef all his working life while, in contrast, his colleague Joe has just started out in the business as a catering assistant, although he will soon be starting an apprenticeship to gain formal qualifications.

After winning their regional heat in London early this year, their stupendous soup has launched them into the national finals which are currently taking place in Warminster.

This six-day final is ‘designed to test the very best of the chefs’ skills, catering knowledge and menu engineering.’

The duo were encouraged to enter the NHS Chef competition, now in its second year, by their boss at Solent NHS Estates and Facilities.

Iain Robertson, catering operations manager and former NHS chef himself, said: ‘Chefs aren’t that keen on stepping out of their comfort zone so getting Jim and Joe to the regional competition was enough for me.

‘There was absolutely no expectation of them whatsoever, I just wanted them to enjoy it – so when they won the plant-based award, we were all buzzing.

‘It’s amazing that they are now taking part in the national finals. They have already done me massively proud.’

Jim and Joe’s award-winning Butternut Squash Chilli and Lime soup:

Ingredients

1 large butternut squash approx. 1kg

1 tbsp rapeseed oil

1 large onion finely chopped

5g fresh chopped ginger

2 garlic cloves fresh crushed

1ltr vegetable stock

20ml soya milk

5g pumpkin seed

1 red chilli deseeded finely chopped

5g fresh coriander

1 lime whole

Black pepper rock salt for seasoning

Method

1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees. Peel, deseed and dice butternut squash to approximately 3cm chunks. Tip the butternut squash on to a tray and drizzle over half the oil and season well, toss the squash so covered well in seasoning and oil. Roast for 30 min in the oven.

Dice onion and ginger (peel and dice finely).

Slice the chilli in half, deseed and slice finely. Chop the coriander for garnish and roast the pumpkin seed under a grill till golden. This will be used as garnish.

Heat the remaining oil in a pan and fry the onion for 5min until tender but not golden, add the ginger and garlic and cook for another minute, add the stock by and bring to boil slowly. Add to the pan the butternut squash from the oven and bring to a simmer.

Once this has been achieved remove from heat and blend until smooth, add more liquid if you need and return to stove to simmer.

Grate the lime then cut in half and squeeze the juice from the lime and add to the soup.

Season the soup and ladle into bowls, garnish with a swirl of soya milk, lime zest, pumpkin seed and chilli.