YOU won’t find stodgy semolina and soggy sprouts in school cook Michaela Gore’s kitchen!

Instead, dishes like sweet and sticky meatballs served with rainbow couscous are the order of the day.

Now Mrs Gore’s culinary skills in the kitchens at St Thomas CE (Chequerbent) Westhoughton have earned her the highly commended main course title in the North West regional finals of School Chef of the Year 2010.

And this week she cooked up the award-winning dish for the school, much to the delight of staff and pupils.

The kitchen manager has been at the school for nine years and was encouraged to enter the competition by the catering team. Mrs Gore found herself up against seven dinner ladies and one dinner man.

She said: “I never expected to win the award. It was the first time I have entered anything like this and used a recipe I had adapted. I was really pleased to win.”

Mrs Gore, who lives in Westhoughton, said: “We cook healthy, home-made dishes in the kitchen such as traditional shepherds pie and lasagne, but every now and again we have themed weeks where we cook different dishes to give a bit of variety.

Coming up soon we will be doing a fruity chicken curry.”

She said: “School chefs have a responsibility to ensure children develop healthy eating habits by cooking food which looks good and tastes good.

Children go on to prefer homemade food to fast food, which is the case at this school. “ Children gave the thumbs-up to the awardwinning meal, which included crisp fresh brocolli, followed by luscious lime dream, a creamy dessert served with a buttery shortbread.

Lewis Thomasson, aged nine, said: “It is good to have a change and have posh food like this. It was spicy and was a bit like Italian food. Food at this school is nice and Mrs Gore is good and cooks things like garlic potatoes.”

Holly Bentley, aged nine, added: “Mrs Gore is really nice and cooks delicious dishes. Healthy food is good for you because it helps you concentrate in class. She might give me the recipe for sweet and sticky meatballs if I ask her because I would like to cook it at home.”