Budding Gordon Ramsay Marlborough schoolboy Ruaridh Macphee (age 15) is dish of the day at Sainsbury’s as a ready meal he created goes on sale. The dish – Sainsbury’s Be Good To Yourself Chicken and Lemon Meatballs with Rice – is a single-serve healthy ready meal and the result of a programme run by the supermarket with Hertfordshire Schools to support the development of both teachers and students in GCSE Food Technology / Catering.
Talking about the inspiration behind the dish, Ruaridh states: “As part of the programme, we had to develop a recipe that would meet Sainsbury’s Be Good To Yourself product criteria. The dish had to be healthy and low in fat, calories and salt. I chose chicken as this is the leanest of meats and used Tunisian cuisine as an influence as it uses herbs, citrus fruit and spices – rather than salt - to enhance the meal’s flavour. I can’t wait to see the product on shelf as it will be cool to see my recipe in Sainsbury’s!”
Rory’s success also benefits the school; his dish has secured a £1,000 donation from Sainsbury’s in recognition for Marlborough School’s commitment to food education.
The Hertfordshire Food Chain Challenge was developed after discussion with food technology teachers and business partners to enhance and develop the ‘industrial practices’ area of the food technology curriculum. As lead business partner, Sainsbury’s commits time for professional development for teachers as well as providing practical feedback to students on the products they have designed. The brief provided to students is demanding and includes some industry specific criteria relating to such things as fat, calorie and salt content, requiring students to carry out research and gain knowledge and understanding about nutritional values of foods to develop their products.
Ruaridh’s is the first product from this programme to go on general distribution. Sainsbury’s Be Good To Yourself Chicken and Lemon Meatballs with Rice is available at £2.29 for a 400g dish.
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Helen Cristofoli
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