De La Salle Catholic College students cook up a storm

Hospitality students from De La Salle Catholic College at Cronulla proved they can handle the heat in the kitchen when they took part in a My Kitchen Rules style event recently.

About 40 students split into four teams to cook up a storm over two nights in a bid to impress the judges – local hospitality business owners Bill Gravanis, of Oscars Hotels, and Dean Feros, of JDA Hotels.

The students worked alongside chefs from Sealevel Restaurant at Cronulla, including Chris Russo and former De La Salle Cronulla student Huon Muntz, who also completed a school-based apprenticeship during his final years at school.

Each team of hospitality students cooked up a three-course menu based around the themes of either Italian food or Asian-Australian fusion.

Student Logan Galea was on one of the teams tasked with coming up with an Italian menu.

“We started with an entree of seared king prawns with burnt sage butter,” Logan said.

“We followed with the main course of slow cooked lamb ragu with hand cut pappardelle and finished with a dessert of zesty lemon meringue tart.”

Logan said the students were very excited to learn industry tips from two of Cronulla’s top chefs.

Mr Muntz said it was great to support the school that helped his career and he was impressed by the hospitality students’ skills.

“De La Salle was the nursery for my career. I’m going to have some competition in a few years time,” he said.

De La Salle’s vocational teacher Yvette Kennedy said it was wonderful to see past students “giving back to the college”.

“We have had a long association with Sealevel, having educated many of their staff and having enjoyed their support over many years,” she said.