A TALENTED teen proved she has the right ingredients for success after wowing the judges with her cooking at the Rotary Young Chef Competition 2024.

Caja Ronneburg cooked her way through four challenging rounds to reach the national final, held at St Benedict’s High School in Alcester, close to Rotary Great Britain & Ireland’s headquarters.

Taking inspiration from the ocean for her main course, Caja whipped up pan-roasted fillet of sea bass on squid ink spaghetti, served with samphire vegetable, watercress and wild garlic puree. The dish so impressed judges that they declared it their ‘dish of the day’, a major accolade which highlights the outstanding quality of the food.

Caja followed this with a wild honey, lemon and ginger cheesecake, alongside a rhubarb compote, rhubarb coulis and homemade honeycomb.

Sponsored by Rotary Alcester and Bidford, Caja’s path to the final saw her triumph in a series of qualifying rounds, including district and regional finals. In the grand final itself, Caja had just two hours to prepare and serve her final dish, which was judged by Lisa Mullins, marketing manager for Filippo Berio and a long-time supporter of Rotary Young Chef, and Elaine Wroblewska, catering lecturer at the Heart of Worcestershire College.

A spokesperson from Rotary Alcester and Bidford said: “We’d like to send our congratulations to Caja for not only reaching the finals of Rotary Young Chef 2024, but earning ‘dish of the day’ for her delicious pasta dish.

“Her passion and talent for cookery is obvious, and we can’t wait to see what’s next on her culinary journey.”

For more than 15 years, the Rotary Young Chef competition has been shining a spotlight on some of Great Britain and Ireland’s brightest culinary talent.

Open to young people aged 11-17, each year the competition garners hundreds of entrants, nominated by Rotary Clubs across the two countries.