Patrick Fensterseifer, head chef at Care South’s St Ives House care home near Ringwood, placed in the top two of the recent National Association of Care Catering (NACC) Chef of the Year regional finals, and will now go on to cook in the finals.

The competition allows the industry to recognise the excellent chefs working in the sector, and challenges people operating within the care sector to devise innovative and exciting recipes.

Patrick said: “After ninety minutes of intense cooking on the day, I was successfully able to present my two dishes: herb crusted fillet of pork served with roasted garlic pomme puree, crispy kale, grilled black pudding, pan fried butternut, beetroot, heritage carrots and roasted cauliflower served with an apple puree and crispy pancetta. The dessert I served was called ‘peaches of dreams’ which was pan fried peaches with honey served on a bed of Italian meringue, homemade oat biscuit, honey mascarpone cream, raspberry coulis, toasted almonds and fresh raspberries, all finished with a coral tuile. I am super excited to be heading to the finals. My team and I have worked so hard to make this happen and everyone at St Ives House has contributed to the success of the dishes.”