mind charity dinner picture

Hospitality and catering students at Northampton College joined forces with a team of top chefs to stage a charity dinner aimed at raising awareness of the importance of mental health.

The event, held at Booth Lane, saw dozens of diners enjoy a lavish five course feast while raising money for the mental health charity Mind, with each chef responsible for a different course.

Students helped with front of house and waiting duties while they also created a palette cleanser of burnt lemon slushie with gin, coriander, charred lemon and smoky rosemary.

Curriculum manager for catering, Phil Martin, said: Our students thrive under pressure and this was a big night for them ' a chance to show a number of highly-respected professional chefs just how well they can cope on the big stage.

It was a brilliant experience for all of them and they will have learnt a lot. The food was absolutely first-class and having the opportunity to work alongside such an esteemed group of chefs will do wonders for their confidence.

Mental health is a huge issue so we are delighted to have been able to host such a fabulous occasion and raise awareness of the important work Mind do to help people in their hour of need.

The event, held on Wednesday, November 6, was hosted by Burnt Lemon Catering's James Peck, star of the recent BBC series The Chef's Brigade. He prepared the main course of beef shin with marrowbone and apricot arancini.

Other chefs involved in the banquet included Robert Wells of Stoke by Nayland Hotel, Ben Davis of Cuisine Culture, Alan Paton from the Craft Guild of Chefs, Daniel Britten of Britten for Food and Matt Green from Explore Chocolate.

Among the guests was Masterchef judge and Daily Telegraph food critic William Sitwell, who posted on Instagram to say: Congrats to the students of Northampton College for a great dinner tonight masterminded by the brilliant James Peck.