A saucy Valentine’s Day-inspired meal proved love at first sight for judges and scooped top prize in a Manchester charity competition.
Yolanda Mansilla-Orea’s seafood dish of monkfish and prawns served in marinara sauce wowed Forever Manchester judges.
It is now being recreated by The Northern Quarter Restaurant & Bar’s Head Chef Anthony Fielden – where is has already sold out over its first few days.
Mancunian foodies were encouraged to tweet pictures of their favourite meals using the hashtag #mymanchestermeal in a bid to raise funds for the charity.
Yolanda said: “I love cooking and everyone I have ever cooked for tells me they love my food, so when I read about #mymanchestermeal in a magazine I was keen to enter my monkfish dish.
“I created the recipe myself from scratch as a surprise for my husband on Valentine’s Day and I tend to use the sauce for other types of fish and seafood such as clams quite often.”
Head Chef Anthony Fielden heaped praise on the amateur cooking connoisseur for the simple yet striking flavours of the dish.
He said: “Yolanda’s monkfish dish is quite elaborate for a home cook. I too enjoy cooking monkfish with prawns, it’s a great combination, and the simplicity of the dish allows the quality of the ingredients to shine through.
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“I’m looking forward to putting my own spin on Yolanda’s dish and seeing what our customers think of the new special.”
The dish will feature on TNQ Restaurant & Bar’s special menu at £19.95 during January, with 50p from every meal sold going to Forever Manchester.
Yolanda, a Director at an IT and Languages firm, added “I’m excited to sample Anthony’s take on my dish and it’s fantastic to think that the dish will help raise money for Forever Manchester.”
Chief Executive of Forever Manchester, Nick Massey, said the charity is delighted with the response they received.
“The Forever Manchester team have thoroughly enjoyed looking through the #mymanchestermeal entries – although they’ve made us very hungry!” he said.
“Yolanda’s dish was very impressive for someone who isn’t a professional chef and we’re all very excited to sample Anthony’s take on the dish at TNQ Restaurant & Bar.”
Entries are now open for February’s #mymanchestermeal.
For more information visit www.forevermanchester.com
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