Laverty wins Yamaha cook-off
Added on Friday, July 29th, 2011 by Carole Nash Editor
Laverty wins Yamaha cook-off
The Italians may be the one most renowned for their food but Eugene Laverty proved that Irish cuisine is more than a match for pizza and bolognaise, beating Marco Melandri in the Yamaha World Superbike cook-off.
Under the watchful eye of Jamie Oliver’s Ministry of Food, Marco Melandri and Eugene Laverty tested their culinary skills in front of a panel of journalists, who took on the difficult role of judges for the occasion.
Melandri opted for a traditional “tuna pasta” dish while Laverty’s adventurous side surfaced as he turned his hand to a lightly spicy “salmon tikka and cucumber yoghurt served on Indian naan bread”.
With great concentration and precision, the Yamaha riders proceeded to follow the help and instructions provided by Jamie Oliver’s team of professional staff to turn out two scrumptious main dishes before joining forces for the making of a “summer berry pavlova” to conclude. After some initial indecision, the expert judges chose the Irish rider as the official winner of the first prize of the weekend, at his ‘home’ round in Silverstone. Eugene was presented with a signed Jamie Oliver cook book from which he will undoubtedly find inspiration, in the kitchen.
“I really enjoyed the cook-off! The salmon tikka is a dish I’ll certainly be doing again” said Laverty. “I wanted to learn how to cook more fish dishes and hopefully with my new found inspiration I’ll experiment new recipes at home.
“I came away a winner, so hopefully this winning streak will keep up for the weekend. I intend to carry on where I left off today, so who knows, maybe I can do a triple!”
