A LYMM chef has wowed star judges and served up a winning dish at Trafford College Catering School last week.

Lara Fradgley, a former Lymm High School pupil, created a trio of fish, all cooked in different ways, that caught the judges eye – which included a MasterChef finalist and two renowned chefs.

“It was amazing. It’s good to know. Aiden Byrne was one of the judges so it’s amazing to have him on my team as well as Mark Bryant and Exose Lopo judging.

“I’ve always loved cooking. My mum cooks as well she’s done a few cook books and she’s just inspired me a lot. I love baking – mostly pastries and deserts that I enjoy doing.

“I wanted to go to Trafford College to work on that and my skills.”

Lara, 19, has just finished her level three professional chef course, after being there for three years.

She has also worked at the Church Green in her village Lymm in the meantime.

Lara does not want to dwell on the winning feeling too much, as she has her eyes set on taking her cooking abilities to business on a regular basis.

“At the moment I’ve got a business while I’m still developing where I make cakes, macarons, pastries and deserts for retail customers,” she added.

“I’m wanting to set up a business doing it for coffee shops, restaurants and small events.

“I’m hopefully getting to the point where that can be my full-time job, just supplying good-quality pastries and deserts to people that need stuff that they can’t make themselves or don’t have the time to.”

Her current work, the Church Green, sung her praises on Facebook.

“We were absolutely blown away by the dishes she cooked, and are so proud to have her on the Church Green team,” they said.

“Well done Lara on becoming a fully qualified professional chef level three, you've done us proud!”