AN award-winning Wiltshire chef is to cook against some of the best in the country in a national final next month.

Jethro Lawrence, who works for apetito in Trowbridge, has made it to the final of the National Chef of the Year competition run by the Craft Guild of Chefs.

This prestigious competition has previously been won by some famous names in the culinary world including multi-Michelin-starred chef, restaurateur and television presenter Gordon Ramsay.

Getting to the final of the national competition puts Jethro in the top 12 of all the chefs in the country. The national final is taking place at the University of West London on Tuesday, October 10.

The former head chef at the two AA Rosette Woolley Grange Hotel was a BBC MasterChef quarter-finalist in 2014.

He joined Trowbridge-based ready meals provider apetito, which also owns sister company Wiltshire Farm Foods, as a development chef two years ago.

He now works with its team of in-house chefs and dietitians to develop high-quality, nutritious meals its customers love. 

For the semi-finals the chefs were tasked with cooking one dish, which had to be vegan, based on one humble ingredient and focused on zero waste.

Jethro chose carrots as his main ingredient, which he elevated to a gastronomic level and turned it into a Tandoori Carrot Tarte Tatin dish worthy of a place in the final.

He said: “For my semi-final dish, I’ve done my version of a Tarte Tatin but with tandoori carrot.

"It was inspired by my time working with Simon Rogan who did a similar dish but with the classic apple.

“With the cost of food rising recently, it’s been great to get a bit more creative by using every part of a humble ingredient.

“When I saw the brief, I was very happy, as I was vegan for about 10 years and the flavour combination of this dish reminds me of meals we would have had at home.”

apetito’s head development chef Phil Rimmer added: “We’re all so proud of Jethro to have made it this far in the competition.

“Since joining apetito, he’s brought extensive knowledge, innovation, and value to our meals’ development programme, creating some really incredible dishes that customers love.

“Every single dish he’s cooked in this competition looked and tasted incredible and the whole of team apetito is cheering him on.”