Teens cook up a storm at Paul’s House

Paul’s House, CLIC Sargent’s Home from Home in London, recently hosted a cooking day for six teenagers who are currently undergoing treatment for cancer at University College Hospital (UCH).

The teens spent half a day cooking fun, tasty and nutritious dishes while learning how eating the right foods can help them during and after treatment.

Funded by the Amy Wallace Magpie Trust and provided by Seasoned Cookery School, the budding chefs kicked off by preparing a quick and easy Thai chicken noodle soup. Using ingredients including lemongrass and chilli, the students learned how the soup could be fortified with coconut milk when undergoing treatment.

The teens also learned how to make one of three risottos – bright red beetroot, tasty salmon and asparagus or delicious carbonara with bacon and parmesan.

While the young cooks enjoyed creating culinary delights in the basement kitchen at Paul’s House, their parents also learned about their children’s nutritional needs with a dietician from UCH.

Homemade mini beef burgers were cooked and devoured by the young cooks and their parents, following their own lesson.

“We loved every minute of our time at Paul’s House – to see the children's faces as they worked with the chef and join them in sampling the food they had made was just magical,” said Pam Wallace of the Amy Wallace Magpie Trust.

“My husband Nick and I were overwhelmed, as it’s wonderful to see how a donation from our trust can make a difference. To chat with the youngsters and hear from their parents how excited they were about their special day makes it all worthwhile,” added Pam.

Chocolate truffles coated in mixed nuts and desiccated coconut, which made up the final lesson, were boxed and taken to share with other patients on the wards, and friends and family at home.

“We were delighted to welcome the teenagers for the cookery workshop,” said Juliet Hines, House Manager, at Paul’s House. “It's very important to eat well during and after treatment to help the body to recover so it was great to see them learning, as well as developing their cookery skills.”