Mr MATT KEAN ( Hornsby ) ( 17:06 ): When Elena Duggan cooks up a storm she really means it, which is why Ms Duggan ultimately became queen of theMasterchef kitchen. Before finding fame on Masterchef, Ms Duggan was hiding amongst the staff at our very own Galston High School as the relieving head of Creative and Performing Arts. She was teaching visual arts, photography and digital media. Ms Duggan has been cooking since she was two with her beloved nan, and was cooking full meals by the age of eight. With an abundance of artistic talent, creativity and a love for food, Masterchef was the perfect test for her.
Ms Duggan applied to compete in Masterchef 2015 but was unsuccessful. However, this year, she applied again with a recipe for ginger beer battered fish and chips—which you can find on the Masterchef website. Ms Duggan attributes her capacity for dealing with time pressure to her work in the classroom where she learnt to coordinate and work on a number of projects at once. Ms Duggan says that the honour of being able to cook for the show's judges, Matt Preston, George Calombaris and Gary Mehigan, along with names like Nigella Lawson and Heston Blumenthal, allowed her to grow in confidence and to learn the nuances of cooking. Following her Masterchef win, Ms Duggan has returned to Galston High to see her students and to tell them about her experiences on Masterchef. I look forward to hearing what else Ms Duggan has planned and to trying out many of her recipes in the future.
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