TV chef Jamie Oliver has put school dinners on the political map. With York schools spending 44p per child per day on school lunches, JO HAYWOOD asks two top local chefs come up with hearty, healthy recipes at the same price.

THE game was up as soon as Jamie Oliver clapped eyes on those 'scrotum burgers'.

Dismissing them along with the greasy chips, saggy pizza and flaccid sausages on offer at Kidbrooke School in south-east London as unfit for animal consumption during his series Jamie's School Dinners, the effing chef brought the food on our children's plates all too clearly into focus.

And the picture wasn't pretty.

His subsequent call for a "school dinner revolution" led to a pledge from the Government that an extra £280 million will be invested in school kitchens, ensuring dinner ladies are equipped to cook dishes using fresh ingredients from scratch.

As part of its mini manifesto, launched at the end of last week, New Labour also vowed to tackle childhood obesity and ban junk food adverts during children's TV if it wins the election.

But Jamie thinks more can still be done - and he's not alone.

James Lowe, of Villa Italia in Micklegate, has a lot of sympathy with the Naked Chef's fight for better school dinners. He is helping three local nurseries to redesign their menus.

"One of the crucial points is to get away from buying in loads of processed stuff," he said. "All these bloody awful fish star things. If it's not actually a star fish, fish has no business being star-shaped.

"Kids are tricky customers. They basically want food that is either very sweet or very salty. If you dipped veg in sugar, they would eat it."

James believes the way forward is to go backward: back to the basic, hearty food our grandmothers used to cook.

"Our grans talked a lot of sense," he said. "We need to go back to basics, to mince and dumplings-style cooking, and we need to narrow the choice.

"Kids should be offered a choice of two healthy dishes and that's it. They will moan because that's what kids do, but they'll eat because they are always hungry.

"It's not right that we are spending the equivalent of two apples on our kids' lunches, but if that's the way it is then we have to stick to our guns and make sure they are at least eating 44p of healthy grub."

Michael Hjort, of Melton's in Scarcroft Road and Melton's Too in Walmgate, York, also advocates narrowing the choice offered to children at lunchtime.

"Someone somewhere must have sat down and decided we have to give children a wide choice. Why?" he asked. "If unhealthy, deep fried food is on the menu, they will eat unhealthy, deep fried food. The answer is simple: take the choice away."

He believes schools in York are doing their best under tough budget restrictions, but is critical of the Government.

"They have their high-profile campaign encouraging us to eat five portions of fruit and veg a day, then don't provide enough money for fruit and veg on the menu in schools," he said.

"For 44p you can basically have pasta and sauce, or sauce and pasta. There is no scope for variety and no scope for noticeable quantities of fruit and veg."

Following successful pilot schemes in Ryedale, school meals made of fresh, local produce are soon to be on the menu at North Yorkshire County Council's 329 primary and 47 secondary schools. This, according to Michael, is the way ahead.

"We have to move away from buying processed rubbish and invest in good local produce instead," he said.

"We also have to look at what kids are eating at home. It would be great if parents could lead the way and cook healthy evening meals for their children, but we all live pressured lives today and there often just isn't time.

"In my mind this makes it all the more important that children get a healthy meal at school. This could be their main meal of the day, so we've got to make it count."

James Lowe's pork and beef meat balls with spaghetti in tomato sauce

(35p per portion)

Ingredients (for one portion)

50g minced beef

50g minced pork

tin tomatoes

50g spaghetti

diced onion

clove garlic

pinch salt and pepper

1 tablespoon cooking oil

Method

Mix beef and pork together with half the onion and mould into five balls.

In pan, add oil and fry remaining onion until soft. Add garlic and meat balls and seal gently for two minutes.

Add chopped tomatoes to meat balls and cook in oven at gas mark 5 for 15 minutes.

Cook spaghetti in pan of boiling water until tender. Drain for serving.

To serve, put pasta into dish and gently put meat balls and sauce on top.

Note: Kids love pasta and they also like meat balls. This is a good way of getting energy food into them without them knowing.

Michael Hjort's chicken stir fry

(44p per portion)

Ingredients (for four portions)

2 chicken legs

1 small savoy cabbage

2 carrots

2 large onion

300g pasta or noodles

cornflower

50ml soy sauce

Method

Roast chicken legs in a slow oven until the flesh falls off the bone when pressed. Save the roasting juices (if copious, boil down to about a cupful).

Allow chicken to cool. Meanwhile shred the cabbage, carrot and onion, and cook and cool the pasta or noodles.

Strip the chicken off the bone and break up into smallish pieces, taking care to exclude small pieces of cartilage and bone.

Mix the roasting juices with a little cornflower and soy sauce.

Stir-fry the carrot, onion and cabbage. Add the noodles and chicken and cook until all is hot. Add the soy mixture. Bring to the boil and serve.

Note: The chicken bones and vegetable trimmings can be used to make a stock for another dish.

In a school context this stir fry should be re-producible either in a series of large pans or by blanching or steaming the vegetables very briefly and then warming them through in the oven. The key is to cook briefly and to drain off any moisture which may collect.

Updated: 09:10 Tuesday, April 05, 2005