Get involved Former England and Villa boss Graham Taylor found the tables turned at Villa Park yesterday, when he was the one taking orders
&ndash from Hell’s Kitchen supremo Marco Pierre White. Taylor, who was joined at the hotplate by Harry Potter star Oliver Phelps and Villa players Gareth Barry and Brad Guzan, was taking part in Marco’s Kitchen, a special celebrity cook-off in aid of Acorns Children’s Hospices. Under the steely supervision of the Michelin star chef, the celebs cooked a three-course lunch for 170 guests, all the recipes taken from Villa On A Plate, the charity recipe cookbook produced by Aston Villa in conjunction with BPM Media, publishers of the Birmingham Post. “It’s hot stuff in there, and by that I mean it’s hard work,” said Taylor, who helped the Villa chefs prepare his starter of baked fillet of halibut with cauliflower puree with nutmeg and orange dressing. “You’ve got to be disciplined and get everything right, otherwise people start shouting &ndash I nearly started crying and then I realised I had been through worse things that this! “It’s very much like football,” he added. “You have to be organised and disciplined to get things right and then you add a little bit of flair.”
Diners also enjoyed a main course of honey roast duck with hazelnut noodles &ndash the creation of Sutton Coldfield actor Phelps, who plays George Weasley in the Harry Potter films &ndash followed by a trio of puddings &ndash Curtis Davies’s treacle sponge, John Carew’s apple crumble and Martin Laursen’s sweet pancakes and ice cream &ndash prepared by teammates Barry and Guzan.