Young chefs from Fifteen London and Jamie Oliver to serve the "best of British" for G-20 leaders

Jamie Oliver has created a special menu for today’s (Wednesday 1st April 2009) Downing Street dinner, attended by the leaders of the G-20 group of nations, which shows off the best of British seasonal produce as well as the skills of the young chefs – graduates or apprentices of Fifteen London – who will be helping prepare the meal.

Jamie and his team have gone to great lengths to find the best ingredients available. “I’m very, very proud of my country and its food traditions,” says Jamie, “and I know that the guests at Downing Street will be in for a real treat.”

The starter includes fresh organic farmed salmon from Shetland served with foraged samphire and sea kale and a selection of early vegetables from Secretts Farm in Sussex, wild garlic from Elwy Valley in Wales and home-made Irish soda bread freshly baked on the day using Gloucestershire-based Shipton Mill organic flour.

For the main course, Jamie has chosen shoulder of lamb from the Elwy Valley in North Wales, the earliest delicious Jersey Royal potatoes, fresh asparagus from the Wye valley and foraged wild St. George mushrooms. Mint sauce and gravy will be freshly made on the day using British herbs and vegetables.

Dessert is a traditional British favourite, Bakewell Tart which Jamie’s team will make on the day using a mixture of home-made jams and Grasmere ginger shortbread.  Fresh custard is being made with free-range eggs from the Duchy of Cornwall farms.

There will also be a selection of fresh breads baked by The Flour Station and home-made butter “made with our own fair hands”, freshly churned at Fifteen London using organic cream from Ivy Farm in Somerset and smoked sea salt from Halen Mon in Wales.

Some of the guests have special dietary requirements; Jamie and his team are aware of these and will cater for everyone, as requested. Vegetarian options are provided for the starter and main course.

Jamie will be joined in the kitchens at Downing Street by a team of eight from Fifteen London including a group of graduated apprentices and one current apprentice from the Fifteen Foundation apprenticeship programme. These include Ben Arthur, who graduated in 2003 and currently works with Theo Randall at the Intercontinental; Dennis Duncanson who graduated in 2004 and is now sous chef at Jamie’s Italian in Kingston; Sean Kent, a graduate from 2006 who is continuing his career at Fifteen London and is now chef de partie; Dean McClumpha, also from 2006 and also working at Fifteen London as junior pastry chef, and current Fifteen apprentice Morgan Evans-Dixon.

Jamie has cooked at No.10 twice before – for Tony Blair and Italian President Massimo D'Alema in 2000 and for Tony Blair and Irish Taoiseach Bertie Ahern in January 2003.