Get in the mix with the Great Big Pan Challenge!

If you’ve got a talent for creating tasty dishes from simple ingredients, get your apron on for the Great Big Pan Challenge!

Prizes are on offer in this cookery competition that aims to find the best home cooks in Blackburn with Darwen – including a one-to-one cooking session with celebrity chef Nigel Haworth.

Led by Healthier Place, Healthier Future, the Great Big Pan Challenge aims to galvanise the energy around Blackburn and Darwen to become a food resilient community, helping the community to find long-term solutions to food access and availability.

The challenge is a borough-wide initiative to encourage residents to be creative in their cooking, to support community members to share their ideas and inspiration, and to raise awareness of food insecurity and the difficulties families may face in preparing healthy, varied meals for their families.

The competition is free for all residents to enter, of all ages and from every corner of Blackburn and Darwen. The competition is about creative cooking with ingredients based on the Trussell Trust food parcel list, with the addition of some store cupboard ingredients.

To enter the competition, here’s what you need to do:

• prepare a main meal using ingredients from the Trussell Turst food parcel list (more details below) plus whatever’s in your storecupboard
• name your dish – the more creative the better!
• include a photo or a drawing of the dish, or a video of you creating it
• write the recipe or short instructions on how to prepare the dish
• and include a short description of the dish and why you think others should try it.

The winners will be chosen by an all-star judging panel: Nigel Haworth (Michelin Star Chef & The Great British Menu), Graham Liver (BBC Radio Lancashire presenter), Zainab Bilal (winner of ‘Best British Pie’ and owner of Pie Mezzanae) and Muhammed Bapu (Deputy Youth MP for Blackburn with Darwen).

The competition runs until 30 June, and the winner will be announced during the first week in July. Prizes include a Great Big Pan Hamper filled with essential cooking utensils and much more; a cooking ‘Shed Session’ with Nigel Haworth; and a month’s supply of Pie Mezzanae’s quirky fusion pies. There will be other goodies on offer for runners-up too.

To enter the Great Big Pan Challenge, send your kitchen creations to:

• Email: HPHF@foodactive.org.uk
• Twitter: use #GreatBigPanChallenge and tag @HealthierPlace
• Post: Blackburn Youth Zone, Jubilee Street, BB1 1EP

The Great Big Pan Challenge is supported by Blackburn with Darwen’s Crisis Response Food Group – a group of agencies brought together by the Council – who are all responding to support vulnerable groups to access food during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Councillor Damian Talbot, Executive Member for Public Health & Wellbeing, commented:

“It’s been so heartening to see how different agencies and community groups have come together over the past couple of months to ensure that no one in Blackburn with Darwen goes without food at this tricky time.

“This competition is a great way for local people of all ages to show their creative flair with some simple ingredients and what they’ve got in their kitchen cupboards. Home chefs can share a flavour of what they like to cook in their own kitchens and get some inspiration from others too. It’s a chance for everyone to find new healthy dishes to try, and maybe win some great prizes too.”

Here’s what’s in the Trussell Trust food list:

• Cooking oil
• Tomato soup or mushroom soup
• Pasta shapes
• Bag of quick cook rice
• Jar of pasta sauce
• Pack of red lentils
• Tin of baked beans
• Tin of chickpeas or kidney beans
• Tin of ham or corned beef
• Tin of tuna or mackerel
• Tin of tomatoes
• Tin of potatoes
• Tin of sweetcorn, carrots, peas or mushrooms
• Tin of peaches or pear halves
• Fresh veg: onions, carrots, peppers, potatoes
• Fresh fruit: apples, bananas, oranges
• Herbs & spices: mixed herbs, curry powder, chilli flakes, all-purpose seasoning