Published Friday 7 August 2020 at 9:29
A 13 year old budding chef is looking forward to cooking with celebrity chef Nigel Haworth after winning a local cooking competition with his tasty veggie dish.
Charlie Mullaly from Cherry Tree wowed judges in the Great Big Pan Challenge with his own recipe for chickpea, lentil and potato dahl.
Led by Healthier Place, Healthier Future, the Great Big Pan Challenge aimed 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, a borough-wide initiative to encourage residents to be creative in their cooking, aimed to raise awareness of food insecurity and the difficulties families may face in preparing healthy, varied meals.
The winners were 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).
Charlie Mullaly took first place, followed by runners up Mylo Newsome with his ‘Don’t have a cow’ curry and Susan McLeod with her ‘Tuna, Red onion and Sweetcorn Rosti Turnover’.
Councillor Damian Talbot, Executive Member for Public Health & Wellbeing, commented:
It has been great to see different agencies and community groups come together to ensure that no one in Blackburn with Darwen goes without food during this challenging time.
Congratulations to Charlie, Mylo and Susan for their winning entries and thank you to everyone else who took part.
You can find out more about The Great Big Pan Challenge here.