by Beth Easton

A self-taught cook from Deal has won a national competition after devising a mouth-watering recipe and serving it up for celebrity chef Gary Rhodes.

Rachel Pilling, 35, of Bulwark Road, entered her recipe for fennel-dusted lamb into the AA 2009 Home Cooking Competition and beat seven other finalists to the award.

Rachel, a process and support contractor at Pfizer, said: “Cooking is what I think about from the minute I get up to the minute I go to bed.

It’s the making people smile and learning new skills that I love.”

She has already created her own website and blog devoted to cooking. For the competition, Rachel had to use a list of ingredients suggested by Chris Galvin of London restaurant Galvin at Windows and head chef Andre Garrett.

She submitted her idea before rolling up her sleeves for a cook-off in a professional kitchen at Westminster College.

Rachel said: “We had two hours to prepare the food and the judges and an AA inspector came around asking questions about the techniques we were using.

“They said they really liked the flavour of the lamb and they felt it was cooked perfectly.”

To see Rachel’s recipe for fennel-dusted lamb with puttanesca salsa with white onion puree and beluga lentils, visit her website at www.cookyourlife.com