Something I Prepared Earlier

I’ve often dreamed of having my own cooking show. Something in the vein of River Cottage with Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, where I’d cook things from my own backyard and from farmer’s markets, making up for my lack of technical skill with an infectious exuberance.

If, like me, you’ve harboured dreams of being like Hugh, or Nigella, or Jamie, or Gordon, or Alison, or Al, or even Rachel Ray – then now’s the time to get out your camera and give it a go. You might not get TVNZ’s attention, but you could win yourself a pretty neat prize – a day at Al Brown’s Cooking School for you and five friends.

The competition is called “Something I Prepared Earlier“, and it’s all part of the lead up to Wellington on a Plate. All you need to do to be in to win  is make a video of yourself cooking something with a Wellington theme (e.g. using Wellington ingredients or otherwise capital inspired) and upload it to YouTube.

Want to get an idea of how it’s done? Apart from my video, there’s recipes from Word on the Street writers Nick and Sarah, as well as contributions from Al Brown, Kerry Prendergast, Martin Snedden and Stephen Fleming. It doesn’t need to be flash – I made my one with just the camera on my laptop and iMovie. And it doesn’t need to be gourmet, either – it just needs to be less than 90 seconds long, and it needs to be entered by 7 August.

So what are you waiting for? Have a read of the competition details, then get cooking!