A PRIDE in local ingredients and a touch of culinary imagination has earned a Burnley woman the title of North West Pasta Cook of the Year, plus the chance to become the national champion and win a fabulous Italian holiday.

Clare Edwards, of Kingsdale Avenue, originally entered a competition for a pasta recipe in the Lancashire Evening Telegraph and won herself a set of baking trays. A cashier at Smith & Nephew Ltd, Brierfield, she tried out her prize-winning recipe on her husband, Peter, and says: "He really enjoyed it."

Clare, 35, used Lancashire cheese and apples to create Sweet Macaroni Cheese Dessert, an innovative pasta dish which proved a real recipe for success and won her a place in the 2000 Pasta Challenge regional cook-off.

Clare helped 'Ready, Steady Cook' regular Phil Vickery (pictured) to prepare her recipe "with a regional twist" before a crowd of 200 at the Ideal Home Exhibition, London, earlier this month.

She beat seven other regional finalists chosen from hundreds of entries from all over Britain.

Clare was the only finalist to include pasta in a dessert recipe and will know at the end of this month whether or not she has won the big prize.