Double delight for Parsons

Lee Parsons is an in-form chef at the moment. Not only has he won through to the cook-off stages of National Chef of the Year, but he has also just triumphed in the 2002 Norwegian Seafood Recipe Challenge.

The competition, now in its third year and run in association with the Craft Guild of Chefs, was staged at the end of June at the Roof Gardens in Kensington, London, and Parsons beat off the challenge of nine other finalists by impressing the judges with his culinary take on Norwegian cod.

Competition rules required that competitors cooked a main dish centred around Norwegian cod, haddock or prawns in a one-hour time span. Parsons chose to roast a fillet of cod, teaming it with black pudding, creamed cabbage and leeks and a velout‚ of sweet pea and chervil.

Parson's spoils as the winner of the competition include a trip to Norway for two, comprising a culinary tour of Oslo and the fishing heartland of Tromso, plus a fjord cruise, while runner-up Eyck Zimmer received a cash prize of £500 and third-placed Dale Smyth £250 cash.

• See next week's issue for the results of the Norwegian Seafood Focus - Student Challenge.

2002 Norwegian Seafood Recipe Challenge finalists

Allison Gallienne, Hampshire Lodge hotel, Guernsey
Llewellyn Hurter, Hilton Craigendarroch, Ballater
Lucy Hyder, Bacchanalian restaurant, Cheltenham
Ray Johnson, South Tyneside College, South Shields
Raoul Moore, the Old Passage Inn, Arlingham
Lee Parsons, Woodhall hotel, Linton (winner)
Dale Smyth, Clarence House Country Hotel, Dalton-in-Furness
Miranda Swinger, Westminster Kingsway College, London
Stephen Tubman, Astra Zeneca, Manchester
Eyck Zimmer, Claridge's, London