Two North London councillors joined forces for a Ready Steady Cook style cooking challenge hosted by celebrity chef Richard Fox, to demonstrate how leftovers can be transformed into delicious dishes.

The BBC show which was presented by Ainsley Harriott until it was scrapped in 2010 used to see two members of the public providing celebrity chefs with a bag of ingredients worth about £5, and challenge them to cook up culinary delights.

The event last Thursday at Shoreditch Town Hall was organised by the North London Waste Authority (NLWA), to highlight food waste and show how leftovers can be transformed into delicious dishes, saving money and reducing the impact of food waste on the environment.

Islington Cllr Richard Greening and Hackney Cllr Feryal Demirci emerged victorious in the cook off, with their vegetable biryani, flatbread and rice out pitting the pizza made by Ella Clark from the Waste and Resources Action Programme and Amy North from recycling and waste management news website “letsrecycle.com”.

Both teams had 30 minutes to cook their dishes last Thursday, which were made out of store cupboard ingredients and things that you may have as leftovers, and then judged on taste, presentation and entertainment value.