A HOME-GROWN East Hampshire cook has won the grand final of a national TV competition using all-Hampshire ingredients.

Susie Carter, who works for the county food group, Hampshire Fare, won with her smoked trout and watercress tart, following a viewer phone-in on ITV's Britain's Best Dish.

Susie, from Winchester, included trout from Hammer Trout Smokery in Liphook, watercress from Stoke Valley Watercress in Alresford, flour from Winchester City Mill, double cream from Blackburn and Haynes in Bordon and eggs from the Thomas Lord pub in West Meon.

"I am absolutely thrilled to have won and couldn't be more proud of my county," said Susie after the results on Friday evening.

"The public's support of British ingredients is a sign that we really are starting to value the incredible produce grown here. There is a great feeling of optimism about the future of farming.

"Britain's Best Dish has to be a celebration of the land we live in. Each ingredient I've used represents a different aspect of the Hampshire countryside and that comes through in the taste. East Hampshire's chalk streams and fields of free-range dairy cows are symbolic of our rural heritage and we all have a duty to support our local producers so that these are preserved."

The competition looked at a different region throughout the UK each week to seek out the best starters, main courses and desserts.

Susie, who lives in Winchester, has a tough time with the judges in the semi-final when she refused to use foreign olive oil and sugar in her starter dish.

"From the beginning of the competition I have only used Hampshire ingredients to prove, not only that it's possible, but that our producers are the best in the world. Even a small compromise with a pinch of sugar or a splash of oil, increases the food miles dramatically and that wasn't what I wanted. It was a bit of a gamble, but I knew that if I gave in and then got voted out, I wouuld always regret it," she said.

Five other regional finalists joined Susie in the cook-off at Westminster Catering College, and Susie's dish was one of two from the starters section selected to go through to the next round.

It was a tough decision for the celebrity judges (two Michelin-starred chef, John Burton Race, top London restaurateur Ed Baines and wine expert Jilly Goolden) and three top food critics, food writer, Sophie Grigson, broadcaster, Bill Buckley, and former member of Blur and cheesemaker, Alex James.