Michelle

Date: 4/05/2009

Favourite chef? Christine Manfield

What’s your favourite restaurant?

Universal.

What's your favourite ingredient and why?

Lemon. Lemon enhances flavours and brings life to a dish, like a highlighter pen.

What's your favourite utensil and why?

Mortar and pestle. I love to ground and pound my spices.

What’s your favourite meal of the day – breakfast, lunch or dinner?

All of the above.

What do you prefer, chicken, beef, seafood or tofu, and why?

Seafood and tofu, chicken then beef. Love my tofu and seafood for its ‘lightness’ and abilities to soak up the flavours. Also, it’s easier on the digestive system.

What dish would be the way to your heart?

Chilli mud crab.

What’s your favourite tune to cook to?

Anything from U2 to Angelique Kidjo.

Describe how you felt during the MasterChef audition?

Excited, exhausted and exhilarated.

Tell us about your journey into the Top 20:

Getting through to the Top 20 was amazing. I started to have more confidence that I would make it. Top 50, I felt like I had a chance. Top 20 meant I really had to start believing in myself.

What do you think you’ll learn from being on MasterChef?

Increased confidence and skill in the kitchen. The ability to perform under pressure. A deep respect for food, and its ability to put a smile on the face of the person eating it.

Are you nervous about cooking for the judges and why?

Yes and no. I look forward to their comments so as to improve my ability.

Tell us about how you got into cooking and how old were you?

Started helping my Nan in the kitchen when I was around 5. My job was to mix the Christmas pudding mixture with my hands. I have always felt comfortable in the kitchen and have enjoyed cooking for friends.

What’s the first meal you remember cooking and was it a success or a disaster?

Don’t remember – have been many successes and a couple of failures.

Who do you cook for the most?

My partner and friends.

What do you love and what do you hate about cooking food?

Love everything about cooking.

What three ingredients would you take with you to a desert island and what would you cook with them?

Garlic, ginger and mint. All seafood and anything else found whilst foraging. This would be paradise.

If you were having any three people, alive or dead, over for dinner, who would they be and what would you cook for them?

Jamie Oliver, the Dalai Lama and Barack Obama. Jamie would help me cook up a storm. There would be lots of love in the food, some great humour and some interesting chat about the state of the world!

What inspired you to go on MasterChef?

I had recently returned from a cooking safari in Italy and had been focussing on my passion to move into the world of food from a different angle. The ad came on TV when I was in a good place and I thought ‘Why not’, I love the sound of the words ‘Master Chef’.

And how do you like your eggs?

Poached.