The co-owner and head chef at Tropea in Harborne is happily following her obsession with Italian cuisine. Mind you, that didn’t stop her once sampling lightly smoked puffin in Iceland! 

Tell us about your cooking?

My style of cooking, and what’s important to me, is probably more Italian grandma than fancy! Italian cooking is all about simple cooking with the best ingredients to ensure they shine. What excites me most is regional food, whether in Italy or any other country, as it always reflects the best of what is available in that place. Often in countries with a real food culture, specific dishes that typify the area are only made there and can be so special.

How did you become a chef?

I trained at UCB in Birmingham in 2010 and then went to Ireland as an apprentice for a year. To be completely honest, that was the extent of my cooking career, but I always really wanted to get back into the kitchen. Opening Tropea meant that I could do that and also allow my obsession with Italian cuisine to be fulfilled.

What do you eat at home?

I love my pressure cooker for braising meat and cooking pulses. We eat loads of fresh vegetables from my allotment. Also, I love a roast chicken!

What was your favourite food as a kid?

I loved Pierogi – they’re Polish dumplings filled with potato and cheese and not too unlike ravioli…

Food heaven and food hell?

Grilled fresh fish on the beach VS raw onion! I react badly to them!

Share a cooking tip

Buy the best quality ingredients you can, treat them simply and finally, don’t forget to season your dishes while you cook

What’s the most unusual thing you’ve eaten?

Lightly smoked puffin in Iceland. It’s a bit like pigeon and very delicious, although I felt pretty guilty afterwards as they are such nice birds.

If you weren’t a chef, what would you be?

I would be a gardener or a market gardener. I love my allotment and could definitely do that full-time.

Give us a nice easy recipe for our readers to make at home

Ok, here’s a super simple tomato sauce for four people:

• Thinly slice three cloves of garlic.

• Keeping the juice, drain two tins of the best tinned whole plum tomatoes you can find (Sardinian if you can find them (Anderson and Hill in town sells Antonella, which are great). Mutti if you can’t get the Antonella tins. Drain the tomatoes but keep the juice!

• In a wide-bottomed saucepan (the wider the better), gently fry the garlic on a medium heat in three tablespoons of good olive oil. Add a tablespoon of tomato paste and fry that with the garlic until the oil starts to turn red.

• Now add the drained tomatoes, mash them up with your spoon and fry them on the same medium heat. Make sure you are stirring and mashing constantly for about five minutes until they start to break down and much of the liquid has evaporated.

• Add half-a-teaspoon of salt and the juice from the drained tomatoes and reduce the whole mixture until you have a chunky tomato sauce consistency. Taste and season with salt and finish with torn basil leaves stirred through it.