Irini Tzortzoglou
Irini Tzortzoglou is a Greek cook and winner of the MasterChef 2019 UK TV show competition.[1]
Irini Tzortzoglou | |
|---|---|
| Born | Irini Tzortzoglou 17 January 1960 Crete |
| Occupation | Chef |
| Years active | 2018–present |
| Website | Official website |
Her final challenge was to prepare a three-course meal for judges John Torode and Gregg Wallace. Tzortzoglou's winning menu consisted of:
- First course: Red mullet with a squid risotto, confit tomatoes, a rosemary and garlic sauce with bottarga (grey mullet roe) and an aged balsamic foam
- Main course: Griddled rosemary lamb chops with trahanas puree (cracked wheat cooked in soured milk), peas, confit herb tomatoes, pearl onions, crumbled feta and a lamb and tomato jus
- Dessert: Fig and hazelnut baklava with roasted honeyed fig topped with Chantilly cream and candied fig, a fig leaf ice-cream and syrup on a hazelnut crumble
Her first book Under the Olive Tree: Recipes from my Greek Kitchen was published on 23 July 2020.
Early life
Tzortzoglou was born in 1960 and raised in a small village on the island of Crete, Greece. When she was 20 years old her father died prematurely and she began working in her uncle's hotel, where she met her first husband who was English. She subsequently moved to London in 1980 where she got married.
She began her career in banking with the National Bank of Greece in London. Her career in banking lasted nearly thirty years and she became involved in numerous activities while also studying at Kingston University for a History of Art, Architecture and Design Degree. She married her second husband John and moved to the small village of Cartmel in Cumbria in 2010.
Her Greek upbringing and family influence with food and cooking inspired her to enter MasterChef.[2]
Publications
- Under the Olive Tree: Recipes from my Greek Kitchen (2020) [3]