She was eventually hired by Michael Roux Jr in 2003, to work at his two-Michelin-starred restaurant Le Gavroche, initially as a first commis. Promotions came rapidly and she moved up the ranks to senior sous-chef, the first woman to have such a senior chef role there.
She now runs London's acclaimed Mere restaurant with husband David Galetti and is well known as a judge on the BBC series MasterChef: The Professionals.
In an interview with the Herald in 2011, she said she felt she "belonged" the first time she walked into a commercial kitchen, but opened up on some of the pressures female chefs encounter.
"It's such a hard, male-dominated industry and it's really full on," she said.
"You've got to be able to carry the weight of the heavy pans and you've got a head chef yelling at you when you make a mistake. I find that women have this thing where they hold in their anger and then tear up while men will punch a wall or walk out altogether."
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