Thomasina Miers has mastered the top notes, reports Jeananne Craig

"It feels like we were in the dark ages when we were doing it," says the 38-year-old chef, who founded the popular Wahaca Mexican street food chain after being crowned winner.

"I remember cooking for the army and putting some basil in my rice pudding because I thought it would give it a nice perfume, and Gregg [Wallace] going, 'What the hell are you doing?'

"Now, you wouldn't think twice; you get basil ice cream all over the place."

The mother-of-two, who has just released her latest cookbook, Chilli Notes, admits she has "never cooked any" of the type of dishes now conjured up in the MasterChef finals.

"I find that type of food very male anyway - very molecular [gastronomy]," she adds. "There are a lot of male chefs in this country now doing ultra-precision kind of cooking, which is really clever and amazing and brilliant.

"But I guess, as a female and as a mother, I'm more interested in this idea of food as being for everyone - feeding people, providing nutrition, that everyday purpose of food."

Everyday needn't equal boring, however, which is why Miers has infused Wahaca's menu and the recipes in her new book with a delicious kick of chilli.

The Londoner fell in love with Mexican cuisine two decades ago, after travelling to the country on her gap year.

"I ate Tex Mex food in England before that, but I was really amazed by this incredible variety of food and the fact that a whole nation of people loved food, and the quality of it," she enthuses.

"And I didn't know it was so bio-diverse - you go to food markets and you really do see the most extraordinary range of fruits and vegetables, wild greens, edible flowers, you name it. It was a huge discovery."

After studying Modern Languages at Edinburgh University, she ended up working in marketing, advertising and modelling.

It was during a catwalk show that Miers met the late Two Fat Ladies star Clarissa Dixon Wright, who helped the young food lover land a place at the prestigious Ballymaloe Cookery School in Cork, Ireland.

After the course finished, Miers travelled to Mexico to indulge her passion once more and, on returning to the UK, entered and won MasterChef.

These days, when she isn't working at her restaurant chain, writing books or appearing on TV, Miers happily spends time with her husband and two young daughters; she has a three-year-old and a 16-month-old.

"They've eaten bits and pieces of chillies, always," she says, adding that her eldest recently started helping her in the kitchen on occasion.

Miers also enjoys eating out to keep on top of new food trends - although the slim star confesses she'll "always order chips if they're on the menu".

And when it comes to chillies, she recommends "going lower rather than higher".

"Definitely, when I go to Mexico I can eat a really hot sauce, but [here] it's not like I smother all my food with them," she adds. "I always think that subtle chilli spicing is a lot more interesting than blowing your head off."