Cooking it up with MasterChef's Alejandra Schrader

Posted by Nick Brandi, Associate Editor

Photo by Stephen Cherry, Photography Editor

What delight it was, sitting down with Alejandra Schrader in her in-laws’ house in Delaware, talking about her life and what it was like to be a top-9 finisher on the wildly popular MasterChef. The fact is, she’s just as nice off-camera as she was on, and while she was very diligent about honoring her contractual agreements with the FOX network, she did offer some fascinating off-the-record insights that I would have loved to share but can’t (because I, too, honor my agreements). The most I can say is that the one competitor who Alejandra said “broke her heart” with their duplicity was one of the people you’d least expect if you were a follower of the show – but would actually make a lot of sense were you to know the person’s background and life story.

Alejandra’s husband, David, meanwhile, is an interesting guy, too. He’s an independent filmmaker, so I got a rare opportunity to discuss some of the things media-geeks like me love more than anything else but have trouble finding eager companions for in communities that comprise “normal” folks.

He’s developing this really interesting project called “Badass Baby,” which is about a 33-year-old superhuman clone trapped in the body of a toddler. If you’re thinking it’s likely a biting South Park-style satire, you’d be spot on. With a little luck, this could really take off – and I really hope it does!

After the one-on-one interview, we headed over to the Good Earth Market, where Alejandra held a cooking demo and whipped up this kick-ass shrimp dish called Camarones Salteados, which wowed the crowd as much as her irresistibly sparkling personality. It was pretty funny, but when she took questions from the audience, I jokingly asked her opinion of using raw garlic in tartar sauce – which she’d done on the show and had gotten in huge trouble for with Gordon Ramsay – to which David responded by booing me (LOL!), but Alejandra totally cracked up as did the audience (most of whom were dedicated fans of the show, so they got the reference), and that was what really mattered.

But make no mistake: The woman definitely has a serious side with equally strong opinions. Alejandra was raised in Venezuela (but was born in Chicago, so she’s always been an American citizen) and has some definite views on the Chavez administration. She said that while he originally seemed like – and definitely marketed himself as – a savior who would deliver his people from decades of oppression, he turned out to be little more than a self-serving propaganda machine who maintains a stranglehold on power and his people by parsimoniously dangling carrots of progress that create the illusion of hope but never actually change anything for the better. Ostensibly, saying such things publicly comes with some degree of risk, but her compelling need to speak the truth makes it a risk she feels is worth taking.

Meanwhile, her popularity nationwide remains unabated, which will certainly come in handy when she launches her boutique business called Cucina Cocina (meaning “kitchen” or “cooking” in Italian and Spanish) with fellow MasterChef alumna Tracy Kontos, along with their LA-based, community-themed culinary school. We wish her all the success in the world and will be checking back with her from time to time to keep you apprised of this remarkable woman’s progress.