Roland Trettl meets Cornelia Poletto

Roland Trettl in Hamburg

Our "Genuss" expert Roland Trettl is attracted by more than just the TV chef's pasta

This woman could be dangerous for me. For one thing, however you look at her, you always come to the same conclusion – Cornelia Poletto is just great.

And she's a great chef! Who else would dare to prepare ravioli and tortelli à la minute. Lazy people would freeze them. People who have an eye to both quality and workloads would make them fresh daily, with the help of good preparation at the mise en place post. So what does perfectionist Cornelia do? She calmly waits for the order to come in, and only then does she place a layer of filling on the pasta, top it with another sheet of pasta, then cut out or twist together. "It's the best way", says Mrs Poletto and obviously, she's right – but you still need nerves of steel.

Anyone who thinks that I would use effusive praise to ingratiate myself with a TV star with has the wrong idea. Cornelia Poletto isn't cooking at Hangar-7 because she's a TV cook, but in spite of it. So many cook in front of the camera, but only very few can. Mrs Poletto can.
And how – take her tortelli alla carbonara with caviar, for example, which she very carefully deconstructs by placing an egg yolk and parmesan in the ravioli, thus removing the creamy, comfort-food aspect of a "normal" carbonara. She then places the caviar on top of this refined common or garden pasta. Her pecorino ravioli with nut butter, broad beans and mint is just as good.

It's these dishes that make you realise that inside the Hamburg professor's daughter was an Italian waiting to get out. But you'd be making a big mistake if you confined Cornelia to pasta. Every aspect of her Mediterranean cuisine is in fact extremely light. She may have a classic approach, but roast turbot with mussel vinaigrette, or poached Arctic salmon with lemon vinaigrette show that she's quite able to dispense with butter and cream.

Experiencing Cornelia in the kitchen is a joy. Just the cheerful tone that she takes with her colleagues makes it clear that here is someone who has mastered the very fine line between boss and mate. Cornelia is able to laugh at herself. Anyone who very seriously addresses her dachshund as "Franz" must be a good laugh. Her seriousness when, in the midst of cooking, she says "I am obsessed by my job", is also impressive. And she shows another facet a little later when we're dining together. "I want to stop in ten years' time and then just cook for my friends."

The ever-exuberant, but equally relaxed, commanding and decidedly organised Cornelia Poletto is almost worrying omnipresent on the television. She writes books. She advertises – in print and on TV. She markets her own range of merchandise. She runs cookery courses. She is heavily committed to social projects. And she has a seven year-old daughter who she talks about so lovingly that there's no doubting her priorities. Given all this, she also has a decidedly dry sense of humour. She lets slip that her famous TV colleagues are very cautious around her. She can take it too, though, otherwise she would never have got anywhere in the male-dominated world of professional chefs. And I think I might have intimated at the start that she looks great too.

I've always been grateful that our guest chef concept has allowed me to meet superb fellow chefs, but this time I'm particularly grateful.

Recorded by Christoph Schulte • Photos: Helge Kirchberger / Red Bull Photofiles