By Jeff Clemetson | Editor

La Mesa resident Claudia Sandoval says she is trying to stay “as un-busy as possible,” which is sometimes difficult when you win one of the most popular cooking contests on television. Sandoval was named the winner of this season’s “MasterChef,” a competition that takes amateur cooks and challenges their skills in front of world-famous celebrity chefs.

Sandoval, who is currently employed as a social media marketer, has big plans after winning “MasterChef” on the finale that aired Sept. 16. Besides her day job, she is now a highly in-demand chef for events that want to feature dishes she made on the show. She is also transitioning to working in food service full time, although she isn’t sure whether to open a restaurant, start a cooking show or something she hasn’t even thought up yet.

“The show taught me anything is possible and I’m really excited for what the future holds,” she said.

In the very near future, she said she will begin working on a cookbook because part of her prize for being crowned “MasterChef” is a publishing deal. “I want to make sure [the cookbook] represents me and what I’m about with Mexican cooking,” she said.

She is also looking forward to another perk of winning the show — the “MasterChef” cruise to the Caribbean, where fans can mingle and eat dinner with the stars of the show while doing mystery box challenges and other fun culinary events.

In addition to the cookbook deal and cruise, Sandoval also won $250,000, which she plans on using to buy a home for her and her daughter. “Maybe we’ll buy a house up the hill in La Mesa,” she said.

Sandoval grew up in National City but has lived in La Mesa since 2013. Prior to that, she went to Grossmont College before transferring to SDSU where she majored in philosophy and had aspirations of becoming a lawyer.

“I still love the law and philosophy,” she said. “I think it helped me in the show as well because I was very organized and that helped lead me to my success.”

Sandoval, like all the contestants on “MasterChef,” has had no real work experience in a professional kitchen. Instead, she learned all about authentic Mexican cuisine from her family.

“My mom has always been a really good cook. I was literally with her every single day in the kitchen with her,” she said, adding that her grandmother did the same thing with her mom, insisting that everything she knew about cooking would be passed down.

Although Sandoval grew up with her mom and credits her cooking style and know-how to her, her father was a chef for 14 years and had some advice of his own to share. “Right before I left for the show, he gave me valuable tips on how a professional kitchen works.”

The kitchen advice and cooking traditions of Sandoval’s family came in handy during some of the tougher challenges she faced on the show, like the show’s finale where she had to cook for 30 chefs and restaurant executives. Also, early in the show, she had to cook for thousands of people at Knott’s Berry Farm. “Right off the bat, even with a team of 12, it was so stressful,” she said.

Even through the difficult challenges, it was Sandoval’s unique, Mexican-influenced cooking that won over judges week after week on the show, including the notoriously critical Chef Gordon Ramsay. “Claudia was a strong competitor from the beginning,” Ramsay said in a statement released by the show. “Her passion and unique dishes were what impressed us the most.”

One of the dishes she made on the show she is very proud of is a dish called Arroz con Leche Molotes, which is a fried rice pudding ball. “The judges were really happy with that one because it is so simple. Anyone in America can make it.”

Another memorable dish from the show was her Tomato Napolean. “I dreamt that dish the night before I made it,” she said. “Everyone always says to me, ‘No way, really?’ But I really did dream it.”

Being a winner of “MasterChef” — and the first Latina winner in the show’s history — has brought Sandoval a lot of attention, especially at home in La Mesa, but she says she is comfortable with it.

“It’s always me and my munchkin out in La Mesa and it’s nice to have people recognize you,” she said. “I’ll be at Vons and people will recognize me and take a picture and I’m like, ‘Come over here, I’ll take a picture with you.’”

Still, Sandoval insists she is not a celebrity. “I’m just Claudia,” she said.

—Jeff Clemetson is editor of the La Mesa Courier. Write to him at [email protected]