A few weeks ago I did the Pie Extravaganza short course at William Angliss Institute. It was fantastic and I got so much out of it. I took the course to learn to make pastry as I’ve never been very successful with it and butter puff pastry is getting a bit boring. I now know how to make pastry (my technique was all wrong and I let the pastry get too warm), but I learnt so much more. The course was run by Chef Lucinda Macdougall, who was absolutely lovely, and we made sweet and savoury pastry, which we used to make quiches for lunch and rhubarb and strawberry tart. We were all assigned a pie to make, but we ran out of time and only made one pie and lots of pie fillings, which we got to take home. I was assigned the seafood pie, which led me to discover Veloute (also called cream sauce), which is a white sauce made with stock instead of milk. What a discovery – there are so many ways I can use this.
I got to take my seafood pie filling home (along with some rhubarb and strawberry tarts 🙂 ), froze it and then made two little seafood pies for myself and hubby on an Oscar-free night in. The recipe I made at the course wasn’t Oscar suitable, but only needs a few minor tweaks next time I make it. I’ve written these recipes as I made them at the course, with the substitutions I would make at home.
I also picked up lots of other cooking tips, such as the definition of a pinch of salt. It’s not a few grains between your fingers, it’s a BIG pinch. And don’t stir stock while it’s cooking, not even to push everything into the water.
I can highly recommend this course, if they run it again. Lucinda did mention she could have done gluten-free pastry if anyone had needed it. She’s very anti-margarine, but lard can be used as an alternative to butter in pastry. You can also use a combination of lard and butter.
[gmc_recipe 8810]
[gmc_recipe 8785]
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[gmc_recipe 8815]
Coming Up Next Time: Banana Slice
