The first batch of students from the Otago Polytechnic's bachelor of culinary arts course graduate this weekend. Rebecca Fox talks to Rosie McLean about finding her way in the food world and winning one of the polytechnic's top four awards, the Otago Daily Times award for personal achievement.
Rosie McLean's mum still has the recipe card from her daughter's first cooking endeavour although she is not sure what it is for.
''It doesn't make any sense. We think because it mentions raisins it's bran muffins,'' Mrs McLean (27) said.
That first endeavour in the school kitchen was not an indication of a budding chef in the making.
She took a rather meandering path to discover food could be more than just an interest.
''I'm one of those people who dithers.''
It took a gap year in England, a stint at university doing design studies and then a course in interior design before she had one of ''those moments'' at her sister's polytechnic nursing graduation.
''It was there I saw the hospitality graduates and I got it into my head that I could do that.''
So she enrolled in the one-year level 3 cookery course at Otago Polytechnic and the rest, as they say, is history.
The polytechnic was just developing its culinary arts degree and its first year coincided with Mrs McLean's decision to continue on to do level 4 cookery.
''A lecturer asked me why I wasn't doing it [culinary arts] and I didn't have a good answer. I had my arm gently twisted and I'm really happy I did.''
She signed up for one year and never looked back. She found it combined her need to do something practical with her interest in design and being ''really creative and artistic''.
''I didn't know what to expect, I was pleasantly surprised.''
They started off learning the fundamentals about cookery before moving on to learn concepts to help them develop and create their own ideas and projects.
''With only 20 or so in the class and three to four lecturers looking after us for three years you get the best of everything from them.''
That included the opportunity to try different areas of the food industry including food writing.
Mrs McLean decided to give food blogging a go as part of her course work with the aptly named blog ''spaceforpudding''.
It was a challenge, especially the food photography side of things, but she hoped to develop the idea more now.
Her passion for cooking came out of her ''love'' for eating, she said.
''I kind of like instant gratification. You can see straight away if its good or whether people appreciate it or not. It keeps feeding my enthusiasm for it.''
She also discovered she had a ''bit of a thing'' for wanting to come to grips with new ideas.
''I try really hard until I figure it out. A lot of it has technique and science behind it and it's gratifying when you finally get it.''
It was even more positive when she managed to use that skill to produce something herself, she said.
Bran muffins aside, she did enjoy baking, which her mum encouraged while she was growing up.
Now with some training under her belt, she had a particular interest in the pastry and dessert side of cookery.
Her time on the course and the practical work in the polytechnic's kitchens had helped her discover she really enjoyed catering work. During her time on the course she and other students did some freelance catering.
''I love catering. I'd like to start my own catering company.''
But she was realistic enough to know that she needed to build on the skills the course gave her before she tackled that challenge.
Having not worked in cafes or bars when she was younger meant she did not have the basic experience of many of her fellow students.
''Not having pre-set ideas probably helped but I need to learn more about the industry.''
Now based in Invercargill, she was still debating what her next step would be, but knows she has found her niche.
Hummingbird bircher bowl
Makes 1 portion(make the night before)
Ingredients
¼ cup wholegrain/jumbo oats
¼ cup rolled oats
1/8 cup coconut shred
1½ tsp chia seeds
½ tsp cinnamon, ground
1 rough Tbsp dried pineapple pieces, diced
1 rough Tbsp dried papaya pieces, diced
½ cup pineapple juice
To serve
½ apple, grated
¼ cup milk
1 small banana
1 dessert spoon
Greek yoghurt
liquid honey
pecans, toasted
Method
Put the oats, coconut, chia seeds, cinnamon and dried fruit into a cereal bowl and pour over the pineapple juice. Mix together then cover and put in the refrigerator overnight to soak.
In the morning, grate the apple into the bowl and pour over the milk. Mix the milk and apple into the soaked oats. Slice the banana on top of the muesli and top with Greek yoghurt, a drizzle of honey and a sprinkle of chopped toasted pecan nuts.
Rosie's hot cross buns
Ingredients
150g sultanas
100g currants
250ml apple juice
10g dry active yeast
1 tsp white sugar
150ml milk
100g unsalted butter, softened
75g brown sugar
1 egg
25g (1 Tbsp) malt extract
1 tsp salt
1 Tbsp mixed spice
1 Tbsp cinnamon
1 tsp cardamom
1 tsp nutmeg
½ tsp allspice
550g hard flour plus extra
50g cornflour
1 apple, peeled, cored and grated
For the crosses
75g (½ cup) flour
80-90ml water
For the glaze
30g brown sugar
30ml water
Method
Put the sultanas and currants into a bowl and cover with apple juice. Leave to soak.
Warm the milk to no more than 37degC. Sprinkle in the yeast and the white sugar. Leave it to go foamy.
Into the bowl of a stand mixer, put the butter, malt extract and brown sugar. Use the paddle attachment to cream them together (you can also do it manually or using a handheld beater).
Add the egg and beat until the mixture has come together again.
Add the spices and beat the mixture again for a period of about 5 minutes, to allow the fat of the butter and the egg to absorb the flavours of the spices.
Pour the fruit into a sieve and tap it and shake it to let the excess apple juice drain.
Add the flour, milk/yeast mixture, salt, grated apple, drained fruit and yeast mixture to the stand mixer bowl (or a regular large bowl if kneading by hand).
Set your stand mixer kneading, using a dough hook attachment. If you are hand-kneading your dough, mix the ingredients until they have just come together and turn the mixture out on to a lightly floured work surface. Knead the dough until it is smooth and elastic. It is quite a wet, sticky dough but it should be firm enough to form a mass and hold together; if it does not, add a little more flour until it does.
Once your dough is well kneaded, place it into a greased bowl and cover it with cling film. Put it in a warm place to rise until it has doubled in size. It pays to visualise how much bigger it will look when roughly doubled in case you forget how big it initially was. You may find that it takes longer than usual to rise; it is a very enriched dough and this seems to hinder the yeast a bit.
Once the dough has risen, punch it down and take it out of the bowl, turning it out on to a lightly floured surface. Giving it a light knead will help it to become less gooey and more manageable.
Weigh your dough and divide the total weight by 12. Portion out the dough and form it into balls by rolling it against your work surface with a flat hand and bringing your fingers in around it as you roll.
Lay out your dough balls on a greased Swiss roll pan or similar kind of rectangular tray. This recipe makes enough dough to fill out a 20cm x 30cm Swiss roll pan.
Leave the formed tray of dough to rise again. This is the rising that will trap the air that will remain in your hot cross buns and make them light and fluffy, so be gentle.
Once the dough has proved* and the tray is well filled out with risen dough, you can prepare and pipe your crosses. I use a piping bag with a Wilton size 10 round nozzle tip. Add just enough water to make a thick yet pipeable paste. You don't want it to be too runny or else you'll end up with all sorts of weird symbols being dribbled over your buns. We just want to stick to crucifixes for this holiday.
Bake the buns at 190degC, until the crusts are dark golden brown, about 10 minutes. To know more accurately if they are cooked, you can use a probe thermometer to check if the core is 92degC.
While the buns are baking, make up your glaze and have it prepared and ready to use.
When you are satisfied that your tray of buns is cooked, take them out and put the tray on a cooling rack. Brush the buns with glaze. The glaze soaks into the buns a bit, so keep your remaining glaze in case you want to add more later. You can turn them out of the tray once they have cooled a little and the glaze is fairly set.
Happy Easter.
*The general rule for proofing is that if you can make a dimple in it with a finger and it pops back again, or if it is roughly double in size, it is ready for the oven.
