Few Saturdays back I baked 3 pies!

Left to right: Apple Pie, Shepherd Pie & Chicken Pie.

Yup, it certainly wasn’t my usual Saturday routine; slaving over a hot stove. Not that I mind cooking or baking; oh no, not at all. I do wish I could do it more often (I’m sure most of us are Jamie Oliver/Nigella Lawson wannabes inside) but washing up – now that’s another story.
Greasy pots & pans and stack of plates in the sink?? Urghh.

Well, the best part about cooking/baking at a cooking school is that you get to do so in an air-conditioned environment & you don’t have to wash up. 😉
The Food Studio at Amarin Kiara, who hosted our culinary session that day is spacious, comfortable & fully equipped with all the kitchen equipment you may need to whip up food & refreshments for up to a party of 100 pax.

Fridge, ovens, stoves, individual stoves – induction or gas powered, cooking utensils… you name it, The Food Studio most likely has it!

For culinary classes, each individual are provided a set of cooking utensils that’s relevant to the class programme that day.

And each one of us “worked” at our own station, with the choice of good old gas powered stoves or the induction ones.

Now, I find marketing makes up for half the fun of cooking; imagine browsing through ingredients in the shops and selecting fresh produce yourself from the markets.
It’s all part of the whole holistic cooking experience. But understandably, for timing & convenience sake, all the ingredients for our lesson were laid out for us prior to our culinary classe here at The Food Studio.

And we were left in the capable hands of the affable and cool Chef Paul, who heads/runs The Food Studio.

Here’s the recipe for the Apple Pie. It’s extremely simple, especially since we cheated & used ready made pastry sheets! 😉

Apples
Butter
Sugar Cinnamon
Vanilla Bean
Sugar
Orange Juice
* Melt butter and sugar in sauce pan

* Add orange juice, let boil one time at high heat, then simmer and reduce with medium heat.

Throughout the 2 hours, Chef Paul would demonstrate the process first, then it’s back to us to re-create our own pies. Yup, hands-on lessons versus the ones you only get to watch and take notes. I don’t see the point of those classes really. Might as well I stay home & watch AFC on ASTRO right??

* Add vanilla bean and cinnamon
Wash and cut apples into slices or cubes, not too fine.
Add apples into reduced caramel sauce, stir around for 3 minutes.

For our pies, there were dfferent sizes of ramekins for our use: Deep & round ones for the Apple Pie, low and round one for the chicken pie and the long ones for the Shepherd’s.

So we started with the Apple Pie, and selected one of the deep round ones. Add apple mix in the middle & topped it off with a layer of pastry that makes up for the pie top.

Let rest for 5 minutes, and then add egg wash.
Bake at 180 Celsius.

Taaadah! One of the simplest apple pie recipe I have ever came across! Completely replicate-able at home!

Next, we moved on to the savoury pies.

Chicken Pie

Chicken meat
Fresh leak
Onions
Mushrooms
Salt Pepper
Cream
Puff Pastry sheets
Egg wash

A dash of white wine & generous doses of cream makes all the difference for that scrumptious chicken pie filling.

Wash and cut chicken into small stripes.
Wash, clean and cut leak into fine rings.
Peel and chop onion.
Clean and cut mushrooms in half.
Pan fry chicken stripes until golden brown.

Add chopped onions.
Add leeks.
Add mushrooms until golden brown.

Taste with salt pepper and top with cream.
Let reduce until thick consistency.

Cut puff pastry into top and bottom of the ramekin.
Place one layer at the bottom of the ramekin.
Add chicken mix.

Close top with second layer of puff pastry.

Let rest for 5 minutes, add egg wash.
Bake at 180 Celsius.

Shepherd’s Pie.

Minced Beef
Onions
Garlic
Peas
Carrot
Potatoes
Chives
Tomato Puree
Salt / Pepper / Paprika
Cheese as topping
Wash and peel potatoes.
Boil in salt water until soft but not broken.
Remove from water and let potato steam off for a while.
Boil peas in the same water until soft.
Peel and chop onion & garlic.
Peel and cut carrot.

Pan fry minced beef, add salt pepper and paprika.
Pan fry until golden brown.

Taste – check!

(Errmm.. ok, this wasn’t part of the programme ! ;-))

Add onions, carrot and garlic, stir until golden brown.
Add peas.

Add tomato purée and let reduce until dry.

Mash potatoes with butter, cream and nutmeg.
Place beef mix into small dish and top with mashed potato.
Top potatoes with grated cheese.

Put into oven and bake of at 180 Celsius.
Top with cheese and grill until golden brown.

And at the end of our 2 hours lesson, we got to sit down and enjoy the fruits of our labour. 😉

The Food Studio also does catering for small functions & cosy get-togethers and hence the table and chairs also serves as dining tables.

For functions and private parties, alcoholic beverages are served on request.

The Food Studio Sdn Bhd ( 874909-D).

Amarin Kiara @LG2
Jalan Desa Kiara 1
0480 Kuala Lumpur

Tel – 006 3 620 51188

http://the-food-studio.com/ http://twitter.com/thefoodstudio [email protected] http://www.facebook.com/thefoodstudio

More on The Food Studio:
Nestled in the heart of the luxury environment of Mont Kiara, TFS offers a variety of culinary events, demos, hands-on and 10+10 cooking classes.

The studio caters for:
Gourmet Cooking Classes – Private Events – Company Events – Meeting Packages – Product Launches – Networking Events – Cocktail Receptions -Take Home Chefs – Wedding Dinners & Functions.

Me: Striking my best Chef pose? 😉

All pictures are:

For more cooking projects:
Check out Rebecca’s Table for Four !
Part I – Homemade Aioli, Pea and Bacon Soup, Dory with Homemade Aioli, Herb Crusted Pork Loin.
Part II – Tofu steamed with white wine, Butternut Pumpkin Risotto, Pan-roasted Pork Loin.