Culinary arts students cook for Master Chef winner

Waiariki Bay of Plenty Polytechnic’s Culinary Arts students lent a hand to Tim Read, New Zealand’s latest celebrity chef, when he launched his new cook book ‘Gather’ at Bethlehem Paper Plus last week.

It was a foodie’s paradise for the audience of about 30 people as they got to taste five dishes from the book, prepared by the second year students and supervised by chef tutor, Lee Pearce.

“When Paper Plus asked us to do this job I knew it would be a great learning opportunity for our students,” says Lee. 

“Not only did the students have to figure out logistically how to prepare the food offsite and transport it, but they also had to take Tim’s recipes and multiply them to get the exact amount required for the launch.”

To thank the students and Lee for their time, Bethlehem Paper Plus gifted 13 cook books to the group which they chose on the night.

“Tim also signed a copy of his cookbook so it was great to have that as a souvenir from the event. We’ve got his book and the others in our classroom.”

Lee has already got the class busy on their next project – inventing new products which they will test out on lucky students at the Windermere campus over the next few weeks. 

The dishes made at the book launch include: 
Schnitzel Dogs with Tomato, Mozzarella and Basil
Duck, Fig & Hoisin Pizza
Skirt steak salad wraps with Korean chilli dressing
Chicken Tacos with Refried Beans and Corn Salsa
Chocolate Chip Cookies and Peanut Parfait Sandwiches