Composer Peter Corrigan believes a kitchen is an orchestra, with sizzling as percussion

When Peter Corrigan heard John Williams' score for ‘Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone ‘ as a kid, he was never the same again. Hearing that piece changed him forever and set him on course to become a composer

Something else that was a huge part of Pete's childhood was being one of nine kids, growing up on Wadawurrung Land in Ballarat, Victoria.

Daily life was flavoured by the politics of food. Having eight siblings, there was an urgency around food and a heavy focus on the justice of portion sizing.

He remembers school holidays as the only time that they were allowed the hallowed breakfast cereal 'CocoPops'. Pete and his brothers and sisters were allowed one cup each and the serving of each cup was watched by each kid like a hawk.

When he reflects on how he took on birthday-cake-making duties when he was young, Pete realises that his interest didn't solely lie in the act of making a cake. He now admits that part of the joy of baking was in getting exclusive access to the cake covered beater instead of his siblings.

A QUICK WHIP AROUND THE INGREDIENTS THAT MAKE UP PETER

• PRONOUNS: He / Him

• HOMETOWN: Naarm / Melbourne, australia

• JOB DESCRIPTION: Musician and composer

Peter J Corrigan - Composer · Niney and Jack

Pete’s extraordinary work “Niney and Jack”, written for his grandparents Eileen and Jack Corrigan and featuring an image of them on their wedding day in Ballarat, Australia, 1954.

Music composed and produced by Peter Corrigan.

"If I could eat toast for the rest of my life I would"

Despite his devotion to toast, when Pete looks at the intersections of food and art, he sees some more exuberant connections. Access to a wide variety of foods and flavours makes Pete happy and this seems to correspond to his love of lush variety in music.

Here’s Pete’s favourite film score and the score that changed his life, John Williams’ masterpiece ‘Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone’

Pete is a composer for film and media, as well as being an accomplished pianist. When we get to the pointy end of things, Pete is tender and practical about the idea of the Starving Artist. He believes that being an artist is a "lifetime journey and not something we have to sacrifice everything for in one moment." He encourages artists to think of their art as a “life long pursuit”.

Remember “Lovers Curry” from episode two? Well, Pete’s favourite cook is Nick Reid and his favourite artists are, not surprisingly, John Williams and Beethoven.

Measure out your CocoPops, make some toast and join us to find out What Pete Eats.

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WHAT PETE EATS

ALOO GOBI PIE

ingredients

• Oil

• 4-5 sheets of puff or short crust pastry, depending on what you prefer*

• 600 g cauliflower florets, plus the stalks and leaves, chopped

• 450 g potato, peeled and roughly chopped (or sweet potato if you prefer)

• 1 medium onion, finely chopped

• 1⁄2 tsp cumin seeds

• 1 tbsp finely grated or crushed garlic

• 1 tbsp peeled, finely grated root ginger

• 1 medium tomato, finely chopped (or a can of tomatoes, doesn’t really matter!)

• 3–4 hot green chillies, finely chopped (less if you don’t want it so hotttttt)

• 1 1⁄4 tsp salt

• 1 cup chopped spinach or kale

• 1⁄4 tsp turmeric

• 1 tbsp mustard seeds

• 2 tbsp chopped coriander leaves

* puff is my favourite but short crust gives it a bit more of a traditional pie feel

method

1. Preheat oven to 200 Celsius

2. Roast the potatoes and cauliflower stalks (minus the leaves for now).

The cauliflower won’t take as long to roast so do the potatoes first for about half an hour, then add the cauliflower and stems for the last 15-20 minutes. Basically till they’re all cooked and golden.

Now you’ll want to prepare the base of the pie. Most of the time I just do all the pastry together at the end but it can slightly undercook if you’re not careful, so you can precook the base first in your baking dish to get it slightly brown and crispy, and then set it aside.

3. Now for the rest. Grab a reasonably deep frying pan or a saucepan. Pour in the oil and fry the mustard seeds till they start to pop. Add the onion.

4. Sauté for 2 minutes, then add the cumin seeds. Stir for 3-5 minutes, or until the onion is light brown.

5. Spoon in the garlic and ginger. Stir for 2 minutes, adding a splash of hot water if it starts to stick.

6. Add the tomato and cook for 5 minutes, or until completely integrated. Sprinkle in the chillies and salt and stir for 1 minute.

7. Chuck in the kale/spinach, stirring for 1 minute. Spoon in the turmeric and mix well.

8. Add another splash of water if necessary, then tip in the cauliflower stalks and leaves and cook, stirring, for 6 minutes, or until soft. Add a little water if the pan seems to dry out.

9. Now put in cauliflower florets and potato and the chopped coriander, mix gently and cook for a final 2 minutes.

The filling is now done!

10. Put your delicious mixture onto the (optionally pre-baked) base and then add your top pastry. I like to fork the hell out of it and then brush with milk/butter/oil to make it extra crispy. Cook until it’s golden brown on top.

Fucking delicious.

“Aloo gobi is a simple cauliflower and potato curry. With this dish, you make the whole curry as usual, then chuck it in the oven. You could perhaps serve it with kasundi and relish.”

Recipe tips:

• Pete says it's trial and error with this one!

• Let the filling cool before you put it in the pie casing

• Make sure the filling doesn’t have too much liquid in it

• Flavours to look for are the nuttiness of cauliflower and the depth of the cumin

• Drink it with a nice glass of red (pinot noir, temperanillo, shiraz)

MADE THIS RECIPE? TAG US AND SHARE THE FUN

#PETESALOOGOBIPIE #WHATARTISTSEAT

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LINKS & MENTIONS

LINKS TO ARTIST INFORMATION, RESOURCES AND ANYTHING ELSE WE CHATTED ABOUT

• https://soundcloud.com/pete-corrigan 

• https://www.instagram.com/petercorriganmusic/

• John Williams, composer

• Chef Lagenda, Flemington

INFORMATION AND TAKEAWAYS FROM OUR CHAT

1. Pete’s favourite Disney musical piece is The Circle of Life by Elton John from The Lion King

2. Always break eggs into a seperate container before adding them to a dish to check if they’re rotten!

3. Making risotto? You can finish it off in the oven - listen to the episode for Pete’s tips and tricks

4. If the sound of bacon sizzling was translated into an orchestra, Pete thinks it would be the percussion section

5. If he could make any artwork out of food, Pete would make Vincent Van Gogh’s ‘Starry Night’ out of fork-sculpted mashed potato coloured with food dye. Genius

WE’RE A BIT TIRED AND DON’T HAVE A TRANSCRIPT OF THIS INTERVIEW FOR YOU YET. WE’RE WORKING ON IT, SO PLEASE CHECK BACK HERE SOON.