Sonia Tastes Hawaii:

Yesterday, out of the blue, we decided to get together with a friend and grill at our favorite get-together place, Kolekole Beach Park, which is just a mile north of us...

Earlier in the day I had prepped the veggies and the chicken and had all of it marinating in large covered plastic containers in the refrigerator until time to leave for the park.

Diane, a foodie friend in California had shared a few days ago a grilled version of a recipe she had found in the Edible Sacramento Magazine's version of a "Roasted Ratatouille Salad". I called her to fine tune my version of her version of the magazine's version of the recipe....;-)

I sliced eggplants from our garden, Hamakua Springs Farm tomatoes and a big purple onion. The zucchini and yellow crooked neck squash were cut in chunks and then quartered and the red bell peppers were quartered after seeding and devaining.

All the veggies were placed in a large, covered plastic container and generously drizzled with a previously prepared garlic infused olive oil - instructions follow - and sprinkled with sprigs of thyme from our garden.

The chicken pieces were placed in another covered plastic container marinating in guava juice and 2 heads of peeled and smashed garlic.

On arriving at the park we found that all the pavillions were taken, but there were two picnic tables with their corresponding grills unoccupied....because they were in full sun. We didn't let it daunt us and chose the one closest to the mouth of the stream, which was actually the one which would be in the shade shortly...as soon as the brilliant sun descended behind the trees up on the Kolekole Gulch. Thank goodness there was a pleasant breeze blowing.

Anthony lit the grill using charcoal and small pieces of driftwood found by the side of the stream while Becky and I set the table.

The Grilled Ratatouille Salad ingredients on the grill

Grilled Chicken Marinated in Guava Juice and Garlic and the Grilled Ratatouille Salad Platter.

After grilling, the 'salad' was sprinkled with freshly ground pepper, parsley sprigs - I wanted flat leaf but Anthony got the curly from the garden....;-) -, sprigs of the thyme and Sherry wine vinegar. It was delicious!

The dessert was chilled fresh Dragon Fruit....but you'll have to wait for that post a bit later since there is so much I would like to share about this unusual and colorful fruit.

How to make the garlic infused olive oil

I emptied a whole 34 ounce bottle of Italian extra virgin olive oil in my 3 quart crockpot along with the peeled cloves from 3 heads of garlic. Mash each clove a little bit. Turn the crockpot on low and leave it until the garlic starts turning golden - it will be a few hours - At this time turn the heat off and skim the garlic out of the oil. Save to use in other dishes. Delicious mashed with toasted crostini. After the oil cools, funnel it back into the bottle. Can be stored in refrigerator, but it will solidify and need to sit out a little while.

Living a sustainable life should be more than one of the so-called political correct catch-phrases for anyone, anywhere; but when it comes to living in

Hawaii

it should be a way of life.

You hear the words sustainability, sustainable gardening, edible gardens, edible landscapes, “

Victory

Gardens
”, “Plant a Row to Fight Hunger” and other catchy names for what is basically planting an edible garden in your own yards.

Some people are starting to see where big business farming is taking our country and where it is also becoming a big concern due to the recent scares in tainted produce, meats and canned goods.

These same people are ripping up their labor-intensive grass lawns and planting edibles even in their front yards. After all, if you have to work so hard to have a pretty lawn that just sits there, isn’t it smarter to work just as hard and be able to reap an edible harvest in the same space?

If you take the time and care to think about ‘landscaping’ with your herbs and other edibles, your yard can look as pretty as if it was planted in masses of flowering bushes or trees. Just make sure your flowering bushes are all growing edibles and your trees bear nuts or fruit.

If you don’t have much room to plant a big garden in your yard or you live in an apartment or condo, there is always a little balcony or small place to grow a few potted herbs, peppers or tomatoes… or you can always support your community by buying from local farmers and nearby farmer’s markets.

We live on islands in the middle of the ocean. We are far, far away from most market sources. In case of national or global emergencies we need to rely on our own resources. Where else better than on our own bountiful island?

Prices of food have escalated quite a bit lately. It used to be you could buy a butternut squash for a bit over $1 a pound…recently we noticed they were priced at $2.39 a pound. When you purchase a 3 pound squash for $7.17, I would say that is a bit much, no matter how much we like them.....and milk is now called "White Gold"!

In the past, I have written several articles for this publication (*) on growing food in your garden or supporting your local farms.

If you keep copies of back issues of The Hamakua Times you can go back to reread “

Victory

Gardens
” (April 02); “Lucky Live
Hawaii
” (April 05); “Richard Ha – Tomato Farmer” (May 05) “The Bounty of
Hawaii
” (June 05) and “
Hawaii
…the Garden of the Pacific” (March 06) among others.

If you have read some of my articles in other publications, you by now know that I am a firm believer in “Eating Local” and helping sustain the local farmers.

Last September, my son Anthony and I started working on a little garden in the yard on the side of the house. We live on a property that doesn’t have many level areas, and that was the ‘levelest’ place for one.

This summer, we added more to the garden after it lay unattended for a couple of months when I was visiting the mainland. It is now fully restored, producing and we are already planning on expanding it.

We are growing many herbs: sweet Italian basil, lemon basil, Thai basil, American blue basil, plain leaf and ruffled leaf purple basils, and a basil we can’t identify; Italian parsley, ruffled leaf parsley and Japanese Mitsuba parsley; 2 types of dill; spearmint, lemon mint, lemon balm, bay leaf, rosemaries, sage and pineapple sage; Mexican tarragon, 2 types of thyme, chives and garlic chives; lemon grass, mustard greens and mizuna greens; marjoram, stick oregano and Cuban or Caribbean oregano.

We have started growing a variety of peppers, some sweet and some hot. Three varieties of small tomatoes; 4 varieties of eggplants; three varieties of spinach: Malabar, Okinawan and Dawn Dewa; long beans and a few edible flowers for salads and garnishing.

There are papaya trees, apple bananas, dwarf Brazilian banana plants, Cuban red banana, four varieties of avocadoes, coconuts,

Surinam

cherries, passion fruit vines, pineapples and a source for fresh bamboo shoots. There are also several citrus planted throughout the property and a jaboticaba that needs to be moved.

There are many books to be found that can help you start your own small garden. They will go a long way toward helping you supplement whatever you might have to buy at the grocery stores.

Start small. The concept of ‘square foot gardening’ teaches you how much you can grow in just one little 4 foot square space when you combine taller plants in the center and placing graduating sized plants towards the edges, ending with your mounding herbs along the borders.

Don’t forget the foods that grow wild and can be foraged, such as coconuts, berries, guavas, bread fruit, fiddlehead ferns and even bamboo shoots, seaweed for salads, kukui nuts to make inamona paste for seasoning and there is always sea salt.

Recently harvested from the yard: avocadoes, eggplants, cherry tomatoes and peppers.

You can read a bit more about our garden by visiting my blog site at www.soniatasteshawaii.com – if you look on the right hand side, you can click on “How Does My Garden Grow” or even on “Fruits From the Garden” and several pages will open up about the garden and some recipes using the harvest from our garden and yard.

(*) The Edible Garden by Sonia Martinez -Originally published in the Hamakua Times of Honoka'a - August 2007 issue.