Sonia Tastes Hawaii

Demo at the Farmers Market

I was recently asked if I would do a food demo at the new Kino'ole Farmers Market.  Of course, I accepted.  We were set up to do two demos that same morning, Saturday, October 13th...one at 8:30 AM and the other at 10:30 AM...both were of the same recipe.

Since this market is strickly handling island grown products, I made sure that the recipe included mostly locally grown or produced ingredients.

The recipe I chose is one we used to do during grilling cooking classes when we ran the Akaka Falls Inn Cooking School.  Simple, fast and everyone seems to like it. 

Quantity and selection of the ingredients depends on what is available.  The dressing for the salad can be whatever your favorite dressing might be.  I chose my own Liliko'i Vinaigrette (see recipe below).  This amount of eggplant can make generous servings of salad for 8 -10 people.

Grilled Japanese Eggplant on Local Greens and Herbed Chevre

4 Japanese eggplants sliced at a slant - unpeeled

1 bottle Italian salad dressing or make your own

Assortment of salad greens and leafy herbs

1 pound container fresh chevre (soft goat cheese)

1/4 cup chopped and roasted macadamia nuts

Freshly ground peppercorns (optional)

Dressing or vinaigrette of your choice

Layer the sliced eggplant pieces in a plastic tub or container.  Pour the salad dressing over it, cover tightly and invert to make sure all of the eggplant slices are evenly coated.  Store in refrigerator at least for 2 hours or overnight.  Turn the container over a couple of times, if you think about it...

Anthony grilled the marinated eggplant slices in a large George Foreman table grill until they were nicely cooked through and had good 'grill markings' on them.

To assemble the salad, I chose a red tipped leaf lettuce, some Dawn Dewa 'spinach' (aka Moluccan 'spinach') which I cut into a chiffonade, finely cut chives and Thai basil leaves.  I then added the grilled eggplant slices and spoonfuls of pesto-macadamia nut chevre. 

You can find the chevre (soft goat cheese) in an assortment of flavors from the Hawaii Island Goat Dairy in Ahualoa.

The whole thing was then sprinkled liberally with the chopped and roasted macadamia nuts and drizzled with Liliko'i (passion fruit) Vinaigrette.

Liliko'i Vinaigrette

We have a couple of wild vines growing on the property and during season, I collect a few everyday.  I cut them in half, scoop out the seeds and pulp and save in a plastic container in the refrigerator until I have a full container.

Strain through a stainless steel mesh sieve, pushing with a wooden spoon to get as much of the juice and pulp as possible and collect it in a glass or ceramic bowl.

In a sauce pan bring the juice and sugar to boil.  Amount of sugar depends on your own taste and acidity of the fruit.  When it boils, turn it down and reduce it to intensify the flavor.  Add small amount of white vinegar, again to taste.  Let it cook at a slow boil for a few minutes, turn the heat off and cool.  Store in glass cruet or sealed carafe in the refrigerator.  It will last several weeks.

 

The finished salad!

Sonia's Mango Lassi Recipe

Recently my friend Linda Kane asked if I would be willing to make a little video for a place called Expert Village. 

Expert Village posts a list of topics they are interested in and the videographer selects from this list a video they want to shoot, submits it to EV for approval and on receiving approval, has 2 weeks to turn the assignment in...

We decided on the Mango Lassi, since it was something that was fairly easy, for our first project, really good and the mangoes at the market are gorgeous. 

The only thing I dislike about the site, is that they don't show the whole video as a 'seamless movie' but in segments and each segmet starts with the introduction of the 'expert'...in this instance, me.  So in each segment you will hear the same introduction....Aloha my name is....

The video can be seen at the following site, but a short cut to the recipe itself is here

Sonia's Mango Lassi Recipe

From that site, you can then scroll down and then choose any of the segments you wish to see...

I tried to take a still shot from the video and use PhotoShop to enlarge it, but it made it all out of focus....... I inserted one here from the video, without altering, but the quality is still very fuzzy.

If you try the recipe, I hope you enjoy it.  The ice cream is really, really good!

Linda did a great job with the shooting and editing of the video...believe me....you would agree with me if you had been there to see the bloops....

A Taste of the Hawaiian Range Food Festival

Anthony and I were able to attend the 12th Annual Mealani's A Taste of the Hawaiian Range Food Festival this past Friday evening, September 28th, held at the Hilton Waikoloa Village.

Photo: Taken by Chef Allan Okuda in front of the HCC-Hilo School of Culinary Arts booth.

The Taste has become the showcase for our many Hawaii Island ranches, farms and food producers of all kinds and since its inception in 1996, it has increased so much in size, participation and attendance that through the years it has had to move to different and larger venues.

 

Photo: The Big Island Grill on Kuakini Hwy in Kailua Kona used a huge wok and bamboo steamer to prepare their assigned meat - which was ground beef. 

Attendance last year was about 2,000 and by the crowds we saw, we figured it had to be either that many or even more this year.

Photo: Chef George Mavrothalassitis of Chef Macro's Restaurant in Honolulu was assigned appropriately enough, lamb for his special dish.

The event is sponsored by the Cooperative Extension Service of the University of Hawaii at Manoa's College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources (CTAHR) as a celebration showcasing not only the naturally grass fed Hawaii grown beef, but also all of the bounty grown in our fertile 'aina.

Photo: Assorted heirloom tomatoes from the Hamakua Springs Farm in Pepe'ekeo.

 

Photo: Coffe and tea display from the Hawaii Coffee Company.

Most everyone in the world now knows that this island grows coffee, but most know only of Kona coffee....but there is wonderful coffee grown in three other regions on this island!  Also tea, vanilla beans and cacao beans which are used right here on the island to make chocolate!!!

Over 30 chefs from Hawaii Island and Oahu restaurants participated in the event, as well as the culinary students from both the Hilo and the West side campus of the Hawaii Community College School of Culinary Arts.  The chefs are challenged to prepare the various cuts of meat assigned to them by luck of the draw....from sirloin to chuck and hamburger and including tongue, tail and tripe.

Other meats fetured and also raised on the island are chicken, lamb, mutton and pork.  Island grown abalone was introduced at this event for the first time.

Photo: Ada Pulin, owner of Tex's Drive-In in Honoka'a, cutting the dough for malasadas.  Tex's is a must stop for us when driving to or from Kona side for some scrumptious Portuguese donuts called malasadas.

Photo: Frying the malasadas in a huge wok.  Once done the pillow-like malasadas are drained then filled with fruit fillings or custards.

The largest event of it's kind in the State of Hawaii, it is not only educational but a celebration of what our island has to offer by highlighting the diversification of crops and by the many value added products that make use of our island's bounty.

Part 2 will follow in a few days!