Sonia Tastes Hawaii

" Soup & Bread " Potluck

 
Anthony & I decided to revive our 'themed' potlucks at Kolekole Beach Park after a couple of years of inactivity... The first one in the 'revived' version was themed Soups & Breads....The invitations went out via e-mail asking that they bring either a soup or a bread or both... The offerings were wonderful!

 

We had 10 people total and a delicious selection of soups and breads!
The afternoon and evening were just cool and pleasant enough (after a totally gorgeous sunny day) to enjoy the soups.  The pavilion has power and we provided a power outlet bar to plug in all the stockpots.

 
Photo: Roasted Red Bell Pepper Cream in forefront, Pumpkin Soup in middle and Ham Soup in back - I'm sorry I didn't get a pic of Peggy's Mexican Meat Ball Soup.

Anthony & I took my creamy roasted red bell pepper soup and had both grated Romano and Parmigiano cheeses to sprinkle on top - the bread I took was a honey wheat I picked up at the farmers market that was really delicious.

Roasted Red Bell Pepper Cream Soup

1 large yellow onion cut in thin slices

4 - 5 very large red bell peppers (about 5-6 inches long) seeded, devained and cut in halves 
2 cloves garlic peeled and mashed
Olive oil
Sea or Kosher salt
Stick oregano leaves

Heat oven to 400oF Place on foil lined roasting pan in the order given - with onions on bottom, then the peppers and garlic. Drizzle olive oil all over it. Sprinkle with sea or Kosher salt - to taste. Sprinkle with oregano - to taste

1 cup heavy cream

Chicken or veggie stock or broth - to taste

Roast the veggies in the oven  - No need to preheat first so as not to waste any heat. Roast for about 30 minutes - check and stir everything - roast for about 10 more minutes. Place in blender and whirl until all smooth. Add the stock or broth and heat. For cream soup, add one cup heavy cream to make it silkier.

 

I also served some mozzarella cheese in olive oil, seasonings and herbs that I had picked up at the farmers market and some small vine ripened cherry tomatoes also from the farmers market.  We took hot coffee and iced tea  - plus ice, creamer, real cream, sugar and plenty butter for the breads.

 
Photo: Honey Wheat in foreground and Linda's Braided Poppy Seed in back.

Jenn & Chris brought a ham soup he made that was delicious - they brought some white rice to add to it if anyone wanted. The combination was great!

Liz & Mike brought her absolutely delicious pumpkin soup - they also brought some honey lemonade in a big cooler.

Peggy brought a Mexican meatball soup - very nice! She had just come from spending a few days down in the SE part of the island at her daughter Cathy's house and she had made some liliko'i bars while there and brought the 'leftovers' with her....Perfect touch to end a great meal. 

 
Photo: Linda's braided poppy seed bread wreath

Linda made a braided bread recipe she found on line. Nice and crusty outside and perfectly smooth and 'creamy' crumb....don't know how else to describe it!  She shaped it in a wreath form. It was still piping hot when she got there.

 
Photo: Brenda's Mexican Cornbread Muffins on top and Southern Style Cornbread Muffins below.

Brenda and Kevan brought two types of cornbread muffins - Mexican style and Southern style...she also brought honey butter to slather on them....Delicious!

Brenda's Mexican Cornbread Muffins

Wheat-free 

2 eggs

1/4 cup oil

1 cup buttermilk

1 cup shredded Cheddar cheese

1 (11 oz ) can niblets corn or 8 oz can creamed corn

1 medium onion, chopped

3 fresh sweet green chilis or 2 jalapeños

1 4oz can diced green chilis

1 cup cornmeal

1/2 Maseca tamale flour

1 tablespoon sugar (opt)

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease an 8 inch square baking dish or a cast iron skillet.

In a small bowl, beat eggs. Mix in corn oil and buttermilk. Stir in shredded cheese, creamed corn, onion, diced green chilis and jalapenos.

In a large bowl, whisk together cornmeal, maseca, baking powder, soda, and salt. Stir the egg mixture into the dry ingredients. Mix well. Pour batter into prepared pan.

Bake for 30 to 35 minutes until center is set and top is golden brown.

YIELD - 14 - 16 muffins

We ate until we couldn't eat any more....Sat and talked and laughed and
generally had a great time. Some of the people in the little group knew each other and others met for the first time but all seemed to enjoy each others' company.  Several of us stayed and talked on even after we had cleaned up and loaded the stuff back in the cars....

We were sorry that several of our friends couldn't make it...Hope to see you at the next one!

It was a great afternoon and evening spent with great friends!

New Year Snow

Out two mountain volcanoes, Mauna Loa and Mauna Kea received some snow last evening...

Mauna Loa looked like the 'white mantle' came down pretty low this time, but it was so far away from my vantage point that the pictures didn't show up too well...but I did manage to get some shots of Mauna Kea from three different locations in Waimea.

Mauna Kea from just about 2 miles into Highway 190 on the way to Waikoloa

 

Mauna Kea from the back parking lot of the Kahilu Theater in Waimea

 

Pu'ukapu Road in Waimea just after the big turn on the way to the Hawaiian Halau (school) Ho'olako

 

How I wished I had had a zoom lens!

 

New Year's Eve....

 

Our New Year's Eve dinner was very simple.  Neither of us felt like a big feast and both of us were thinking comfort food...so I made individual chicken pot pies, a salad and a dessert in which I used up the poha berries left from the Christmas Eve salad and some puff pastry shells I had left in the freezer from earlier this year.

 

Homemade Chicken Pot Pie

3 chicken thighs - boneless, skinless

3 medium-small potatoes, quartered

3 medium-small carrots, cut in several chunks

1 small onion - diced small

1 shallot - diced small

1 garlic clove - minced

 

I cleaned/cut off all the fat globs left on the chicken.  Placed chicken in medium saucepan with water and added the peeled and quartered potatoes and peeled and chunked carrots.

 

Saute the onion, shallot and garlic in just a little bit on olive oil, just long enough to sweeten the taste, but not brown.

 

When the chicken and veggies are cooked, add the sauted onion, shallot and garlic combination, season with salt and pepper (*) and cook down to a very small amount of chicken broth.  Take the chicken and potatoes out and dice small and cut the carrots in small medallions.

 

I had some leftover Brocolli- Cheddar Cream Soup I had made a couple of days before. Recipe can be found HERE and also about 1/2 cup of English peas (petit pois) left from the paella I made on Christmas Eve.  I followed the soup recipe as given but used less flour than called for and subbed whipping cream for the milk.  It was very yummy.

 
To the chicken and veggies combination I added the petit pois and the leftover Brocolli-Cheddar Cream Soup and heated it just a little bit to combine with the little bit of chicken broth and to meld the flavors.

Use your favorite pie crust recipe for the top.  I did not put a bottom to ours.

 

I used my white porcelain bowls with handles - they are restaurant quality bowls we bought some years ago to use in our deli and can go in the oven.  Only two survived the fire of July 2000 as they were in the dishwasher at the time!

 

Spoon enough of the chicken and veggies in the bowl or ramekin to a rounded top.  Place your pie crust on top and seal as best you can.  Cut three steam vents on top using a sharp knife.  I also sprinkled some of the seasoned salt used in the chicken-veggie mix on top of the pie crust and added a bit of pepper.

 

(*) for Christmas this year, some very good friends gave us a 'bento container' filled with an assortment of seasoned salts and sugars.  One of the seasoned salts was a delicious fresh green dill and citrus combination, which is the one I used for this dish. 

 

Poha Berries in Syrup

 

Info on poha berries

This is way simple and delicious.  Cut the hard stem part of the poha off and cut the berries in half.  Place in a shallow pan with enough water to cover and an equal amount of sugar (I used turbinado from Maui) and a 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla.  Simmer them until they are syrupy but the sugar does not caramelize.

Can be served over cake, pound cake or ice cream.  I served them in puff pastry shells which I topped with homemade whipping cream.