Leftover salmon or poke? *recipe is possible to make vegetarian

For some reason, we almost always end up with leftover poke (you can freeze poke and defrost it) and sometimes salmon. We have always eaten tofu patties due to us following the Seventh-Day Adventist faith, but we have also when at home, had tofu patties with fish or as we call it, Aku/Ahi Hash. These hash go good as a pupu, a main course or side dish, it doesn't matter. They are always good! I will have 3 recipes below that you can easily add in leftover fish so that it doesn't waste.

Fish Hash

• Ingredients:
• 1-2 firm tofu (or extra firm)
• Chopped onion & water chestnut (optional)
• Grated carrot
• Eggs
• Panko
• Leftover poke or salmon chopped to small cubes (leave out if you want to keep it vegetarian)
• Directions:
• Mix all top ingredients together until you are able to form them into patties
• Fry in a pan until golden brown on each side
• Let cool slightly on paper towels to get rid of excess oil
• Garnish with chopped green onion
• Serve with a sweet chili aioli (sweet chili sauce and mayo) or wasabi-mayo

Fried Poke Won Ton or Man doo

• Ingredients:
• Won ton or Man doo pi
• Leftover poke chopped small
• Chopped Kim Chee or Water chestnuts (for crunch and is optional)
• Directions:
• Mix together poke with kim chee or water chestnuts
• Spoon onto pi and seal 
• Deep fry until golden brown
• Serve with hot mustard and shoyu

Salmon Hash (different from aku/ahi hash)

• Ingredients:
• Salmon
• Mashed potatoes (another food you can freeze and defrost to use later)
• Corn starch or flour
• Directions:
• Mix together salmon and potatoes
• Form into patties
• Coat with corn starch or flour
• Pan fry until desired crispiness on the outside (I like mine very burnt an almost black)

Enjoy!

-L

Let's throw a brunch!

To be honest, I really enjoy having brunch on Sunday mornings. With that being "said", I thought I would share my ideas on what I consider to be the perfect brunch menu.

The Food:

Eggs (scrambled normally) *My version of vegetable soufflé and eggs florentine below
Biscuits (American) or Scones (English) 

• Served with jams or jellies (or lemon curd if you have)

Breakfast Meats (bacon, sausage, links, etc.)
Fruit or Fruit Salad (apple, pear, strawberry, blueberry, banana, or papaya) *Easy recipe below
Cheese (brie is my favorite)
Lox and Bagels or Toast (baguette or any european type loaf)

• Serve with a dill cream cheese, sliced tomatoes & red onion and capers

Vegetarian Fried Rice

Drinks:

Mimosa (Champagne or Prosecco)
Orange Juice
Guava Juice
Moscato d'Asti
Coffee
Variety of Tea (green, chamomile, peppermint, any herbal tea, etc.)

Table Setting:

• When possible, use real plates (especially if you have enough for everyone). I find plastic/paper to be tacky and it isn't eco-friendly.
• Glass flutes for the first four drinks mentioned above
• Coffee mugs and Tea Cups

Recipes:

Vegetable Soufflé 

• Ingredients:
• 7 eggs at room temperature
• 1/4-1/2 cup of heavy cream or milk
• any assortment of veggies
• spinach, kale, mushroom, bell pepper, tomato (fresh or sun dried), eggplant, zucchini, etc.
• fresh or dried herbs 
• rosemary, dill, basil, oregano, etc.
• cheese (feta or parmesan) 
• Directions:
1. Pre-heat oven to 350º
2. Spray a large (6 cup) muffin tin with Pam™
3. Grate or chop your veggies and layer them in the tins
4. Top with cheese
5. Whip together the eggs, creams, and herb
6. Spoon it into the tins
7. Bake until the eggs rise and are golden brown on top

Eggs Florentine

• Ingredients:
• 1 egg per person (I always add a few more just in case anyone wants seconds)
• Frozen spinach (enough to cover the bottom of the pan at least 1/4-1/2 in.)
• chopped onion & garlic
• Directions:
1. Pre-heat oven to 375º
2. Spray a 9 x 13 with Pam™ (bigger or smaller on the pan as need be)
3. Sauté chopped onion and garlic with salt
4. Microwave spinach, squeeze out excess water and add to onion and garlic
5. Pour into 9 x 13 and make wells for the eggs
6. Crack eggs into well
7. Crack fresh black pepper and sprinkle paprika over eggs
8. Bake for 15-20 mins 
• Longer or shorter depending how you want your eggs

Fruit Salad

This has to be the easiest fruit salad you will ever make. The recipe is:

• Ingredients:
• Any kind of fruit you want (get creative and add in fruit you may not normally eat by itself)
• Can guava concentrate
• Directions:
• Cut fruit into bite size pieces and add to bowl
• If using bananas, add last
• Pour guava over fruit and mix
• Serve cold and Enjoy

I hope you will enjoy having a brunch as much as I do. Also don't overthink the menu or stress out. Enjoy the company you are with because that is what's important.

-L

Green Papaya Salad

I would say that roughly every other Friday, I find myself in Chinatown (Honolulu) buying produce with my Puna because it is 90% of the time cheaper and almost always fresher than the grocery stores. Yesterday I found myself in Chinatown with Mother Dearest looking for vegetables for the ox-tail soup for dinner last night (ox-tail soup is one of my step-dads specialties and will appear on my blog if and when I ever master it). Going to one of my usual ladies, she had shredded green papaya by the cash register and over hearing my mom and I talking about it, told me exactly how to make it (to my surprise, one of the easiest recipes in the world). This recipe will be different because it doesn't have exact measurements, everything is according to taste and preference.

Ingredients:

Shredded Green Papaya
Pa'akai (hawaiian salt)
Fresh Garlic
Chili Pepper
Lime
Patis or any fish oil (optional if you want to keep this vegan/vegetarian)
Sugar
Chopped tomato

Directions:

• In a large bowl mash together salt and garlic with a pestle (I didn't have one so I improvised, main idea is to incorporate them together)
• Add Chili pepper and sugar and continue to mix
• Add a little more salt and the patis
• Add fresh lime juice and mix together
• Toss in papaya and mix well
• Add tomato (add more chili, salt, sugar, patis or lime if needed)
• The Aunty in Chinatown told me remember this when cooking, "You need 4 things in this dish, salty, sweet, sour, and spicy! Is real ono dat way."
• Enjoy

Here are some great toppers for the salad:

• Tofu (fried or regular)
• Sashimi (I had it with albacore this morning with little bit shoyu on top)
• Shrimp (cold)
• Chicken (seasoned with sea salt and asian herbs, grilled and chilled)

You can also toss in any kind of vegetables you prefer (ex. cucumbers, bell peppers, zucchini, onion, etc.)

This meal is very refreshing (and perfect for warmer days) and can either be served by itself for a meal or as an accompaniment to any asian meal (or here in Hawai'i any meal because we are not so anal about what is on the table). You can get very creative with this dish.

Bon appetite! 

-L

Du Gâteau au Chocolat ^_^

Whenever I am having a bad day, chocolate always makes it better. It never fails to put a smile on my face (especially good quality chocolate). When reading the book The Sweet Life in Paris by David Lebovitz, I came across a recipe for French Chocolate Cake and I finally made it tonight, with some slight changes of course. Here is the recipe:

Ingredients

• 9 ounces dark chocolate chips
• 1 stick of unsalted butter (cubed)
• 1/3 cup cane sugar (I use cane sugar instead of white/brown sugar in almost all my recipes)
• 4 large eggs, at room temperature, separated
• 2 tablespoons of flour
• pinch of salt
• 2 tablespoons of coffee or a coffee liqueur 

Directions

• Preheat the oven to 350º and generously spray a 9-inch loaf pan with Pam.
• In a large bowl set over a pan of simmering water, heat the chocolate, butter and coffee together until melted and smooth.
• Remove from heat and stir in half the sugar, then the yolks, and lastly the flour.
• With an electric mixer, whip the whites with the salt until it forms peaks. Add the remaining sugar and continue to whip.
• With a rubber spatula, fold in one-third of the egg whites in the chocolate mix to lighten mix. Fold in the rest of the whites until the mixture is smooth and no white marks remain.
• Scrape the batter into the loaf pan, smooth the top, and bake for 35 minutes (be sure to not over bake it.
• Let the cake cool in the pan before serving.

Since it is the holidays, I enjoyed my cake with some brandy and eggnog. If I were serving this for dinner or at a birthday party, I would cut the cake into inch thick slices and lay them flat on a plate, cut and fan out a fresh strawberry topped with a dollop of fresh whipped cream and lastly a glass of bubbly (champagne, prosecco, moscato d'asti or stella rosa red).

Bon appetite!

-L

Things Iʻm thankful for this Thanksgiving!

Though personally I feel we should be thankful everyday for all we have, once a year we spend a whole day on the subject. Here are the things I am most grateful for this year:

• Iʻm thankful for being able to have traveled so much in the past year. I've been to Japan (just to eat and go shopping), Sweden to visit +Stephanie Newhouse , France for a wedding I will never forget and food I literally dream about, San Jose to see the PCQ, an unforgettable trip to Sin City with my closest friends and a trip back to Australia that was beyond an amazing!!!
• Family and my friends I consider family. They are my rock and I wouldn't know what I would do without them.
• Friends who add interest and good times.
• I finally am back in school.
• Our newest addition to our family, my nephew. The first of his generation.
• Knowing where I am headed in life.
• BA in Art History with a minor in Theater (though I hope I can double major)
• Masters Certificate in Museum Studies and a Masters in Art History
• PhD in an undetermined field
• My job at Gallery ʻIolani for getting me on the right track and especially to the gallery director and my mentor Toni for taking a chance on me.
• Iʻm thankful for the lessons I have been learning lately. They have all made me realize what truly is important in this life.
• and for me being me and getting comfortable in my own skin!

Though this list doesn't have everything I am truly grateful for, this does sum up all the important ones.

Happy Thanksgiving!

-L

Attempting my first overnight roasted turkey! :)

Since I returned home from Paris in May, I have been a "pescetarian"/ part-time vegan/ mostly vegetarian. But since tomorrow is Thanksgiving, I will indulge in a little turkey. 

Tonight my brother came home with a defrosted 22 lb bird, for free if I'm not mistaken. Since turkey (the whole bird) is my Puna's favorite choice of meat, we decided to roast a turkey over night. This is the first time a turkey has been roasted in my house in about half a decade, maybe more. We enjoy our bird fried (though now my Gramps has an infra-red cooker so we cut down on the oil). Since I've never roasted a bird, I thought Iʻd like to give it a try, so Gramps showed me what to do.

This will probably be one of the easiest recipes I will ever post. This roasted turkey recipe calls for only 3 ingredients:

• defrosted turkey
• paʻakai (hawaiian salt)
• must be hawaiian salt, not sea salt
• butter

1. Clean the bird
• take out the neck, fat and that bag inside the body
2. Preheat oven to 200º
3. Throw some paʻakai on the bottom of a roasting pan
4. Put bird inside and salt the outside and inside
5. Put in lower center of the oven with a foil tent on it
6. When the bird starts to get some color (3-4 hours), rub it with more butter and add little bit more salt
7. Let roast for 12 hours

I put the bird in the oven at around 6:15 pm tonight and will let it cook till about 6:30 - 7:00 am tomorrow.

I will update this blog tomorrow morning and let you all know how it went!

-L

PS. We are having dinner tomorrow with an "infra-red"turkey. The roasted turkey is breakfast.

Pumpkin Pumpkin Everywhere

Since it is that time of the year, I would like to share some Pumpkin Recipes I have. Everyone can thank my dear friend Auntie Karla, whom is the reason I am sharing these recipes.

Pumpkin Crunch

Mix together:

• 1 15 oz. can of Pumpkin (either puree or pie)
• 1 can evaporated milk
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 3 eggs
• 2 tsp cinnamon
• 1 tsp nutmeg

Preheat oven to 350º

Spray a 9 x 13 with Pam

Pour mixture into it

Top in this order:

• 1 box yellow cake mix
• 1 cup chopped walnuts
• 2 blocks of melted butter

Bake for 50 mins

When serving this, I like to flip it onto a long plate and top with whipped cream (fresh is always better) and dust with cinnamon and fresh grated nutmeg.

Pumpkin Cake

Cake Ingredients:

• 2 1/2 cup flour
• 1 T baking powder
• 1 t baking soda
• 1 t cinnamon
• 1 t allspice
• 1/2 t salt
• 1/2 t nutmeg
• 1/2 t ginger
• 3 eggs
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1/3 cup vegetable oil
• 1/2 cup orange juice
• 1 t vanilla
• 1 1/2 cup canned pumpkin (no spices)

Icing:

• 1/4 cup cream cheese
• 1 T butter
• 1/4 t vanilla
• 1/4 cup sifted powdered sugar
• 1 T orange zest

1. Preheat oven to 350º
2. Grease and lightly flour a 10" bundt pan
3. Add flour, baking powder & soda and spices in a bowl. Mix with a fork until everything is incorporated.
4. Place eggs, brown sugar, oil, oj, and vanilla in a separate mixing bowl. Beat with an electric mixer at medium speed till blended, about 2 mins.
5. Stir in pumpkin
6. Fold in dry mix until all ingredients are incorporated.
7. Pour batter into bundt pan and smooth top. Bang against counter a couple times, then run a knife around the mixture to prevent holes from forming in cake.
8. Bake in center of oven for 45 - 55 minutes
9. Prepare cream cheese, butter and vanilla with an electric mixture until it is creamy. Gradually add in powdered sugar. 
10. When cake is cool, flip it onto a plate and drizzle the icing over it.

ENJOY!

-L