Hawaiian Fish Dishes

If you've ever been to a real Hawaiian Luau, you know that the food is King, along with the music and entertainment and fanfare of the event. One of the classic dishes served at Luau's is Lomi Lomi Salmon, with it beautiful color and wonderful taste it is also one of the stand-out dishes of any luau. The words lomi lomi means to rub or massage in Hawaiian, and in context to this dish, it describes how the dish is prepared. I am not sure why and often wondered how salmon came to be the fish of choice in this dish as I am pretty sure salmon is NOT an indigenous fish of Hawaii. Oddly enough, tomatoes another key ingredient in Lomi Salmon, while grown there, are also not indigenous to Hawaii leading me to believe that this dish is a concoction developed well after Captain Cook arrived, and is essentially a modern dish. I suspect whalers coming from the Pacific Northwest introduced the fish as late as early the 1800's.

Any way, a significant part of the process involves salting the salmon, using traditional Hawaiian sea salt, the fish is rubbed and the salt massaged into the fish. Let the salted salmon sit overnight and rinse thoroughly with cold water. All the lomi lomi salmon I've ever had were pretty salty, so you can adjust it to moderate, especially if you're trying to reduce salt intake and a healthier heart.

It'd be great to add a couple of nice juicy Maui tomatoes and a sweet onion, but any nice tomatoe and sweet onion will do. dice all to around the same size bits and mix it all together with your hands, remember, massage...gently. You could add a little pepper and some scallions chopped fine. This dish is traditionally served cold or chilled, taste better that way.

For a twist, you could add some sweet yellow and red bell peppers or even a papaya, diced.

In the dish show here, I've also included a Poke - Aku type fish dish, pronounced Poe-kee or Poe-key my way because I do not have access to Limu, a type of Hawaiian seaweed. Aku is tuna in Hawaiian, and this particular variety is yellowfin.

I also made a more traditional seafood salad with crab meat and shrimp, with thinly sliced cucumbers, parsley and a splash of white wine vinegar and spoon full of light mayonaise.

The combination of the three dishes were a delight to my palette and I enjoyed it very much.

_________________________________________________________________

Meatloaf

I have made many meatloaves using different recipes and what can I say, at the end of the day, it's another meatloaf. So this time I thought I'd add an extra guest in addition to the usual suspects. Marsala wine. I started with a combination of ground pork and beef about a pound of each. I incorporated the two meats and seasoned with kosher salt and pepper along with the chopped onions. I also used a combination of Italian style bread crumbs and Panko flakes. I don't like to cube bread from sandwich loaves, which I used before, because they tend to get mushy and they don't really add any real flavor. I chopped about a tablespoon of dried rosemary and a pinch of chopped parsley. I then added the wet ingredients after beating the eggs with a wisk and half and half. After forming the loaf, to top it off, I spooned some tomatoe sauce, sprinkled shredded Asiago and slices of Canadian bacon.


I made a brown gravy from the drippings and added onions, Shitake mushrooms and a little Marsala wine to top it off. Served with mashed golden yukons, with garlic and parsely. I did a quick pan roast of zucchini, yellow squash, onions and diced tomoatoes.

As it turned out, the loaf was juicy and quite tasty. Not bad for a easy to make dish.


1 lb. ground pork
1 lb. ground beef
1 egg
1/2 cup bread crumbs
2 Garic cloves chopped
1/4 cup Marsala wine
1/4 cup Half and Half
1/4 cup tomato sauce
1 teaspoon chopped rosemary
1/2 cup onions finely chopped
3 slices canadian bacon
3 tablespoons shredded Asiago
1 teaspoon kosher salt
Pinch of coarse black pepper

________________________________________________________

Chicken Marsala with Shiitake Mushrooms

Last night, I was undecided as to what I wanted to eat until about 6:00pm, then I had a deep craving for chicken or veal Marsala. I didn't have any chicken thawed, and no veal at all, so I had to make a run to market to see what I could get. The big supermarket did not have good prices on chicken or veal, so I went to a smaller store down the road, and found a huge boneless breast on sale. I also grabbed a bit of Pancetta because I wanted use the fat rendered from that meat to help cook the chicken and mushrooms. I also got a little bit of Shitake musrhooms instead of Crimini because I love Shitakes. I had bottle of Marsala wine I got the other night when I made Osso Buco. As it turned out, served over a bed of linguini, I was very pleased and thoroughly enjoyed how tender and rich the chicken came out. Bon Appetite!

_______________________________________________________

Poor Man's Osso Buco

I actually like making this dish, I say poor man's Osso Buco because I use beef shanks instead of veal. I can find nice meaty beef shanks more easily and for a lot less than veal shanks in at the local markets where I shop. I first leaned how to make this wonderfully braised meat at Trax Restaurant from Chef Waxman, he makes an awesome Osso Buco.

Osso Buco is a traditional northern Itallan dish and usually served with risotto and also called Ossobuco alla milanese, for it's Milanese origin. They say it means "hole in the bone" or "hole of bone" I don't know what the literal translations is but I figure it's not specific to only veal shanks. For me, this is an evolving dish and I like to try variations on traditional recipes. I think you have to have an acquired taste for Osso Buco, braised meat is not for everyone. The payoff is suppose to be the marrow in the center of the bone, but I've never actually dug into that precious place. I'm not a huge fan of risotto, so I will serve it with roasted golden yukons.

As with a lot of great dishes, much of the work is in the preparation before anything ever gets cooked. I love watching all these cooking shows and they have all the stuff already prepared so all they do is add the ingredients as they need them. So I chopped the vegetables into bite sized pieces which include the trinity of celery, carrots and onions.

I found a couple of nice beef shanks as a starting point. I seasoned the shanks with coarse kosher salt and pepper and dredged them in flour and patted them off before adding them to a big hot skillet with olive oil. I can't help myself so I had to season the flour with a few spices including garlic salt, paprika, pepper, and little herb rub mixture that contains rosemary, thyme, marjoram, tarragon and lavender. I placed the coated shanks in large, hot skillet with some oil.

After browning the meat on both sides, I took the shanks out and placed them on a cooking sheet. Returning to the skillet I added about a tablespoon of olive oil, the pan is pretty hot by now so I add the onion, celery and carrots. I got the mirepoix going now, veggies have got a good sweat going on and the all the flavors are melding together. I added some Marsala wine to deglaze the pan and get all the brown goodies on the bottom of the left from the shanks. After the mirepoix gets that nice color, I add the shanks back to the skillet and add about a cup of chicken stock (I also try to keep at least a gallon of homemade chicken stock in my refrigerator or freezer). I brought the mixture up to temperature covered and placed it in the oven at 350º.

I also made a Gremolada to Gremolata to garnish the finished dish, made with parsley, garlic and lemon rind season with a touch of salt and pepper.

After about 2 hours the house was full of the wonder aroma of the dish, and the final product was well worth the effort. I friend Will and I enjoyed every last bite, and even got the succulent marrow out of the bone.



________________________________________________________

Wicked Asian Noodle Soup

The other night after work my friend Will, and I stopped at the local Korean market to get some sashimi and sushi, but we were a litte late and they were out of sushi so I got some Ramen style noodles to go with the sashimi.

I also got some shrimp (21-26) to add to the noodles. The shrimp had to cleaned and peeled so I put the soup base up and chopped a some onions. After a quick marinade, I sauteed the shrimp in a small sauce pan.
As it turned out, the soup came out really good and wickedly spicy and hot. I chopped a few chives and added it to the soup as a garnish. All I can tell is the combination of the hot and spciy soup in contrast to the cool and clean raw fish was absolutely sublime. I take such pleasure in the consumption of sashimi, and savor every bite, particularly the tuna.


I thoroughly enjoyed a quickly and easily prepared meal after a day at the office...

_______________________________________________________________

Kal's Egg Salad Sandwich

When I was a young boy growing up in Hawaii, my grandma used to live downstairs in our house and she would make all kinds of different foods for us kids, me and my two older brothers. Some of the food I fondly remember her making for me included buttermilk pancakes, avocado jam and the basis for this story, egg salad.

For something so simple, it's amazing how different egg salads can be. Every time I make it, I seem to do it differently. But the one that seems to work and taste best, also takes longer to make so it's not what I'd call fast-food.

Basically after hard boiling the eggs, I separate the yoke part and season with salt and pepper maybe a touch of paprika for color. The white are roughly chopped with sizable peices. I like the crunch of onions so I chop about a quarter of a sweet onion. I also like the sweetness of relish so I add a teaspoon and combine it all with a heaping tablespoon of light mayonnaise.

Spread between two slices of Arnold's Oatnut bread, topped with nice green leafy lettuce or spinach and a slice of tomato and voi·là! Kal's egg salad sandwich.

PS: My heart doctor recommends Arnold's as one of the best store bought bread, mainly because it is one of the only breads that do not contain high fructose corn syrup. And, it taste good too...

________________________________________________________

My version of a Pulled Pork Sandwich

I've made a version of pulled pork before, and while it came out pretty good I wanted to try something different this time. So I took my basic recipe, which was basically a typical bbq style pulled pork and changed it up a bit...

I knew I was only going to make enough for two may three people so I didn't go crazy with the meat. At my local Korean market, I found 2 lbs. of what they called Pork Rib End Loin, it was nicely marbled and I knew it would make a nice pulled pork meal.

So I gave it a good rub of ginger powder, salt and pepper and sprinkled it with a bit sesame oil and placed it in a bowl with two roughly chopped garlic cloves, soy sauce, ginger sauce and bit of sugar. I let it marinate for about an hour, I'm sure it would be better if I had to time to let it go longer, even overnight. Any way, I browned the meat in a large skillet and then set it aside. In the same pan I added a little more olive oil and sesame oil and whole sweet vidalia onion julienned and another two coarsely chopped cloves of garlic. I sauteed them until they were nice and tender, and deglazed the pan a cup of white wine. I returned the pork to the pan and added another cup of chicken broth, covered the skillet, turned the heat way down and went to watch the tube.

After about two and half hours on low heat I checked the meat for tenderness and since it was a pretty small roast it was nicely done in that time. I took the meat out, let rest for a bit while I made a quick roux for the gravy.

Here's the pan after I took out the meat.

The roux was basic but it made a great difference to the sauce. Just gave it a nice creamy smooth texture that I was looking for. By this time the onions had pretty much dissolved right into the sauce and added more body.

By this time, the meat was so nice and tender, it pulled part easily with two forks.

All that was needed now was some good artisan bread to put it on and I found a nice long rustic loaf of Garlic Peppercorn bread. Very nice indeed...

_______________________________________________

I Decided to Blog

This is my first attempt at doing a blog. I've been wanting to develop a venue where I could share my passion for food. So here is where I will post pictures of my encounters and endeavors with buying, eating and preparing various foods. I will share with you some of my recipes and ventures to various stores, places and restaurants where food is King.