chop A Culinary Playground

Healthy Stir Fry

My father is recovering from a serious medical problem so I try to cook with these healthy vegetables a few times week.  This is a great stir fry that uses mostly local produce and tastes great.

1/4  Cup extra virgin olive oil

1 Organic eggplant diced (from garden)

1 Cup organic beet greens, chopped

1 Cup organic collard greens, thick stem removed, and

   chopped (from garden)

1/2 Cup sweet maui onion, sliced

2 Cloves, organic garlic

1/2 Head organic purple cauliflower, floret broken in to   

  smal pieces

Pinch of thyme, basil

1    Teaspoon lemon zest

1/2 Lemon, juiced

Heat oil in saute pan, add eggplant, cook until golden brown.  Add greens, onion, garlic and cauliflower, cook until cauliflower is fork tender.  Add thyme, basil, lemon zest and juice. Serve and feel good about what you are eating.

Eat Local Week

Tomorrow I join 200 others from Kanu Hawaii  to eat locally as much as I can for one week.  This is quite a challenge for many reasons.

1.  I live on an island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.

2.  I will need to feed my household of seven who all have various food challenges

3.  It may break the bank.

My isolation of living on an island is actually one of the reasons that I am doing this.  I have thought about what we would do if for some reason we could not get  our shipments of food to the island, how would we survive? This test may show if it is feasible.

Yes, I have seven people living in my house and some will have some difficulties with the challenge. First of all I have three boys that eat constantly  My youngest, Jake (2) loves his little snacks (Cheerios). What will I replace them with?  My middle son, Gabe(8) is my finicky eater no fish, the only vegetable that he will eat are carrots.  Will he shrivel away  from not eating? Zayn (17), will eat anything but he also will be going to movies with friends (popcorn) and basically as a typical teen does not want his mom telling him what to do. I also have my father living with us and  he has a chronic condition which is affecting his appetite, so I am going to allow him the food that is easy for him to eat such as ice cream and yogurt.  As for my mother, husband and I we are fine with this and will eat anything.

It will be interesting to see how much this is going to cost.  I will be doing shopping at many places to get the best price.  Eating locally can be more expensive and I will be able at the end of the week to see how much more it is.

Tomorrow I start the day at the Farmers Market near Diamond Head and I guess I will take this week meal by meal. I am allowing us a few luxury items, flour (I will make bread and pasta), olive oil (I can not live with out it), and spices.  I will be blogging to chronicle this week.

Please leave a comment if you have any tips or thoughts.

My First Papaya

From my tree. 

Hawaii State Farm Fair

Great day at the farm fair at Bishop Musuem.

Egg producers showed the kids how egg size is determined.

Then they play a word game with the eggs (the eggs had letters on them)

Naked Cow Dairy sampled their Feta Cheese

 

This poster shows the taro production decline.  I am working on a story about this.

A taro root, this is what the Hawaiian food staple poi is made of.

 

4 H livestock. BTW the pig is sleeping.

 

Beautiful torch ginger.

  

More ginger.

Mats were provided to sit on the grass and enjoy the fair.

 

The petting zoo.

Tomato Vodka Salad

Several years ago I tore a recipe out of a magazine for cherry tomatoes macerated in vodka.  I always wanted to make it for a catering job but never did because of the tedious task of  peeling the tomatoes.  I have long lost the recipe.  This year I seem to have a lot of cherry tomatoes in the garden from some rogue plants and I decide to try to make this tomato and vodka salad.

This salad would be great for brunch or a hot summer afternoon.

Cherry Tomato and Vodka Salad

serves 8

2 pints cherry tomatoes

2 cups vodka

  Coarse grain sea salt (I used Hanepepe Alae

  from our friend's salt bed) 

  Fresh basil, jullienned

Put a pot of water to boil.  Cut a X on the bottom of the tomato.  Do not cut too deep, just cut the skin.  Place in boiling water for 15 seconds, drain and place in an ice bath. Peel skin off. Place in container with vodka and basil. Macerate for 3 - 10 hours.  Drain (vodka can be used for Bloody Marys) Place tomatoes in individual glasses and top with sea salt.

This would also be excellent with some Buratta Cheese

Mangoes, Mangoes and More Mangoes

It seems like we are going to have a bumper crop.  Our neighbors tree is full of half ripe and still green mangos.  With the green mangos I made mango chutney and pickled mango.

Pickled Mango

1      Quart sliced green mangos

1      Cup raw sugar

1/2   Cup white vinegar

2      Tablespoon Hawaiian salt

Bring sugar. salt, and vinegar to boil. Place mango in sterilized jars.  Pour vinegar mixture over mango.  Cover and let cool.  Place in refrigerator.

Mango Chutney

adapted from A Taste of Aloha

1     Quart white vinegar

3     Pound brown sugar

4     Pounds half ripe mango, peeled   

       and cubed

2     Tablespoon salt

1     Ounces small Hawaiian Chili

       Peppers (similar to Thai peppers)

4     Ounces of fresh ginger minced

4     Ounces garlic minced

Boil sugar and vinegar for five minutes.  Add mangoes and simmer until soft.  Add remaining ingredients and simmer for 1 to 1 1/2 hours until fruit is glazed.  Can in sterilized jars per jar instructions.

I remember my grandmother used to serve cream cheese topped with mango chutney served with Triscuit crackers when I was a kid. I was thinking how I could update that spread and came up with an Indian Seven Layer dip.

Indian Seven Layer Dip

2     Cups cream cheese, softened

2     Green onions sliced

2     Teaspoons mild Indian curry

       paste (Patek’s)

1/2  Cup cucumber, diced

1/2  Cup tomatoes diced

1/2  Cup sweet onion diced

1     Cup plain yogurt

1     Cup mango chutney

1/4  Cup chopped mint

Mix cream cheese, green onions and curry paste together.  Place in the bottom of a trifle dish smooth out top.  Layer the rest of the ingredients ending with the mango chutney and sprinkle with the mint.   Served with toasted pitas and naan bread.

The Honolulu Advertiser and Share Your Table are sponsoring a Mango Recipe Contest on July 11.  Please note that you must be present to participate.  I have been asked to judge.

Mango Salsa

Mango season is upon us here in Hawaii.  The first of the ripe mangos are appearing.  I do not have a tree but my surrounding neighbors do.  I made this mango from my neighbors rare white pirie tree.  I served it on top of a pan fried seabass but it would be great with grilled pork or even chips.

Mango Salsa

makes about 2 cups

1     Mango, diced

1     Large roasted red bell pepper,  

       skin

removed, diced

1/2 Jalapeño, chopped 

1/2 Red Onion, finely diced

1    Tablespoon cilantro,chopped

1     Tablespoon Italian parsley, 

       chopped

1     Teaspoon cumin

1     Tablespoon lime juice

1/2  Teaspoon Chipotle powder

   Salt

Combine all ingredients and let sit for at least 15 minutes.