Tag Archives: Island Flavor

Hawaiian Style Macaroni Salad

Posted on August 22, 2012 | 2 Comments

If you’ve ever been to Hawaii (or a Hawaiian BBQ restaurant on the Mainland) you know that virtually everything is served with a side, or scoop of ‘mac salad’.  The Hawaiian plate lunch consists of the main entree, generally two scoops of rice and macaroni salad.  It might seem like a strange combo to some, but it’s just the way it is.  Everyone has their version of this picnic food and the folks in Hawaii are no different.  This might seem too soft (overcooked) and too mayonaisy (made that word up) to some but that is generally how it is served.  I have to say that I like macaroni salad in most forms, but Hawaiian style is my favorite.  This recipe was adapted to one I found a while back from Cook’s Country Magazine.  While writing this post, I am also imagining myself eating it in Hawaii so it is a little mental getaway for me!  Be warned this recipe makes a lot (serves 8-10) so it’s good for a potluck.  Didn’t want you to have it coming out of your ears!

HAWAIIAN STYLE MACARONI SALAD

Ingredients:

-2 Cups Whole Milk

-2 Cups Mayonaise

-1 TBS Brown Sugar

-1/2 Tsp  Plus 1 TBS Salt

-2 Tsp Black Pepper

-1 Lb. Large Elbow Macaroni

-1/4 Cup Cider Vinegar*

-1/3 Cup Shredded Carrot

*Original recipe called for 1/2 Cup Cider Vinegar but I feel that is too much.  Some don’t add it at all, so it is really up to you and your personal taste.

Directions:

1.  Make a dressing by whisking together, in a small bowl: 1 1/2 Cup Milk, 1 Cup Mayonaise, Brown Sugar, Salt and Pepper.

2.  Boil Macaroni, adding 1 TBS Salt to the water, and cook for 15 minutes.  The pasta will be very soft, this is okay.  Drain it and return to the pot.

3.  Add vinegar to the Macaroni and toss – let cool for about 10 minutes.

4.  Stir in prepared dressing and cool completely.

5.  Add the Carrot, remaining Milk and Mayonaise to the cooled Macaroni and mix well.  Season with Salt and Pepper to taste.

6.  Refrigerate for at least one hour before serving, can be chilled up to two days.

→ 2 Comments

Posted in Uncategorized

Tagged , , , , , , , , , ,

Cali Roll Salad To Go

Posted on November 21, 2011 | 1 Comment

Foodie Jr. LOVES California Rolls.  He would eat them all day, every day, if I let him.  He isn’t too fond of salad though.  This was my attempt to compromise with him on a very busy night that had us on the go.  We keep a pretty busy schedule around here and being able to whip these up while he was at school for quick assembly  at dinner time was a big help.  I normally would make these with real crab but I had the surimi on hand the day I made these and no time to get to the store to buy lump crab meat.  (Shrimp would be just fine to use as well.)   Foodie Jr. will eat them either way, so I luck out there.  I do not think this is an earth shattering recipe or anything, but it might be a helpful idea to some, especially busy families.  You could easily replace the crab with tofu or simply load it with more avocado if you do not like seafood.  Mr. Foodie and I enjoy these as well and they make for a great, light meal or a quick appetizer for a gathering.  I generally make a platter of them at a time but it is fun to let your guests make their own as well.

CALIFORNIA ROLL SALAD TO GO

Ingredients:

-Lump Crab Meat (flaked) or Surimi (chopped), lightly tossed with Japanese or regular mayonaise.

-English Cucumbers, peeled, sliced thin and marinated in Mirin (or rice wine vinegar)  and black pepper for a few hours

-Avocado, chopped or slice per your preference

-Nori Komi Furikake (Japanese Rice Seasoning)

-Hearts of Romaine, broken in half to form a sort of lettuce cup to hold salad

Directions:

1. Layer ingredients onto romaine lettuce cup, I usually go crab, avocado, cucumber and top with furikake.

→ 1 Comment

Posted in Uncategorized

Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Bossa Nova Superfruit Juice

Posted on November 10, 2010 | 1 Comment

The good folks over at Bossa Nova were so kind as to send me a very generous supply of their Superfruit juices to try.  I was very excited  because I had never tried their product before and they used several fruits that I was not familiar with.  They sent me a wide variety of flavors:

  • Original, Acai Berry
  • Acai with Blueberry
  • Goji Berry with Tart Cherry
  • Mangosteen with Dragionfruit
  • Acerola with Mango
  • Mangosteen with Passionfruit
  • Acerola with Red Peach
  • Acai with Passionfruit
  • Acai with Raspberry
  • Acai with Mango

As a family we do not drink a lot of juice because of the sugar content, though Mr. Foodie and Foodie Jr. love juice.  We also never keep anything with artificial sweetener in the house.  I was pleasantly surprised to learn the Bossa Nova Superfruit Juices do not use white sugar but rather an agave nectar as a sweetener.  In comparison with some of the the other similar juices out on the market, these juices are considerably lower in sugar content – always a plus.  Our whole family loved them!  They all tasted wonderful and I personally really enjoyed the texture as some were thicker than others, especially noticeable with the juices containing mango.  These juices tasted like real fruit and tasted very fresh.  I loved seeing that the ingredient list only contained the fruit and agave nectar, no fillers or artificial anything.  As someone who is always looking for good things to serve her child, these juices made me happy!  Although they are available at some specialty higher end markets, I am happy to report that they are also available at my local Safeway grocery store so I do not have to go far to get them!  If you would like more information on the Bossa Nova juices, please visit them HERE.  Give them a try, you will not be disappointed!

I also created a little recipe using one of their juices that our family really enjoyed.  I hope you will too!

 

FURIKAKE CHICKEN WITH BOSSA NOVA ACEROLA MANGO SWEET & SOUR SAUCE

Ingredients For Chicken:

1 Lb Boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into pieces

4 Eggs, beaten

2 Cups Flour

½ – 3/4 Cup Nori Komi Furikake Mix

Vegetable Oil for Frying

Ingredients for Sauce:

½ Cup Bossa Nova Acerola Mango Juice

¼ Cup Ketchup

¼ Cup White Sugar

1 TBS (Heaping) Cornstarch

1 Tsp Worcestershire Sauce

½ Tsp Garlic Powder

1 Tsp Yellow Mustard

1 Tsp Fresh Ginger paste

Directions for Chicken:

  1. Heat oil in large skillet over medium high heat, oil should cover the entire bottom of the pan, about ¼ of an inch.
  2. Mix Flour and Furikake mix well and put on plate, for dredging.
  3. Pat chicken dry and place in egg wash.
  4. Remove excess egg from the chicken and dredge in the flour mixture.
  5. Fry chicken pieces in oil until golden brown and cooked through, turning only once.

Directions for Sauce:

  1. Place all ingredients in saucepan and combine well.
  2. Heat over medium high heat until mixture thickens and reduces a bit to your desired consistency.  Sauce should be on the thicker side.  Keep on low heat until ready to serve.

Serve chicken pieces with sauce for dipping.

 

→ 1 Comment

Posted in Uncategorized

Tagged , , , , , , , ,

My Boy’s Fried Rice – Pick a Meat, Any Meat!

Posted on October 2, 2010 | Leave a comment

My dad was retired for much of my younger years and thus, responsible for taking me to school and all that fun stuff.  He also used to make fried rice for breakfast.  His fried rice basically consisted of leftover rice, bacon and soy sauce, as best as I could tell.  Simple enough but I swear on all that is holy that this taste cannot be duplicated.  Even my sister agrees.  Knowing my dad, there probably was not a secret ingredient or anything but I have yet to figure out the secret to making it like he did.  It is still my most favorite comfort food and I’m rounding the corner to 40.

The apple does not fall far from the tree as my son could eat fried rice for every meal of every day.  You can ask him what he wants to eat at any time and the answer is generally always the same:  fried rice.  During those times when I notice he isn’t eating much, I can always count on him to scarf down bowls of fried rice.  Like any good island boy, he is a lover of SPAM.  I know SPAM is probably not the meat of choice for many Foodies, but for islanders, it is comfort food.  I grew up eating SPAM so it does not gross me out at all.  And apparently, it does not bother my son either because it is his favorite meat to put in fried rice.

When making this, I can do it blindfolded and backward so I cannot say that there is a ‘true’ recipe for it.  I truly believe it is food of love (at least at our house)  and most people who make fried rice regularly, have their own take on it.  Play with it, experiment, and make it to suit the tastes of your family or simply use up those leftovers!  This might not be the same fried rice I would serve to company, but it is our everyday, sit around the table as a family food.

FRIED RICE

Ingredients:

1 Cup of Steamed White Rice

Meat, cooked (I hate to be so general, but you really can use anything.  A can of spam, a Lb. of bacon that has been cooked and crumbled, leftover sausage, chicken, turkey, pork, beef, ham, etc…)

1-2 Cups of Frozen Veggies, thawed  (if this were up to my son, it would be strictly peas only, but I do sometimes use a pea/carrot mixture.)

Soy Sauce, to taste

Butter, to taste

4 Eggs

Black Pepper, to taste

Directions:

1.  In a non-stick skillet over medium heat, melt 2-3 TBS Butter.  Scramble the eggs and set aside.

2.  In the same skillet, add the leftover rice, butter (maybe 1/2 a stick or so) and enough soy sauce to achieve and even light brown color.  Keep tossing until all butter is melted and ingredients are evenly distributed.

3.  Add in scrambled eggs, cooked meat and veggies.  Stir and continue to heat through, an additional 3-5 minutes.

4.  Season with black pepper, about 1 TBS and serve immediately.

→ Leave a comment

Posted in Uncategorized

Tagged , , , , , ,

Lemon Pepper Butter Shrimp – Ode to the Hawaiian Shrimp Trucks

Posted on October 1, 2010 | 4 Comments

Food trucks seem to be all the rage in the food community – they even have  a show about them on the Food Network.  Unless you’ve been living under a Foodie rock, you are probably familiar with Nom Nom or Grill ‘Em All at the very least.

Shrimp trucks such as Giovanni’s or Macky’s have been really popular on Oahu’s North Shore for a long time.  On a recent family visit this summer, we visited Macky’s Shrimp Truck in Haleiwa for lunch.  If you’re looking for a wide variety of flavors, the shrimp trucks are not the place for you as their menus are generally pretty limited:  garlic, spicy, lemon…you get the idea.  We paid $12 per plate and were given a good size serving of lemon shrimp, two scoops of white rice, a green salad and some pineapple.  That’s pretty standard island food, if I do say so myself.  The shrimp was fresh and filling and the lemon butter sauce was really good, both on the shrimp and the rice.  Like we do on so many vacations, Mr. Foodie and I made a note that we had to try to re-create it at home.

Below is what we came up with and while it wasn’t exactly like the shrimp truck, it was good.  It was rich and filling, that’s for sure.  I’m sure that this could be served with more sophisticated accompaniments and dressed up for a fancy dinner, but we really liked it island style – over white rice.  I’m certain we didn’t bother with the salad…

LEMON PEPPER BUTTER SHRIMP

Ingredients:

1 Lb. Medium Shrimp, peeled and deveined

3/4 Cup Butter

Juice of 2 Large Lemons

1 Tsp Lemon Zest

1 Tsp Soy Sauce

1 Tsp Worcestershire Sauce

1 TBS Fresh Parsley, chopped

1/2 TBS Coarse Black Pepper

2 -3 Cloves of garlic, minced

Directions:

1.  Melt butter in heavy skillet over medium heat.

2.  Add all other ingredients, except shrimp.

3.  Bring liquid mixture to a boil and then add shrimp.

4.  Continue to cook shrimp until pink, approximately 5 minutes or so.

5.  Serve immediately over white rice.

→ 4 Comments

Posted in Uncategorized

Tagged , , ,