Morning Walk Cell Phone Pics

Every morning my friend Maria and I get out and walk three miles, more if it is flat. Most mornings we have a route that goes across the highway and over the old road to Honoli'i and back. It is filled with raspberries, guavas, avocados, breadfruit and waterfalls with the treat of watching surfers at Honoli'i midway. On Wednesdays, our friend Noel joins us as we go to the farmer's market first and then trek past the canoe sheds, past the "yacht harbor" and over to the beautiful Lili'uokalani Gardens. I take pictures most every day. I have been saving them up and will be sharing more of them with you soon. Meanwhile, today we drove North to Onomea and walked around the old sugar fields and past the long shuttered Pepeekeo Sugar Factory. I only had my cell phone with me, so these are not as high quality as I usually post ... but I could not resist taking a few pictures of the things we saw today. I hope you enjoy them too.

Taro Growing

Remnants of an old building basement

The Public Access to the Ocean

Ocean views

Giant Gear from the Sugar Industry

Momma Cow

Twins in the shade!

Eye Candy: Digital Fruit Art

Here are some photos I worked over in Photo Shop. These were taken at the 12 Trees Project in Kona. You can see a full article I did about Ken Love and the Twelve Trees Project in the Fall issue of Edible Hawaiian Islands Magazine.

Here is one for my acid loving friend Sam Dooby: Pineapples

Lardolicious! Manteca de Hawaii

The road to Mole is paved with Manteca. So is the road to good tamales. I am making both this week and those posts will follow complete with step by step instructions. This post is about rendering lard, I kid you not. In Mexican Cooking, we call it Manteca. It is a very easy process and one that rewards you with some wonderful stuff. Many things taste better with Manteca and the Spanish word just sounds a heck of a lot better than lard.

Home rendered lard is healthier for us than many of the hydrogenated vegetable fats and surprisingly has some health benefits when of course it is used in moderation. It of course is not vegetarian or vegan. It is a 100% natural fat and one third of it is composed of stearic acid, which is beneficial to cholesterol levels & circulation. Lard is also high in oleic acids and high in monounsaturated fatty acids. Lard has half the level of saturated fat of palm kernel oil or coconut oil, often touted as more healthful replacements for partially hydrogenated vegetable shortening. Here is an interesting article on the subject of fats in the New York Times.

So, if you are going to use Manteca, do not buy the supermarket variety... make your own! It is easy to do and will give you the best quality and healthiest kind of lard.

While our grocery stores lack a lot of things here on the big island of Hawaii, one of them is not pork fat. The pig is Godlike in this culture and not only can you find stacks of pig fat, you can find pigs feet, pig heads and almost everything between the snout and the tail. I bought four packages of beautiful white fat for $5 at KTA.

I brought it home and cut it up then slowly cooked it until the fat was rendered and we were left with some crispy cracklings or chicharrones.

Sprinkled with a little smoked sea salt and hot sauce they are harder to resist than a potato chip. Of course I suggest a little self control and moderation where chicharrones are concerned.

You can render the fat in the oven or on the stove top. Since it was a warm day, I opted for the stove top. I had to do my rendering in two batches. Each one took about 20 minutes on a low flame.

Once the fat is rendered, the chicharrones will be golden brown and crispy. Line a sieve with a coffee filter or paper towel and place it over a large pot or bowl. Pour all of the renderings and chicharrones into the colander. Allow to drip for at least 15 minutes, longer is better. Once the lard has been rendered it will be a golden oil that eventually turns white when it completely cools. You can store it in the fridge or freezer. It will keep for a few weeks in the fridge and at least a year in the freezer. You can also render goose fat, duck fat, and beef fat in much the same way.

Come on, I know you have lard envy about now...

The next post will be on making a deep velvety and complex mole colorado and then some butt kicking tamales! Tune in for more fun and food!

Pumpkin Ravioli!

I love the flavors of pumpkin and sage in the fall. Here is a recipe I have made twice in the last two weeks, once for a party and again for fun. All you need to add is a salad and some focaccia.

You can use pumpkin, butternut squash or sweet potato in the filling. You can make your own pasta dough, buy sheets of pasta (if you live on the mainland in an area that has gourmet markets) or you can use won ton wrappers for the pasta. These instructions are for the later method. I did them with home made pasta sheets the first time and won tons the second time, they were equally good both ways.

Pumpkin Ravioli with Brown Butter, Candied Ginger and Fried Sage

Filling:

1 1/2 # of winter squash, pumpkin or sweet potato roasted till tender and pureed.

1/4 cup chopped candied ginger

1/2 cup fontina cheese, grated

2 teaspoons finely chopped fresh sage (you could also use basil)

1/2 of a whole nutmeg freshly grated

1/4 tsp cayenne pepper

fresh ground black pepper

pinch of salt (I use my smoked salt here)

2 TBS maple sugar

Pasta sheets or won ton wrappers for ravioli (I used 1 recipe of pasta dough or two packages of won ton wrappers)

Water, pastry brush

Ravioli cutter

1/4 cup of butter (more if you follow the Paula Deen School)

1/4 cup chopped hazelnuts

1/2 cup sage leaves fried in olive oil (fry just before serving so they are crisp)

Stir the filling ingredients together. Lay out your pasta sheets. Depending on the size of your ravioli cutter, determine how much filling you will need for each ravioli.

They should be lightly stuffed, just a little puffy. I used a large round cutter and a small ice cream scoop to measure the filling. Place the filling on the pasta and then go around the filling with water using the pastry brush. Place the top sheet of pasta on the bottom sheet and lightly press the seams where you painted the water. Using a ravioli cutter, cut through the pasta and place the ravioli on a floured piece of waxed paper or silpat. Continue till you have used up the filling. The ravioli may be frozen between waxed paper at this point.

Boil water in a large pot and dunk 3-4 ravioli at a time into the water for about 2 minutes. They should be al dente. Remove with a slotted spoon or spider and allow to drain slightly. Continue till all are cooked.

When ready to serve, melt the butter in a frying pan and add hazelnuts. Add Ravioli and cook just till the butter starts to brown. Remove to a platter and top with the butter and hazelnuts, then add the fried sage leaves.

Why is Taste of Hilo featuring Endangered Species?

Editorial Comment: I do not usually use this blog to share controversial ideas or thoughts, but this one is important to me and to our community.

The Taste of Hilo is a fund raising event which benefits the HCC Culinary Arts Program & the Japanese Chamber of Commerce. It is designed to share great food with the people of Hawaii. It is a showcase for many restaurants, food stores and chefs. In concept, it is a really good idea. But there is a bad idea here ... the theme of the event this year is "Blue Fin Tuna". They have been running ads in the newspaper telling people that this event may be the only way that people will be able to taste the Blue Fin which sells for over $100 a pound in Japan. Gee, I wonder why this is the only way they can taste it?

What is bad about that? This popular fish, a staple in sushi restaurants and a the source of the highest grade of sushi and sashimi, known to aficionados as maguro and toro. The fish is also prized in Mediterranean cuisine. Japan is by far the largest consumer, with fleets in Spain, Italy and France. Many of these fish are "ranched", caught, then concentrated in aquatic feedlots where they are fattened up with massive amounts of smaller fish for a few months before sending them to market.

In 2007 Japan said it imported 32,356 metric tons of bluefin and their own vessels brought in another 2,078 metric tons that year. A single healthy sized blue fin adult can easily fetch more than $100,000 in Tokyo's largest fish market.

What is wrong with this picture? We have fantastic sushi grade ahi being caught all around Hawaii, why are we importing this endangered fish to attract foodies to the Taste of Hilo???

Today the United Nations made a proposal to ban trade on Bluefin !

You can read more about the endangered Bluefin here:

You would not eat a tiger, why would you eat a blue fin?

Monterey Bay Aquarium

World Wildlife Federation

I welcome comments here on this subject

Wordless Wednesday : Hilo Farmer's Market