Kona Kohala Chefs

Yesterday I was invited to join the Kona Kohala Chefs Association for their March Luncheon meeting at the West Hawaii Community College Culinary Center. The group, part of the American Culinary Federation is a group of industry leaders committed to culinary enrichments through professional development and education in the community of West Hawaii. I live in East Hawaii, but most people on his island know where the creative forces are on this island when it comes to food, and as much as I love Hilo, I have to admit the food scene is far more interesting on the West Coast. In particular the luxury resorts have hired some true culinary geniuses such as Matthew Zubrod of Monettes @ the Mauna Kea Beach Hotel. Even the smaller restaurants "on the other side" are interesting. I had the pleasure of sitting across the table from Morgan Starr from Mi's Italian Bistro in Kealakekua and nabbed the secret for his ultra creamy polenta.

The meal started off with a Roasted Anaheim Pepper stuffed with Monterey Jack Cheese and a house made  tomatillo salsa

The culinary students from West Hawaii Community College put on quite a spread for us. The food was beautiful and delicious. I will be doing a specific post on their program soon, as well as the one at Hilo Community College.

A non-traditional Posole with Ham and Hominy was served with fresh Spoapillas

The salad course was a Tortilla Bowl filled with Fresh Local Tomatoes, Sweet Peppers, Guacamole, Black Beans, shreds of Cheddar topped with a dollop of Sour Cream

Our entrée was a tasty and well spiced Chicken Quarter slathered with a Dry Rub and grilled. The Corn on the Cob had a delicious Habanero-Ginger Butter and the Coleslaw was fresh and crispy as well as colorful.

The afternoon was capped off with this exquisite Kona Coffee Caramel Coconut Flan with Tulle Cookie, Fresh Strawberry and Raspberry Coulis. Of course that went nicely with a cup of great local Kona Coffee! 

Chef William Trask, President of AFC Kona Kohala Chef's Association speaks to the crowd

The AFC Kona Kohala chapter does work within the community, providing culinary scholarships and supporting local agriculture and sustainability. I am looking forward to being a part of this interesting group of culinary professionals. A special thank you goes to my friend Ken Love (Tropical Fruit Ambassador) for inviting me to the group. Next month the meeting is being held at Doutor Coffee Plantation, which also has an exquisite flower and fruit garden. I am looking forward to April. 

If you are planning on attending the Kona Brew Festival March 15-15th stop by the group's booth for a taste of their Lite Ale Sweet Chili Bean Chili with Braised Sausage. 

Test Tsunami

At Sunrise All Was Calm

Anyone that knows much about the Big Island of Hawai'i will tell you that Hilo has been overdue for a Tsunami for a long time. Traditionally they have hit this side of the island over and over, causing death and destruction. It is for that very reason that Hawai'i County Civil Defense has a well deserved reputation for handling disasters and protecting the islands residents, property and visitors. They did so Saturday in an amazing way. Most of the world was watching our little island for a while then.  

Tsunamis can be scary things and any place along the coast of any land mass in the Pacific is susceptible to them, though few locations are in such a direct line of them as Hawai'i Island, sitting like a little target in the middle of the pacific with no other land to protect her. 

My house sits on a cliff over looking Hilo Bay. We are very high up on the cliff and in no eminent danger from a Tsunami, at least not directly. Of course there is always danger of loss of infrastructure and maybe damage to our cliff. Many people on the mainland do not fully understand Tsunamis or what they do, and so when they hear of one, they thing that all of us in Hilo are in danger. We all would feel loss if a significant one should happen here of course. Chances are that in my lifetime that will be the case. Much of the downtown area of Hilo, as well as the area where major hotels are would suffer some damage. A lot of this has to do not just with those areas being waterfront, but the actual shape of the ocean floor in and around our harbor. In addition to that, many of our valleys and inlets would be the worst hit, including our blessed Waipio Valley. 

Coconut Island in the Bay on Friday Morning

All Was As Usual on Coconut Island Friday

So, here is how yesterday  played out for us. 

My friends Ray and Marsha had spent the night after we had attended a dinner party together down in Hawaiian Paradise Park. They live 45 miles north of me in Honoka'a and own 2 lovely vacation cottages there. 

At 4 am, I got up to make coffee  and turned on the News. To my surprise they were talking about the Tsunami, which at that time was projected to have 8-12 waves. Still in the big picture, that would even be a small Tsunami, 1946 (54 feet) was the worst and 1960 (35 feet) also was very destructive. Today we have lots of warning systems in place. The sirens (VERY loud and lasting 5 minutes) sounded, the actual arrival time was set at 11:19 am. I woke our friends and they decided to go back to let their guests know that there was no danger for them.  As the time drew nearer, mainland friends started sending text messages & e-mails. Phones continued to ring and many of my friends checked in via Facebook, one even staying with me through the entire ordeal. It is true that in times of eminent danger you find out who your friends are! 

The Last Boat Out of the Harbor

The boats in the harbor were instructed to leave and to go to the safe depth of 1200 feet. They had completely cleared the harbor by 9:30 am. 

Here, you can actually see the time lapse video of the Tsunami and as we watched this we all breathed a sigh of relief. This is another video of the water coming and going in and out quickly. 

 You can learn more about Hilo's devastating history of Tsunamis here at the Tsunami Museum web site. They also have a web cam there that shows live views of Hilo Bay. There are interviews with survivors and a multitude of photos and films to view in their archives.  

Still Fairly Calm at 10 am. 

The Surf Picked Up and the Color of the Water Changed

The Boats Returned to the Harbor, Last One Out, First One In

In the aftermath of the entire event, the mayor of the island of Hawaii gave his take on the entire event in this video.   If you watch it you will see the spirit of our island at it's best. In the end, our public servants, residents and visitors all worked efficiently to clear the danger zones. We had a first hand experience seeing what would happen in far more dangerous conditions. Everyone I have talked to about the situation feels the same way. We are prepared for a bigger disaster when it does come our way. The scare of 2010 was a very real one with no disastrous effects, next time we may not be so lucky, but we will be ready. 

Botanically Speaking

Yesterday I had visitors from the mainland. One of my favorite places to take visitors is to the Hawaii Tropical Botanical Gardens just down the road from us overlooking spectacular Onomea Bay. There, amongst the ferns and palms is an oasis of wonder. The steep climb in and out of the gardens is also good exercise. One can never visit this place without acknowledging that this is one of the most beautiful gardens on the planet. The exquisite beauty of the flora here is truly something incredible. While I do go there often, I never tire of the experience. If you are coming to the big island, this is a "must see".

I would love to share with you some of the botany that made me smile yesterday. Above is my friend Mary visiting from Texas. Be sure to scroll all the way to the end where you will see some very strange treees.

Honeycomb Ginger

Heleconia

Cat's Whiskers

Heleconia

One of the strangest trees I have ever seen, The Cannon Ball Tree

But this one is even stranger, The Sausage Tree

Wordless Wednesday: Big Island International Cooking Club

Spiny Serindipity

Coming home from my walk on Thursday morning, a neighbor was parked near our house and asked if we wanted some lobster. Like, "Who wouldn't?" He was selling them after a night of Lobster Diving. I bought two, each were about 1.5 pounds. These are spiny lobsters, not New England Lobsters, so they have no big claws and there is also meat in their bodies. You cannot buy these lobsters in any stores here, you have to know or meet a diver.

Lobster season here is from September 1st through April 31st. There is no spearing allowed and there is a minimum size of 3 1/4 inches carapace (head portion.) My personal rule of thumb is that if they are not alive and moving that I do not buy them. Many fishermen have an aerating pump that they keep going in a cooler filled with sea water to keep them alive.

Simple is best when it comes to lobsters. I like to either boil them and serve them with crackers and picks or par-boil them, cut them in half and put them on the grill to finish cooking with some olive oil to hold in the moisture.

If you buy an extra one or two, then you can save the extra meat for something like pasta with lobster. In this case, I just boiled them, cut them in half, grilled them for a few minutes and served them with clarified butter, a salad and garlic bread. It does not get much easier or better than that. Of course one of the great things about lobster is Lobster Bisque a few days later. That is coming up.

Indian Flavors in a Yellow Pepper...

For a while Suvir Saran has enchanted me. His restaurant Devi in New York was one of my favorite places in a sea of wonderful restaurants (more of them than any other place I  have ever been to unsurprisingly so). Partly because of the incredible flavors that emanated from his kitchen but also because my own nickname has been Devi since childhood. I coveted the matchbooks. I loved coming into the saffron scented rooms, the very tall and yet intimate space of Devi. The first time I went there (2004) I saw (and grabbed) a postcard advertising his then new book, Indian Home Cooking. It is to this day one of my favorites because as much as Indian Cuisine is an immense subject floating over many regions and capturing spices and flavors that are uniquely Indian, it also has some deep roots in small home kitchens. Suvir captured the essence of home cooking in India in this book. Not much of the food at Devi resembled Indian Home Cooking at first glance, it looked more complicated, more special, but deep down the roots of Devi's food were intertwined with everything Suvir learned in his younger days. He is an astonishingly handsome, gentle mannered man and he has a true gift for teaching the art of Indian Cooking. I suppose I bow to him among other culinary influences in my life. And that is what brings me to today's post. I recently picked up Indian Home Cooking and rifled through the pages to get some inspiration. It did not take me long to start bookmarking the pages for things I wanted to cook again. In the coming weeks I may share more of the meals I have been enjoying from his books (he also penned American Masala), but for now, let's just get to something simple and amazingly complex at the same time, Bharwaan Mirchee: Stuffed Bell Peppers

While I adore Suvir's inspirations, I do play a bit with my food, so this recipe is my take on his concept... I have altered a few things and added things like curry leaf which I adore and have in abundance in my Hawaiian garden. For much of my Indian cooking I find myself asking friends to send me spices from Indian markets on the mainland. But this recipe can be made almost anywhere. The fresh curry leaves grow here as  massive trees. But most Indian Markets on the mainland have them fresh if you ask.

Bharwaan Mirchee: Stuffed Bell Peppers
Serves 4

The connection between food and the visual arts has always fascinated Suvir. These spiced potato stuffed peppers are a food he remembers from his youth. You can adjust the heat a bit by adding more of the hot peppers or discarding more of their seeds and membranes. You might want to add some garlic paste. I have done that before. I sometimes halve this recipe when it is just the two of us.

1 1/2 pounds of golden or red boiling potatoes (or you can use 2 cups of leftover mashed potatoes as I did)
4 small brightly colored bell peppers
2 teaspoons coriander seeds
2 teaspoons cumin seeds
1/4 teaspoon cayenne
1 serrano chile or two hot Hawaiian chiles, seeded and chopped finely
3 tablespoons fresh cilantro finely chopped
2 tablespoons fresh mint finely chopped
2 scallions or chives finely chopped
a 1 inch piece of fresh ginger grated with a micro plane
3 tablespoons fresh curry leaf finely chopped (optional)
Juice of 1 lime or lemon ( I prefer lemon for this)
crushed black pepper corns
sea salt (about a teaspoon)
1 large egg whisked with a pinch each of salt and cayenne pepper
2 tablespoons of canola or olive oil

Put the potatoes in a large pan with cold water to cover and boil till very tender, 30-40 minutes

While the potato cooks, core and remove the seeds & membranes of the peppers leaving a 2 inch opening.

In a dry skillet, toast the seeds till they begin to pop, stirring frequently. Remove from heat and allow to cool.

Coarsely grind in a mortar and pestle or spice grinder (I use both... and have  a dedicated spice grinder (used to be a coffee grinder)

When the potatoes are cooked, peel and mash them in a large bowl. Add the ground spices, ginger, cayenne and herbs, lemon juice, peppers, salt and black pepper stirring to blend then taste. You may want to add more salt or pepper or even a hint of ghee. Sometimes I also add shredded paneer.

Fill t he peppers to the top with the potato spice mixture.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

Heat the oil in a medium oven proof pan over medium heat. When the pan is hot, dip the peppers open sides down into the egg to coat the stuffing.

Place the peppers egg side down into the hot oil  and cook until a golden coating has developed.

Turn the peppers right side up and place the whole pan in the oven for 30-40 minutes and serve hot.