Green Papaya Salad with Shrimp

Green papayas are big and solid-- a foot long. They're not like sweet breakfast papayas. When you cut one open, they're filled with little white seeds of the weight and density of styrofoam peanuts. They get everywhere!

I peeled, seeded, and julienned the firm green flesh.

To the ~ 6 cups of matchstick-sized green papaya, I added 1/4 cup Thai fish sauce, 1/4 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice, 1/4 cup freshly squeezed lime juice, 2 tbsp sugar, 1 tsp minced garlic, 2 tsp red pepper flakes, 1/4 cup chopped cilantro leaves, and 1/4 cup chopped mint leaves. This mixture can sit in the fridge for a week and still be good! I served it with sauteed shrimp and a handful of chopped dry roasted peanuts. This recipe is adapted from Bobby Flay's, found here: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/bobby-flay/green-papaya-salad-recipe/index.html This recipe is delicious, and I plan on using it again and again. I can't wait to prepare this dish for a potluck.

Lemon Basil Chicken with White Wine Lemon Butter Sauce

I love lemon basil! A few months ago, I bought a little plant from Home Depot for $1.98. When a branch looks like it's ready to flower, I snip it just above where a set of leaves shoot off, leaving six inches of stem. Now this plant is bushy and prolific! I harvest it more often than I can keep up with. Here's one recipe for using the lemon basil in a lemon-butter-white wine sauce over chicken (on a bed of caramelized onions).

Ingredients:

1/3 cup white wine

2 tbsp lemon juice

2 tbsp dried (or fresh chiffonaded) lemon basil

2 tbsp butter

Directions:

Put wine, lemon juice, and butter in a sauce pan and bring to a boil. Reduce by half, then throw in the lemon basil. Pour over chicken.

Lemon Basil Tea

The harvest is going nuts! To dry lemon basil leaves for tea, heat your oven to 200 degrees for 20 minutes, then turn the oven off. Place the lemon basil leaves in a single layer (if the leaves are touching, they don't dry) and leave the leaves in the oven overnight. Each leaf dries into a crinkly little thing. Put those crinkly leaves into your teapot for concentrated fresh lemon flavor!

White and Fuschia Dragonfruit Coconut Sherbet

Check out this thing: dragonfruit! It's nature's drag queen. Fabulous!

This is what the white one looks like on the inside. The flesh is easy to scoop out. The texture of this fruit is just like kiwi-fruit, but the taste is not nearly as sweet. It's more of a neutral and almost bland flavor.

This is the white dragonfruit coconut sherbet, made by combining (in a food processor) the flesh of two dragonfruit, 1 cup of coconut milk, 1/2 cup of sugar, and the juice of half a lime. Place this mixture into an ice cream maker and run for 30 minutes. The sherbet actually came out too sweet, probably because of the coconut milk I used, which was already sweet. Next time, I'll omit the 1/2 cup of sugar. This recipe is adapted from this one: http://mikes-table.themulligans.org/2008/08/05/dragon-fruit-and-coconut-sherbet/

Here's the fuschia dragonfruit, cut open. . . .

. . . and the fuschia dragonfruit coconut sherbet.

Pan-Seared Ahi with Lemon-Butter-Galangal Sauce

Willie and I bought an ahi sashimi tray from Costco. Some of the ahi pieces were not sashimi quality anymore, so we decided to sear those pieces. We placed the seared pieces on a bed of fresh baby arugula and poured a lemon-butter-galangal sauce over the whole thing. It tasted like one of those fancy French sauces you might get at a restaurant! Very tasty. The recipe was adapted from the Lime and Galangal Butter sauce recipe, found here.

Ingredients:

1 clove garlic, minced

1 shallot, finely chopped

1 tbsp minced galangal

1/2 cup dry white wine

1/4 cup butter, cut into 1 tbsp-size pieces

1 tsp grated lemon zest

2 tbsp lemon juice

sea salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

1 tbsp freshly chopped cilantro

Directions:

Wash baby arugula and mound onto a plate. Pam-spray a small sauce pan. Salt and pepper the ahi pieces. Put pan on medium heat. Sear ahi pieces, 1-2 minutes per side. Arrange seared ahi pieces on the mound of arugula.

Place the garlic, shallot, galangal, and white wine in a saucepan. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, and reduce the wine to 2 tbsp. Remove from the heat and whisk in the butter, one piece at a time, adding each piece after the last one has melted. Once the butter has been incorporated, whisk in the lemon zest and juice. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Stir in cilantro. Pour over the ahi and arugula and serve immediately.

Lemongrass Galangal Tea

Look at this knobby thing I picked up at the Fort Street farmers' market! It's galangal, or Thai ginger. It is spicier than ginger, with citron notes. I made a lemongrass galangal tea out of it tonight. The tea is like a mix of hot and cold: zingy heat from the galangal, but cooling and refreshing from the lemongrass. It's also easy to make:

Put 5-6 cups of water into a pot. Bruise two lemongrass stalks, cut them into two-inch pieces, and throw them into the pot. Peel a 2-3 inch piece of galangal and cut it into thin disks; throw these into the pot. Bring pot and contents to a boil, lower heat, then simmer for five minutes. Steep lemongrass and galangal in the water until it cools. I steeped mine for about an hour. Serve over ice.

The original recipe for this drink is here: http://blog.gourmet-lunch.com/gourmet-lunch/2010/03/lemongrass-tea-just-in-time-for-spring-weekend.html

Cheers! Galangal, like ginger, is supposed to be good for the digestive system.

Lemongrass Panna Cotta

Making panna cotta is so easy! Heat up 2 cups of heavy cream over medium heat in a sauce pan. Dissolve in 1/4 cup of white sugar. When the sugar is dissolved, add in 1/2 cup of chopped lemongrass stems (use the greener parts), turn off the heat, and steep for half an hour. Remove the lemongrass stems.

Bloom one packet of gelatin powder in 3 tbsp of cold water. Let stand for 5-10 minutes.

Add the still warm lemongrass cream to the bloomed gelatin and stir until the gelatin dissolves.

Pour into containers. You can Pam-spray the containers beforehand if you want to unmold the panna cotta onto a dish for serving. If you want to serve the panna cotta in the dish in which it was chilled, pour the panna cotta into pretty glasses (wine glass, martini glass).

Chill for at least two hours. To unmold, run a knife along the edge of the chilling dish. Garnish with fresh berries, lemon basil, mint, etc.

Here's the link from which this recipe was adapted: http://http://www.davidlebovitz.com/2009/04/perfect-panna-cotta/

Enjoy!

Honey Lavender Ice Cream

Remember that restaurant in the old Palomino spot? Yeah, me neither. But I do remember celebrating a birthday there over lunch and having lavender ice cream for dessert! It was unusual and savory-sweet. I wanted to recreate it. I got this recipe from "Homesick Texan":

Ingredients:

1 cup heavy cream

2 cups half-and-half

2 tbsp dried edible lavender flowers (Adrienne's note: I got mine at R. Field, Foodland Beretania)

1/2 cup light honey

2 egg yolks

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1 tsp lemon juice

1/2 tsp lemon zest

1/4 tsp salt

Method:

-->Cook the half-and-half and cream on medium heat until warm. Do not let it come to a boil. Turn off the heat, add the lavender to the pot, cover and let steep for half an hour.

-->After flowers have steeped, strain the liquid and discard the flowers. Add to the liquid the honey and heat on medium low until honey has dissolved. Again, do not let the liquid come to a boil!

-->Beat the egg yolks with the vanilla, lemon juice, lemon zest, and salt. Stir into the eggs a half cup of the warm liquid and then add the eggs to the pot.

-->Heat this on medium low for five minutes or until it gets slightly thick. You'll know it's ready when it coats the back of your spoon. Cool in the refrigerator for four hours.

-->Freeze and churn according to your ice cream maker's instructions.

-->Yield: 1 quart

Batido de Guanabana (Milkshake with Soursop Fruit)

When we lived in NYC and visited Puerto Rico now and then, Willie introduced me to the wonderful world of batidos: thick, Caribbean-style milkshakes often made with exotic fruits. He likes batidos de mamey; I like batidos de guanabana. The guanabana is a freaky, reptilian-looking fruit. When cut open, it has meaty white flesh strung through with fibers and studded with large, smooth, dark seeds. Here are Willie's thoughts on eating guanabana: "A guanabana doesn't taste how it looks. You think it would be creamy and vanilla-ish, but it isn't. When you bite into it, you experience an explosion of tropical flavors"-- a mash-up of banana, strawberry, lilikoi, and citrus. To make a batido de guanabana, throw the following into a blender and mix until smooth: 1 cup guanabana pulp; 1/2 cup cold milk; 1/4 cup sugar; and 2 scoops of vanilla ice cream. Enjoy! Recipe credit: http://www.food.com/recipe/batido-de-guanabana-guanabana-shake-120818

Enoki butter

When I was 18 and in college, I worked at Sharaku, a Japanese restaurant in the East Village in NYC. They served a grilled mushroom dish called "Enoki Butter." It was a simple preparation but so delicious. Oh, hey, dirty little secret about Sharaku circa 1993, 1994-- if you dined there and didn't eat your leftovers and didn't ask for a doggie bag, the reason why it took me forever to bring you your check was because I was eating your food back in the kitchen. Okay, I feel better now coming clean.

I found a recipe for Enoki Butter from the blog Kirsten's Recipes. If you click on the link, you'll also see a nice candid photo of Kirsten and her friends in Las Vegas with Suge Knight! (???) I'm kinda scared of Kirsten! Here's her (adapted) recipe:

Cut off the spongey ends of the enoki mushrooms. Toss enoki mushrooms with 1 tbsp sake, 1 tbsp ponzu shoyu (just mix ponzu with shoyu), salt and pepper. Place in foil. Put a 1 tsp to 1/2 tbsp knob of butter over the mushrooms. Seal up the foil pack and bake in a 400 degree oven for 15 minutes.

http://homecookkirsten.blogspot.com/2007/07/roasted-enoki-mushrooms-izakaya-style.html

After four months of excellent produce...

we are temporarily suspending our CSA subscription. We enjoyed experimenting with the MA`O produce, and we were proud to support the farm and the youth leadership program. We will most definitely be buying individual MA`O products when and where we can (like at KCC or at Whole Foods). We just need to cut back on our household spending for a little while. We will re-up with MA`O as soon as possible!

In the meantime, each week we will now post about the "Weekly Weird Thing"-- one fruit or vegetable that we will pick up at the Chinatown markets, farmers markets, or Whole Foods. We will first identify what the thing is then experiment with how to prepare it. Stay tuned!

But as a temporary good-bye and thank you to MA`O, we are posting a top ten countdown of our favorite recipes made with MA`O Farms produce! Happy eating!

10. Queen Surf Banana Bread: http://greenivoroushawaii.blogspot.com/2011/04/queen-surf-banana-bread.html

9. Fennel and Orange Salad: http://greenivoroushawaii.blogspot.com/2011/04/fennel-and-orange-salad.html

8. Curly Endive Salad with Blueberries, Toasted Hazelnut, and Shaved Parmesan Cheese: http://greenivoroushawaii.blogspot.com/2011/04/curly-endive-salad-with-blueberries.html

7. Baby Bok Choy Pesto and Grilled Salmon: http://greenivoroushawaii.blogspot.com/2011/03/baby-bok-choy-pesto-and-grilled-salmon.html

6. Massaged Kale Salad: http://greenivoroushawaii.blogspot.com/2011/03/massaged-kale-salad.html

5. The Green Goddess! http://greenivoroushawaii.blogspot.com/2011/04/green-goddess.html

4. Salad of Castelfranco, hazelnuts, and oranges in a pink papaya seed dressing: http://greenivoroushawaii.blogspot.com/2011/04/salad-of-castelfranco-hazelnuts-and.html

3. Baked Coconut Curry Chicken with Hakurei Turnips: http://greenivoroushawaii.blogspot.com/2011/04/baked-coconut-curry-chicken.html

2. Alton Brown's Parsley Salad: http://greenivoroushawaii.blogspot.com/2011/05/alton-browns-parsley-salad.html

And our favorite MA`O produce recipe of all time....

1. Lemon Basil Fruit Salad: http://greenivoroushawaii.blogspot.com/2011/05/lemon-basil-fruit-salad.html

Thank you, MA`O Farms! See you again real soon!

Hot Kale Dip

This recipe is adapted from Martha Stewart's Hot Spinach Dip. It uses baby lacinato kale (AKA dinosaur kale or tuscan kale) in place of the spinach. Where possible, I stripped the middle rib from the kale leaves.

Ingredients:

2 tsp olive oil, plus more for baking dish

1 medium onion, diced

2 garlic cloves, minced

2 lbs lacinato kale, cleaned, trimmed, and coarsely chopped (Adrienne's note: Boil this kale for 10 minutes, drain, squeeze out excess water)

1/2 cup milk

6 oz reduced-fat bar cream cheese

3 dashes Worcestershire sauce

3 dashes hot sauce, such as Tabasco

3/4 cup shredded mozzarella

Coarse salt and ground pepper

Baguette slices, breadsticks, or crackers, for serving

Directions: [Adrienne's adaptation]

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.

2. In a large saucepan, heat oil over medium. Add onion and garlic and cook until lightly browned, about 5-8 minutes. Add kale and mix well with the rest of the garlic and onion, about 5 minutes. Transfer to a separate dish.

3. In the same saucepan, warm milk over [medium-]high heat. Whisk in cream cheese until melted, about 3 minutes. Add in spinach, garlic, onion, Worcestershire sauce, hot sauce, and 1/4 cup mozzarella; stir to combine. Season with salt and pepper. Pour into a lighly oiled loaf pan. Sprinkle with remaining mozzarella.

4. Bake until bubbly and golden brown, 20-25 minutes. Serve hot with accompaniments, as desired.

Colcannon

Colcannon is a traditional Irish dish. It's a combination of mashed potatos and creamed kale. This recipe comes from the website irelandnow.com. I used the third recipe variation from that webpage, which reads:

Yield: 4 servings. 2 1/2 lbs potatotes (cooked and mashed); 1 c cooked kale (finely chopped); 1 c hot milk (Adrienne's note: I used half and half); 4 chopped scallions (optional); butter. Strip the heads of kale away from the stems and shred them finely. Kale is a tough vegetable which needs to cook for 10-20 minutes depending on its age. Cook as you would any green vegetable in furiously boiling salted water until it is just tender. (Some people add 1/2 tsp baking soda to the water to help keep the kale at its brightest green). Strain it and refresh it with cold water. Drain it thoroughly and squeeze out any excess water. Put the kale in a food processor with the hot milk then blend them into a green soup then mix with the mashed potatoes. Reheat it in the oven until it is very hot.

Street Tacos with Restaurant-Style Salsa

This is "Sarah's Salsa Recipe" for Restaurant-Style Salsa:

Throw the following ingredients into a blender or food processor and blend until the salsa is of the consistency that you like (I like it in tiny, tiny bits):

2 (14.5 ounce) cans of diced tomatoes

1 1/2 (10 ounce) cans of diced tomatoes with green chili peppers

2 tbsp lemon juice (Adrienne's note: I used lime juice)

1 fresh jalapeno chopped (Adrienne's note: The salsa is VERY spicy if you leave in the jalapeno seeds)

1/3 cup chopped fresh cilantro

1/2 large yellow onion, chopped

3 drops hot pepper sauce

1 clove garlic, minced

Street Taco Recipe:

The key to authentic tasting Street Tacos is the tortilla. Mercado de la Raza sells 5 dozen fresh corn tortillas for $5.50. They're located at 1315 South Beretania Street. Take two of these tortilla shells, warm them with a little bit of oil in a saucepan, then fill with your favorite meats and toppings. We filled ours with lime-marinated flank steak, sour cream, cilantro, and the restaurant-style salsa.

The recipe for flank steak appeared in an earlier blog post, here: http://greenivoroushawaii.blogspot.com/2011/03/lime-marinated-steak.html.

You could also make a nice guacamole for your tacos. The recipe for guacamole appeared in an earlier blog post, here:

http://greenivoroushawaii.blogspot.com/2011/02/guacamole.html

Honey Tangerine Vinaigrette

This recipe comes from the blog entitled A Hint of Honey.

Whisk the following ingredients together for this simple vinaigrette that, surprisingly, does not have any oil in it:

1/4 cup freshly squeezed tangerine juice

2 tbsp balsamic vinegar

1 tbsp Dijon mustard

2 tsp honey

1/8 tsp freshly ground pepper

Spicy Hoisin Glazed Eggplant

This is a Bobby Flay recipe. The glaze is rich and spicy!

Ingredients:

1 tbsp canola oil

1-inch piece fresh ginger, roughly chopped

2 cloves garlic, finely chopped

1 tsp red chili flakes

1/2 cup hoisin sauce

1 tbsp rice wine vinegar

1 tbsp low-sodium soy sauce

1 medium eggplant, ends trimmed and cut into 1/2-inch thick slices, lengthwise

6 tbsp olive oil

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

2 tbsp freshly chopped cilantro leaves

Directions:

Heat the oil in a small saucepan over medium heat. Add the ginger, garlic, and red chili flakes and cook until soft, about 3-4 minutes. Remove from the heat and whisk in the hoisin, vinegar, and soy sauce until combined and then strain, reserving the sauce.

Heat grill to high. (Adrienne's note: We use a George Foreman grill).

Brush eggplant slices on both sides with the oil and season with salt and pepper. Place slices on the grill and grill until golden brown and slightly charred, about 4-5 minutes. Brush with some of the glaze, turn over and continue grilling just until cooked through, brushing with more of the glaze, 3-4 minutes longer. Remove from the grill and brush with the remaining glaze. Transfer to a platter and sprinkle with the cilantro.

Taro Chips, Two Ways

I was stoked this week to receive a taro root in the MA`O Farms CSA box. I had never worked with taro root before. I was hoping that there wouldn't be a calcium oxalate problem with the root, and there was none. I peeled the brown skin off of the root, cut off the ends to expose the off-white flesh of the root, and sliced the root into quarter-inch wedges. Half of the wedges were deep fried over medium-high heat in canola oil until golden brown (top right). Those were DELICIOUS! The remaining wedges were coated lightly with olive oil, sprinkled with salt and pepper, then oven-baked at 400 degrees F for 20 minutes (flipped halfway through). Those were also delicious, but they were denser and starchier than the fried version. I liked both equally!

Beet Chips, Take Three!

As you may know, I have been trying to make a good baked beet chip. For attempt #1, my beet chips were not greased up enough and stuck to the pan. For attempt #2, my beet chips were greased up too much and were limp and oily. For attempt #3 (this week's attempt, left), I just Pam-sprayed the pan and Pam-sprayed the beets and baked them at a higher temperature (400 degrees) for 20 minutes. This worked well, as the beets were neither too dry nor too oily, and some of them even had a chip-like crunch. But they weren't that great! Maybe beet chips and me are not meant to be. Then again, I wondered if the only way to make an acceptable chip-like beet would be to deep-fry it. I tried that (results top right), but those weren't that great either. Willie reminded me that not all products of the natural world were meant to be manipulated by humans into crunchy snacks. After four tries at making beet chips, I agree.

Lemon Basil Fruit Salad

Lemon basil is my new crack! I had never had this herb before this week. It's outstanding! Simply chiffonade a bunch of leaves and sprinkle over fruit salad. The basil confetti leaves a pleasant, lemony, fresh taste all over your palate. Willie thought the chiffonade strips would also taste great over vanilla ice cream.

Lemon Balm Tea

The lemon balm herb looks (and grows wild) like mint, but it smells like lemon! To prep the leaves to make tea, wash them well, dry them well, then place them flat in a single layer on a cookie sheet. To oven- dry the leaves to make tea, heat your oven to 200 degrees for 20 minutes, then turn it off. Place the leaves on the cookie sheet in the oven overnight. To make the tea, boil some water, let it cool off just a little, and pour it into a tea pot over as many dried leaves as you like (I used about a dozen in my little tea pot). Let steep for about ten minutes, then serve however you like (with honey, sugar, lemon, etc.) I made Willie try some. He liked it. He had a little bit of insomnia last night, and now he's laid out on the couch, knocked out.

Pork Lumpia with Shaved, Roasted Hakurei Turnips

This is another Adrienne experiment, since we had leftover ground pork and lumpia wrappers and some hakurei that were staring us in the face.

Ingredients:

1 cup ground pork

1 tbsp vegetable oil

1 tbsp olive oil

salt and pepper

2 cloves garlic, minced

1/2 inch nub of ginger, peeled and minced

1 small onion, diced

3 tbsp hoysin sauce

1 bunch hakurei turnips, grated

12 Thai basil leaves

6 lumpia wrappers

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

When oven is ready, place grated hakurei turnips onto a foil-lined cookie sheet. Drizzle with olive oil and salt and pepper and spread into an even layer. Cook for 20-25 minutes, stirring every five minutes. Set aside.

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.

In a medium saucepan, pour in 1 tbsp vegetable oil. Saute ginger and garlic until fragrant, about 2-3 minutes. Add in onion and saute for about 5 minutes. Add in pork and cook through, about 5-10 minutes. I used a potato masher to even out the pork chunks. Add in 3 tbsp of hoysin sauce and stir to coat the pork completely. Stir in Thai basil leaves and roasted hakurei at the end.

Let pork mixture cool a little.

Place 2-3 tbsp of the cooled pork mixture into a lumpia wrapper (towards the bottom quadrant). Roll lumpia wrapper up like a little burrito. Place rolled up lumpia onto a foil-lined cookie sheet. Pam spray the lumpia on both sides. Cook for 10 minutes on one side, then a little less on the other side (~7 minutes or so). Serve with your favorite dipping sauce. Willie and I are using up our Jack in the Box Sweet and Sour sauces (this is class you can't BUY!)

Kale Salad with Baked Beets, Walnuts, and Creamy Goat Cheese (and Steak!)

This is a hearty, earthy, winter-y salad! It comes from the foodvergnuegen blog. I added leftover flank steak to it. The dressing is garlicky good!

Ingredients:

1 bunch curly k ale (about 6 leaves), stalks removed and torn into pieces

4 small beets, roasted or steamed, peeled and cut into wedges

8 walnut halves, toasted and broken into bits

1-2 oz creamy goat's cheese, cut into bite-sized pieces

handful of assorted sprouts, rinsed (Adrienne's note: Me no likey sprouts. Omit!)

For the dressing:

3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

2 tbsp balsamic vinegar

1 small garlic clove, pressed

1/2 tsp good mustard

1/2 tsp salt

fresh pepper

Directions:

Put all dressing ingredients into a jar with a lid. Close and shake well. Pour over kale, toss, cover, and marinate at room temperature for an hour or longer in the fridge. When you are ready to serve, add beets, sprouts, nuts, and cheese. Enjoy!

Dandelion Leaf Pesto

This is my first time cooking with dandelion greens. I didn't know they were edible! Here's a great recipe for pesto made from this bitter green from David Lebovitz.

Ingredients:

12 oz washed and cleaned dandelion leaves

1 cup olive oil

4 cloves garlic, peeled

6 tbsp pine nuts, lightly toasted

1 1/2 tsp sea salt

2 1/2 oz Parmesan or Romano cheese, grated.

Directions:

(Adrienne's note: Lebovitz adds his ingredients in stages. I just threw all of the ingredients and half of the olive oil in the food processor and pulsed, streaming in as much of the remaining olive oil as was necessary).