Pancit Salad [GF]

In day-to-day Hawai'ian culinary life, the noodle salad is a staple.  If not in itself, as may deem it, the backbone of any plate lunch worth its salt (and that's usually a lot of salt), it's at least a vertebra on a par with the gravy, the meat, and the two scoops of rice.  While your typical plate-lunch noodle salad is macaroni-based, the gluten-intolerant among us will be glad to see a viable alternative (in the form of a pancit salad — pancit bihon being a type of ultra-thin rice noodle used in Filipino cuisine) that is wheat free and equally respectable as local food.  And as for the creamy sauce, the morsels of chicken, fish, or seafood, and the minced tomatoes — never fear: they're here in full force.

The recipe provided below yields a single serving of the salad.  I originally made a bowl of this salad a week or so ago, but have maintained a strong hankering for it ever since, and have created three variants so far: one featuring chicken breast, one featuring tuna, and one featuring mussels (the rest of the ingredients, and their proportions, have been held constant as the protein source has been varied).  The mussels have so far been my favorite, but all have been outstanding.  Also, I should point out that the reason I elected to use pancit, rather than any other form of rice noodle, is that I just happened to have some lying around.  I suspect that rice macaroni might even be a better vehicle for the mayonnaise-based sauce, and would, at any rate, add to the mac-salad authenticity and caché of the dish.

Curly cress, incidentally, which is called for in this recipe, and which occasionally also goes by the aliases "garden cress" and "pepper grass," is a piquant, peppery micro-green.  It shows up not infrequently at farmers' markets on O'ahu (credit for the bunch I used in constructing this recipe, in all three of its incarnations, goes to the folks at 'Nalo Farms, who also, I should add, raise a damned fine corn sprout), but, as with many of Hawai'i's agricultural delights, I'm not sure about its wider availability.  If you can't find it, don't worry too much: it's not an essential ingredient in the salad, but it does complement the other flavors quite nicely, and provides a bit of textural variety to an otherwise overwhelmingly creamy dish.  Other sorts of cress might serve as reasonable substitutes as well, for what it's worth. 

• 1 oz. dry pancit noodles
• 1-1½ oz. diced grilled chicken breast, cooked mussels, or canned tuna
• 1 tsp. mayonnaise
• ½ tsp. Tabasco sauce
• 1½ Tbsp. dijon mustard
• 1 Tbsp. rice vinegar
• ½ Tbsp. fresh cilantro, chopped
• 1 tsp. curly cress, chopped
• 1 Tbsp. tomato, chopped
• ¼ tsp. dry dill weed
• ⅛ tsp. dry basil
• ¼ tsp. sweet paprika
• 1 generous pinch ground cayenne pepper
• ⅛ tsp. black pepper, coarsely ground
• ⅛ tsp. salt, or to taste

Bring a small pot of water to a boil in order to cook the pancit.  While the water is boiling, combine the rest of the ingredients in a small bowl and mix them together thoroughly.  Once the water is boiling, place the dry pancit noodles in the water and cook thoroughly.  Once the noodles are cooked, strain them and allow them to cool for a few minutes, then add them to the bowl and stir them into the sauce thoroughly.  Serve either with other components of plate lunch, or else with a simple side salad, as shown in the photo above. 

Ginger Carrot Soup [V] [GF]

This soup recipe sort of came to me out of the blue as a preliminary course to be served prior to a main course of vegan stroganoff.  It has a hearty, autumnal flavor and could also go well with poultry or other traditional fall meals.  Like the stroganoff with which I paired it, it's completely vegan and, if it's appropriate for me to offer my extremely biased opinion, quite tasty.  It's also reasonably easy to make, although the cooking of the lentils, which form the backbone of the soup base, takes a little bit of time.

• 3 medium carrots, coarsely chopped
• 1 medium seedless orange, peeled
• ¼ cup frozen sweet corn
• ⅛ cup dry yellow lentils (toor dal)
• 1 Tbsp. peanut oil
• 1½ tsp. dry ginger
• 2 tsp. salt, or to taste
• ½ tsp. dry basil
• ⅛ tsp. poultry seasoning
• ¼ tsp. dry rosemary leaves
• ¼ tsp. turmeric
• 1 pinch nutmeg
• 1 pinch cloves
• 1 pinch allspice

Place the oil in the bottom of a medium saucepan and fry the ginger, allspice, nutmeg, cloves, and poultry seasoning in the oil for 2-3 minutes on medium head. Add 3 cups water and the lentils and bring them to a boil for approximately an hour, or until the lentils are cooked, adding water as necessary in order to maintain a constant volume of stock. Twenty minutes into this cooking process, add the rosemary, pepper, and salt. While the lentils are cooking, process the carrots and the orange together in a food processor until the mixture is essentially homogeneous. When the lentils have finished cooking, turn the heat down to medium and add the carrot-orange mixture and the corn to the saucepan. Continue cooking for 5-10 minutes until the corn and carrots are cooked. Serve hot.

Vegan Stroganoff [V] [GF]

Holiday gatherings can be a time of fruitful culinary experimentation, especially if you're planning on serving a meal to a group of people with a wide variety of dietary habits.  Traditional dishes that one might have a yen to serve at such gatherings (especially European ones) often require a bit of tweaking in order to be acceptable to all parties, while they must faithfully mimic the traditional textures and flavors the purists amongst your dinner guests have come to expect.  Thus, this evening, necessity became the mother of vegan stroganoff.  The recipe provided below is an attempt to reconstruct a passable replica of beef stroganoff without the beef, without true sour cream, and without animal products of any sort.  In it, mushrooms create the savory flavor, silken tofu takes the place of sour cream, and soy sauce provides the critical brown-gravy coloration.

In the recipe below, Earth Balance was the vegan butter substitute I used, while the poultry seasoning mix was a Schilling-brand mixture whose primary two ingredients were thyme and sage.  This sauce can be served over noodles (made either of wheat or, if one is of the gluten-free persuasion, rice), as beef stroganoff typically is, or over rice.  Really, just about any complex carbohydrate could serve as a vehicle for this stuff in a pinch — even tortilla chips, if you're desparate.  As you can see from the photo, I served it with baked asparagus spears (graced by a touch of pepper, lemon juice, and olive oil) and the unused riesling.  No one complained.  

• 22 oz. silken tofu, extra firm
• 2 lemons
• 1½ Tbsp. vegan butter substitute
• 16 oz. mushrooms, coarsely chopped
• ½ cup dry riesling
• ¼ cup frozen peas
• ¼ cup diced celery
• 1 tsp corn starch
• 2 tsp. gluten-free soy sauce
• 1 Tbsp. black pepper
• 1 Tbsp. dry basil
• ¼ tsp. dry rosemary leaves
• ¼ tsp. poultry seasoning
• 3 tsp. salt, or to taste

Begin by melting the butter substitute in a large frying pan and sautéeing the mushrooms until they're brown and moderately soft.  While the mushrooms are browning, combine the silken tofu, the juice of the lemons, and 1 tsp. of the salt in a food processor and process until the mixture is well-blended.  Set this mixture aside.  Add the salt, pepper, herbs, and celery to the frying mushrooms and cook for 2-3 minutes or until the celery is soft.  Add the wine and simmer on medium heat until much of the liquid has evaporated.  Stir in the corn starch so that it doesn't clump and continue to simmer until the liquid in the pan has a gravy-like consistency, then add the peas and continue to simmer for a few more minutes.  Reduce to low heat and add the tofu mixture from the food processor to the frying pan, stirring it thoroughly into the mushrooms, etc. already present in the pan.  After roughly 5 minutes, when the mixture is hot, stir the soy sauce into the mixture in the frying pan.  Salt to taste and serve over rice noodles.  

Spam and Eggs with Fried Okra [GF]

Succinctly put, Hawai'i loves Spam, and after an initial phase of incredulity, so do I.  While some may scoff at this potted meat product, life without it is incomplete, and with it, an abode of bliss.  Furthermore, as a Minnesotan dwelling on O'ahu, I'm pleased to see such appreciation for what is my home state's best answer to the quandary of what to do with miscellaneous processed pig parts.  However, Spam must be prepared correctly in order to bring out its finest attributes; to wit, it must be fried, then paired with complementary ingredients which bring out its best attributes.  Pineapple is a good choice.  Rice and seaweed are equally respectable (and for those who have yet to experience the majesty of musubi, this random video tutorial set to soothing reggae will help to invest significance your currently meaningless existence).  Eggs and okra, however, are the subject of today's recipe post, and rival the divinity of either of the above combinations.

From my perspective, the recipe provided below makes two servings, but I would imagine that the average American with an average appetite would consider this a single serving — especially if no other dishes appeared alongside it on the breakfast table, save for, say, perhaps a piece of toast.  I'll also say that substituting dried, shredded nori for the kale (a variation I have tried... and repeated) yields an equally fine repast. 

• 1 cm thick slab of Hormel's finest (yes, that would be the Spam), diced
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp. plain soy milk
• ⅛ tsp. salt (or to taste)
• 2 large okra pods cut into thin, cross-sectional slices
• ¼ cup fresh baby kale, cut into small pieces with stems removed
• 2 medium-sized "baby bella" mushrooms, diced
• 3 pinches coarsely ground black pepper
• 2 pinches dry basil
• half of a small thai chili pepper, diced
• 6 drops Cholulu brand hot sauce

 Fry the Spam, mushrooms, and okra in a small frying pan in a small amount of canola oil (or other vegetable oil) on medium heat.  Break the eggs into a small bowl, add the soy milk, and beat for a few seconds with a fork or wire whisk until the yolks have broken and are thoroughly mixed with the whites and the soy milk.  After five minutes, or when the Spam and okra have browned, add the chili pepper.  After another minute or two, pour the egg mixture in and scramble the eggs into the Spam, mushrooms, and okra.  Add the pepper, salt, and hot sauce and continue to scramble until the eggs are cooked.  At the last minute, add the kale and the basil and stir until the kale begins to soften, then remove from heat while continuing to stir for a minute or so more.  Serve immediately.

Chard Salad with Moroccan Spices

I'll confess I've never really seen much chard in Morocco, even after a year's residence there, and I'm not even sure it's something the climate could support if people felt the urge to grow it there.  That notwithstanding, certain spice combinations can bring out the best from the most unexpected of foods, and while it might just be that I happened to be in possession of some truly exceptional cumin (courtesy of Penzey's, of course), which did a great deal for this simple recipe, I surmise that whatever your cumin quality, you'lll be pretty pleased with the results.  Full disclosure: this recipe was adapted from the one provided here, which I discovered while trolling the internet for good uses for the excess chard I picked up at the Kapiolani Community College Farmers Market yesterday morning on a whim.

• 1 large bunch fresh chard
• ¼ tsp. extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 tsp. ground sweet paprika
• ½ tsp. ground cumin
• ¼ tsp. salt (or to taste)
• ⅛ tsp. finely ground black pepper

Set a small, half-full pot of water on to boil.  Coarsely chop the chard. Once the water boils, add ½ tsp. or so of salt to the water, followed by the chopped chard, and boil for 15 min. or until the stalks are soft. Dump the chard into a colander and run cold water over it until it cools down enough to handle without discomfort. Wrap the chard in a paper towel and wring out as much water from it as possible. Return the wrung-out chard to the chopping board and chop even more finely. In a bowl, mix the chard, oil, salt, and spices thoroughly. Serve immediately at room temperature.

Mussel Mayonnaise Poke [GF]

 One of the first things I'd resolved to do upon my recent return to Hawaii, after more than a month abroad roaming the arid steppes of northern China, the maize-laden plains of central Minnesota, and the escalator-rich human hive of Hong Kong was to fix myself a good, down-home poke.  Moreover, in honor of my homecoming, I thought I'd experiment a little bit with some unusual variations on my usual sesame-oil-and-soy-sauce recipe.  Here's what I came up with: a poke which complements the creamy taste and soft texture of mussels with a piquant mayonnaise sauce, while at the same time doing justice to the mollusks' understated seafood flavor by combining them with a substantial amount of limu and just a hint of fish sauce.  I think this one will become a permanent addition to my poke repertoire.  Enjoy!   

• 1 cup limu (ogo seaweed), chopped
• ¼ lb. small mussels
• 2 Tbsp. mayonnaise
• 2 tsp. Tabasco-brand hot pepper sauce
• 1 tsp. Cholulu-brand hot sauce
• ¼ tsp. coarsely ground sea salt (or to taste)
• ¼ tsp. coarsely ground black pepper
• 2 tsp. fresh cilantro, diced
• 6 raw macadamia nuts, minced
• 1 tsp. rice vinegar
• ½ tsp. sesame oil
• ½ tsp. Vietnamese fish sauce

Combine all ingredients in a small bowl and toss together.  Serve either immediately or after chilling for 15 min. in the refrigerator. 

Wild Rice, Turkey, and Split-Pea Soup [GF]

One of the most unfortunate aspects of impromptu cooking is that one often creates a magnificent dish which one longs to replicate — or to assist others in replicating — but to which one either added the ingredients too hurriedly, or else in too incremental a fashion to allow for the reconstruction of a recipe with accurate proportions for all ingredients added.  This pea-based potage was such a dish, but one sufficiently tasty that I'm going to attempt a rough reconstruction of the recipe anyhow, in the hope that someone out there will be able to hone a Winged Victory of Samothrace, so to speak, from this proverbial rough, unhewn marble.  I prepared it in a pinch, after the ham for the ham-and-split-pea soup I'd been planning to make didn't materialize, but I think it probably trumps whatever the original concoction would have been.

Again, before I list the ingredients, let me reiterate that the proportions given are at best conjectural.  The only things I know for a certainty are the net weight of the dry split peas and wild rice used.  I made the stock by boiling turkey bones a few hours prior to beginning preparations on the soup, and just transferred the broth in that pot over to the soup pot when needed.  I kept adding water, salt, and spices in increments throughout the cooking process.

• 8 oz. dry split peas
• 8 oz. wild rice
• 5-7 cups unseasoned, unsalted turkey stock
• 2 cups diced roast turkey (light and dark meat)
• 3-4 Tbsp. salt (or to taste)
• 1-2 Tbsp. black pepper
• 2 tsp. sweet paprika
• 1 tsp. dry parsley flakes
• 2-3; tsp. Thai basil
• 4-6 medium carrots, coarsely chopped
• 3-5 cups water
• 1-2 Tbsp. poultry seasoning
• 1-2 tsp. dry rosemary needles, crushed
• 1 tsp. white pepper
• ½-1 cup red wine vinegar
• ¼ cup lemon juice
• 1-2 tsp. turmeric
• 1-3 tsp. ground dry ginger
• 2-3 tsp. dry oregano
• ½ tsp. ground cloves

Soak the split peas overnight prior to preparing the soup.  In a large soup crock, boil the soaked peas in the broth and two additional cups of water for 10-15 min. on high heat.  Reduce to medium-high heat and begin adding the cloves, ginger, salt, (white and black) pepper, turmeric, poultry seasoning, and paprika, lemon juice, and vinegar (doing so incrementally and adjusting the amounts to taste).  After 30-45 min. more, or when the split peas have softened and the broth is beginning to turn mildly green, add the wild rice, rosemary, oregano, Thai basil, and parsley (again, doing so incrementally and adjusting the amounts to taste).  After the wild rice becomes soft (which should take another 30-40 minutes), add the turkey and carrots, turn the heat down to medium, and continue to simmer until the carrots are tender but not overly soft.  While the carrots are cooking, once again adjust the seasonings to taste.  Once they are tender, remove the soup from the burner and serve.

Again, I invite any interested readers who choose to undertake this recipe to weigh in on the issue of what the optimal proportions of the ingredients are.  Otherwise, bon appetit!