LOOK OUT FOR THESE MISLEADING TERMS…
“Biodegradable”
“Superdegradable”
“Green”
“Earth Friendly”
“Eco”
“Produces with Plant Starch”
KIAWE CORNBREAD
Recipe Courtesy of Ed Morita, Executive Pastry Chef Na Hoaloha Ekolu
Photography by Jana Dillon
Makes 12-16 servings
INGREDIENTS
1 ½ cups of shortening
1 ½ cups sugar
3 cups of whole milk
12 large eggs
5 7/8 cups bread flour
1 ½ teaspoons of baking powder
1 cup of cornmeal
1 cup Kiawe flour
1 ½ cups of brown butter
METHOD
- Cook brown butter and set aside to cool while mixing the rest of the recipe.
- Cream together shortening and sugar.
- Whisk together eggs and milk.
- Combine sifted baking powder, bread flour, cornmeal and kiawe flour in a bowl with a whisk.
- Alternate adding wet and dry ingredients to the mixing bowl.
- Add brown butter, and mix on low speed until batter is smooth and homogenous.
Store in the cooler until needed. - Bake in a large dutch oven at 325°F oven for 50 minutes or until an inserted skewer comes out clean.
- Serve with guava butter or honey butter
RIGATONI ALLA NORMA
Recipe Courtesy of Michele Di Bari of Sale Pepe, Lahaina, Maui HI
Photography by Mykle Coyne
Serves 4-5
INGREDIENTS
1½ pounds eggplant
Olive oil as needed (at least ½ cup)
Salt and pepper
1 tablespoon garlic, chopped
1 tablespoon onion, chopped
1½ pounds of San Marzano canned peeled tomatoes, chopped
1 teaspoon fresh oregano
¼ teaspoon basil
1 pound of Bu’ono rigatoni
¼ teaspoon parsley, chopped
½ cup grated Ricotta Salata or Pecorino Romano
METHOD
1. Slice the eggplant about ½ inch thick. Cook in abundant olive oil, without crowding, sprinkling with salt and adding more oil as needed. You will undoubtedly have to cook in batches; take your time and cook until the eggplant is nicely browned and soft. Remove to a plate. Meanwhile, put a large pot of water on to boil and salt it.
2. After cooking the eggplant, the pan will ideally have a couple of tablespoons of oil left. If there is more or less, drain some off or add a bit. Turn the heat to medium. Add the garlic and onions and cook until the garlic and onion color a little bit. Add the tomatoes, oregano, and basil along with some salt and pepper; cook until saucy but not too dry, stirring occasionally.
3. Cook the pasta until al dente, about 1 minute and half, While the pasta is cooking, cut the eggplant into strips and reheat for a minute in the tomato sauce. Drain the pasta and toss it with the tomato sauce and the eggplant. Taste and adjust the seasoning, then top with the parsley or basil and grated cheese and serve.
RICE SALAD
Recipe Courtesy of Michele Di Bari of Sale Pepe, Lahaina, Maui HI
Photography by Mykle Coyne
Serves 5
INGREDIENTS
3 to 4 cups Italian Arborio rice cooked al dente, cooled
¼ cup basil, chopped
¼ cup capers
¼ cup pickled pearl onions
¼ cup green olives, pitted
¼ cup black olives, pitted
¼ cup green peas
¼ cup corn
¼ cup chick peas
¼ cup cannellini beans
¼ cup black beans
1 small or ½ large red or yellow bell pepper, cored, seeded, and chopped
½ cup celery, chopped
½ cup carrot, chopped
2 tablespoons honey mustard
¼ cup vinaigrette, made with extra virgin olive oil and red wine vinegar, plus more as needed
½ cup fresh parsley, chopped
Salt and pepper
¼ cup Grana Padano cheese
METHOD
1. Combine the honey mustard, olive oil and red wine vinegar in a small dish.
2. Put the rice and all the vegetables in a large bowl. Drizzle with vinaigrette and use two big forks to combine. Add the Grana Padano cheese, tossing gently to separate the grains.
3. Stir in the parsley, taste, and adjust the seasoning or moisten with a little more vinaigrette. Serve at room temperature or refrigerate for up to a day, bringing the salad back to room temperature before serving.
Letter of Aloha – Winter 2020
I’LL ADMIT I HAVE TROUBLE SLEEPING SOME NIGHTS. Don’t get me wrong I never drink coffee in the afternoon and I try not to eat a big, heavy dinner late at night. I wake up because I’m worried about the world I’m leaving to the next generation. I ask myself, am I doing enough to leave the planet a better place for my children or grandchildren?
Often times, when our team is ready to start planning the theme for the next issue, one small experience provides the inspiration. For this issue, I read an article shared by the United Nations about climate change and its relationship to food waste, food production and growing food. The article set our heads spinning in a direction that we still have not recovered from. Read more in our TALK STORY department on page 50.
You see, when I began working with edible Hawaiian Islands in 2007 it was all about farm-to-table, eating local, and growing your own food. We’re still talking about these things, but now the conversations around food have taken on stronger, political meaning. My passion for growing, cooking and sharing food has long shaped my life and that of my family, but now it’s evolved into a greater awareness that everything I do in relation to food has a consequence – some positive and some negative.
As you read this issue, please ask yourself what you can do to make more of a positive impact on our planet. It can be something as small as buying sustainably farmed meat and produce, or bringing your own re-usable bags to the grocery store. Whatever you can do, DO IT NOW, and when it becomes second-nature, challenge yourself to step up your game. It’s not much of an exaggeration to say the Earth is watching and registering our every move.
Dania Novack Katz
editor
CLIMATE CHANGE
WRITTEN BY KATHLEEN ROGERS AND DR. SHENGGEN FAN
TO TACKLE CLIMATE CHANGE WE NEED TO RETHINK OUR FOOD SYSTEM
THE WAY WE PRODUCE, consume and discard food is no longer sustainable. That much is clear from the newly released UN climate change report which warns that we must rethink how we produce our food — and quickly — to avoid the most devastating impacts of global food production, including massive deforestation, staggering biodiversity loss and accelerating climate change.
While it’s not often recognized, the food industry is an enormous driver of climate change, and our current global food system is pushing our natural world to the breaking point. At the press conference releasing the Special Report on Climate Change and Land, report co-chair Eduardo Calvo Buendía stated that, “the food system as a whole – which includes food production and processing, transport, retail consumption, loss and waste – is currently responsible for up to a third of our global greenhouse gas emissions.”
In other words, while most of us have been focusing on the energy and transportation sectors in the climate change fight, we cannot ignore the role that our food production has on cutting emissions and curbing climate change. By addressing food waste and emissions from animal agriculture, we can start to tackle this problem. How do we do that?
Livestock production is a leading culprit – driving deforestation, degrading our water quality and increasing air pollution. In fact, animal agriculture has such an enormous impact on the environment that if every American reduced their meat consumption by just 10 percent – about 6 ounces per week – we would save approximately 7.8 trillion gallons of water. That’s more than all the water in Lake Champlain. We’d also save 49 billion pounds of carbon dioxide every year — the equivalent of planting 1 billion carbon-absorbing trees.
What’s more, to the injury from unsustainable food production, we add the insult of extraordinary levels of food waste: nearly one third of all food produced globally ends up in our garbage cans and then landfills. We are throwing away $1 trillion worth of food, or about half of Africa’s GDP, every single year. At our current rates, if food waste were a country, it would be the world’s third-largest carbon emitter after the U.S. and China.
To ensure global food security and sustainable food practices in an ever-growing world, we need to reexamine our food systems and take regional resources, such as land and water availability, as well as local economies and culture into account. To start, the United States and other developed countries must encourage food companies to produce more sustainable food, including more plant-based options, and educate consumers and retailers about healthy and sustainable diets. Leaders must create policies that ensure all communities and children have access to affordable fruits and vegetables. And we all can do our part to reduce food waste, whether it’s in our company cafeterias or our own refrigerators.
Technology also plays a part. Developed countries should support and incentivize emerging innovative technologies in plant-based foods, as well as carbon-neutral or low-carbon meat production.
Developing countries, on the other hand, face high levels of undernutrition, as well as limited access to healthy foods. Many nutrient-dense foods (such as fruits, vegetables and quality meats) are highly perishable, often making prices significantly higher than ultra-processed, nutrient-poor and calorie-dense foods. The high cost of nutrient-dense foods creates a significant barrier to healthy diets, as seen in urban Malawi and many other countries.
By promoting enhanced production of healthy and nutritious foods while also improving markets in low-income countries, we can lower prices and increase accessibility of healthy and sustainable diets. Politicians can also tackle systemic inequalities by redirecting agricultural subsidies to promote healthy foods, as well as investing in infrastructure like rural roads, electricity, storage and cooling chain.
Change must happen at every level if we want to build a better food system. International participation and resource-sharing can spread regional solutions across countries. And working for change at the ground level — among individuals, communities, local and federal governments and private entities — can help fight hunger and food inequality firsthand.
Yes, our food system is broken, but not irrevocably so. The challenges are enormous, but by understanding the problem and potential solutions, we can effect critical changes in the ways we produce, consume and dispose of food.
Kathleen Rogers is President of Earth Day Network. Dr. Shenggen Fan is Director General of the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) and a Commissioner for the EAT – Lancet Commission.
https://foodprints.earthday.org/
https://www.earthday.org/
http://www.ifpri.org/
Boozy Coconut Cream Pie
Koloa Rum Spiked Coconut Cream Pie
Recipe and Photograph Courtesy of Shanna Schad of Pineapple and Coconut
Makes 1 inch pie
8-10 servings
Prep Time : 30 min
Cooking Time: 20
Total Time: 4-5 hours up to overnight for chilling. (More total time if you are making your own pie crust)
Ingredients:
For the custard:
1 nine inch pre-baked pie crust (Store bought or your favorite recipe)
1 C half and half
2 C full fat coconut milk
2/3 C plus 2 Tbsp sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1/3 C cornstarch
2 Tbsp flour
3 large egg yolks
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 Tbsp Koloa Coconut Rum
1 C coconut flakes ( sweetened or unsweetened)
For the topping:
2 C Heavy cream, very cold
3-5 Tbsp powdered sugar ( depending on how sweet you want it)
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 Tbsp Koloa Coconut rum
1/2-3/4 C toasted coconut chips ( I used Dang brand coconut chips)
Instructions:
Bake the pie crust and let cool completely if making your own. Time for this depends on the recipe you use. It can be done a day ahead of time and keep chilled until ready to use.
To make the coconut custard:
In a medium sauce pan combine the half and half, 1 1/2 cups of the coconut milk, the sugar and salt. Stir over medium low heat until steaming and hot, about 5 minutes.
In a medium bowl (4-5 c size bowl) whisk together the egg yolks, cornstarch, flour and remaining half of a cup of coconut milk until well combined.
Keep whisking the yolk mixture and slowly add in one third of a cup of the heated coconut milk mixture to temper the eggs. Add in another third of a cup two to three more times while whisking constantly. Once cup or so is whisked in pour the egg mixture into the sauce pan. Stir the entire mixture slowly with a spatula until it thickens, this only takes a few minutes. It will be like a thick custard or pudding. Strain into another bowl, to get rid of any cooked egg pieces, then add in the coconut flakes. Stir and let cool for 30 min. Sir in in the vanilla extract and rum then place plastic wrap over the bowl and press gently so it touches the top of the custard. Chill completely, 3-4 hours up to overnight before filling the pie crust.
Fill the pie crust with the cold custard and keep chilled while preparing the topping.
In a cold bowl, I like to use a cold stainless bowl, whip the heavy cream to soft peaks. Add in the powdered sugar, the vanilla and rum. Start with three tablespoons of the powdered sugar then add more if a sweeter whipped cream is desired.
Spread about 1 cup of the cream over the pie, then fill a pastry bag fitted with a giant open star tip with the rest and pipe a swirled design around the edges of the pie. Sprinkle the center of the pie with the toasted coconut and serve. You can always wrap in plastic wrap and keep chilled before serving. Don’t add on the toasted coconut chips until ready to serve as they will soften in the refrigerator.
Notes: Omit the rum to make it a non-alcoholic pie or substitute your favorite Koloa rum if a lighter coconut flavor is desired.
CHINESE 5 SPICE
RECIPE BY edible HAWAIIAN ISLANDS TEST KITCHEN
Though the exact origin of Chinese Five Spice Powder is unknown, it is believed that it is the result of the Chinese attempting to produce the ultimate “wonder powder” – a spice that incorporated all five taste elements: sweet, sour, bitter, pungent, and salty. Traditionally, the measurements follow regional and family traditions.
> As friends have traveled and shared oral recipes, we have heard tell of the following variations: substitute fresh orange peel for ground cinnamon or add ground, dried ginger root powder, nutmeg and/ or turmeric.
INGREDIENTS: 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon 1 teaspoon ground star anise 1/4 teaspoon ground fennel seed 1/4 teaspoon ground Szehwan peppercorn Salt to taste
METHOD: > We encourage you to take risks, explore, and discover which blend your family likes best!
Our Do It Yourself department is meant to inspire and motivate you to make items you would normally buy at the store. To represent our 2019 Fall issue theme of CELEBRATE we wanted to share a spice mixture that we use to flavor enhance special dishes. We decided to use our version of Chinese 5 Spice on our IMU turkey found ON-LINE
MAKING THIS RECIPE? Share it with us on Instagram using #ediblehi so we can see what you’re cooking in your kitchen!
Letter of Aloha – Fall 2019
{ CELEBRATE }
I GREW UP IN REDONDO BEACH, CA in a very close-knit community where we knew most of our neighbors. Kids played together in the street until the street lights came on, and it was actually commonplace to run to the neighbor’s house to borrow a cup of sugar. Today, these acts of neighborly kindness have sadly become harder to find — unless you live on my street.
My current home in Hawaii lies on a street lined with just a few houses in between taro patches and banana groves. Mango trees as big and as wide as the property that the home sits on dominate the scene. There’s a constant sound of flowing water and the daily spectacle of the sun rising and falling deep within the valley. This is Hawaii.
So, while we may not borrow a cup of sugar, my neighbors and I do share the food that grows in our yards. Victoria, my neighbor to one side, shares super-sized, delicious papayas, while Bert, my neighbor on the other side, shares his bananas and limes. During the holidays, Jamie, my neighbor from across the street, bakes and distributes cookies. We all check in with each other and enjoy sharing our abundance. What’s your street like?
This issue is about sharing recipes and foods that celebrate the fall season. The fall issue covers October, November and December, encompassing the entire holiday season, and I want this issue to inspire you to bake, share and celebrate. Whether you choose to gather with family members, a close group of friends, or a friendly mix of neighbors, I hope the flavors of this issue enrich and enliven your holiday table.
As I sit here writing this Letter of Aloha in the heat of summer, I’m filled with memories of previous holiday celebrations and intentions for the upcoming season: namely, to be full of gratitude for health, happiness and all my neighbors and friends. Take time to revel in your personal abundance and celebrate the good in your own life. Happy holidays.
Dania Novack-Katz
PEARL ONION TARTE TATIN
Recipe and Photography Courtesy of Kate Winsland and Guy Ambrosino • Serves 6
FOR THE DOUGH
1½ cups all-purpose flour
Kosher salt
8 tablespoons cold butter, cut into pieces
3 to 4 tablespoons ice water
FOR THE ONIONS
1½ pounds pearl onions
3 tablespoons butter
1 tablespoon sugar
Kosher salt
2 tablespoons white balsamic vinegar
1 tablespoon fresh thyme leaves
METHOD
1. Combine the flour and ¼teaspoon salt in a bowl and, using your hands or a pastry cutter, quickly work in the butter, squeezing or cutting it until the floury mixture is filled with pea-sized lumps. Drizzle 3 tablespoons ice water over the mixture and stir with your hands or a fork until it just holds together when squeezed. Add the remaining water if necessary.
2. Gather the dough into a ball and flatten slightly, then wrap well in plastic wrap. Refrigerate for at least 1 hour and up to a couple of days.
3. Bring a pot of water to a boil. Drop the onions into the water and blanch for about 30 seconds. Drain well and run under cold water. When cool enough to handle, peel and trim them.
4. Heat the butter in a heavy 10-inch skillet, preferably cast-iron, over moderately high heat. When the butter has melted and foamed, sprinkle the sugar evenly over the bottom of the pan, followed by ½ teaspoon salt.
5. Lay the onions in the skillet and cook, without stirring, for about 8 minutes. Give the skillet a shake to jostle the onions around a bit then continue cooking until nicely browned all over, another 4 to 5 minutes. Don’t worry if the onions are not fully tender; they will continue to cook in the oven.
6. Drizzle the vinegar over the onions then scatter the thyme leaves over top. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the vinegar is reduced and syrupy, 1 to 2 minutes. Remove from the heat.
7. Heat the oven to 400°F. Roll out the pastry dough into an 11-inch round. Lay the pastry round directly over the onions, folding any excess dough up over the top. Bake until the pastry is golden brown, about 25 minutes.
8. Remove from the oven and let cool in the pan for about 10 minutes. Run a knife around the edge of the skillet, then place a serving plate over the skillet and carefully invert it to unmold the tarte tatin. Don’t fret if you lose any pearl onions in the transfer, simply pop them back into place. Cut into wedges and serve warm.
TIP
If you just want some delicious glazed onions, omit the crust and simply cook the onions until they are fully tender before adding the vinegar, which should take about 10 minutes longer than noted above.