A is for (Sea) Asparagus

For this month's Heart of the Matter, my co-host, Ilva, and I chose to go with the alphabet...and what better letter to begin a series of alphabetical themes than the letter, A? While you won't be seeing a complete series for some time (we want to change the themes up with all the holidays on the way), you'll be seeing different letters appear in the upcoming months.

So many of my favorite foods begin with the letter A: apples, almonds, artichokes, avocado and of course, asparagus. While asparagus is a year-round vegetable here in Hawaii, I know for many of you, it is only a short-lived springtime indulgence. And besides, I wanted to capitalize on some of Hawaii's bounty that maybe isn't so commonly known. For these reasons, I chose one of my new-found favorite vegetables here: sea asparagus. Despite it's name, sea asparagus is not very similar to the asparagus we typically think of. It's more like a seaweed, I guess...or better said, a sea-vegetable. Sort of a cross between a bean sprout and a sea weed...it's a little salty, a little juicy and adds a bit of fresh flavor to anything.

This little sea vegetable grows wild in many places, but in Hawaii, Marine AgriFuture grows sea asparagus hydroponically on Kahuku shrimp farms, harvests it by hand, and sells it at Farmer's Markets and some of the grocery stores on the Island. So, while it's not a food product native to Hawaii (so many of them aren't), it is locally grown. And delicious.

Sea asparagus is very versatile, and good for you. It's full of vitamins A, B12 and B9, as well as folic acid and antioxidants. It's thought to be a good detoxification agent and good for your muscles. And it's a good source of iodine. Since LB and I eat a lot of dark, leafy greens, which also grow very well in Hawaii and are good for you, but tend to interfere with the uptake of the important mineral, iodine, sea asparagus is one way we get our weekly dose of iodine (we use kosher salt for cooking, which does not have iodine added to it the way "table" salt does).

While many people prefer to blanch the sea asparagus for a minute or so before using it, we've found that with the type of dishes we like to make with it, we like to maintain it's salty taste. While it is a bit bitter when eaten raw from the package, when mixed with oils (like the recipe below) it doesn't taste bitter at all. Below is my entry for HotM and a salad that is perfect for a potluck or a light dinner (with some crusty bread or even by itself). It's also easily cut in half. If you want to try it at home and don't have sea asparagus, this is still good with a bunch of regular asparagus - blanched first, cut into smallish pieces, and a little extra soy sauce or shoyu added.

Sea Asparagus and Tofu Salad, serves 8

1 package sea asparagus, roughly chopped
1 japanese or english cucumber, diced
1/2 block of extra firm tofu, diced
1 large heirloom tomato, diced
1 tbsp. toasted sesame seeds

Dressing

2 tbsp. seasoned rice vinegar
1 tbsp. soy sauce
1 tbsp. toasted sesame oil
1 tsp. grated fresh ginger
1 tsp. honey

Combine all the salad ingredients, except for the sesame seeds, in a large bowl. Add the dressing to a small jar with a tight-fitting lid. Close the lid and shake. When the dressing is mixed, pour it over the salad ingredients and then mix, gently. Sprinkle the top with sesame seeds and then mix again gently. This is good fresh, or even after marinating over-night. Better still? I use the dressing for all kinds of things - lettuce salads, marinating chicken, just about any kind of anything that I want to add an "Asian" flavor to...try it!

A Healthy, Hearty Pesto (Heart of the Matter 23)

I don’t know why, but whenever I mention anything about healthy eating to LB, he persists in making faces like it’s the last thing in the world he can imagine doing. As if the concept of eating delicious foods such as oatmeal, quinoa, barley, nuts, fresh vegetables and fruits is just far too “crunchy” for him...oh, and did I mention he was a Deadhead? Doesn't make sense, does it? Maybe the stigma of “healthy = bland & boring” is still attached to healthy food in his eyes. You’d think after eating healthy meals like Kabocha Squash Pizza with Kale and Fresh Sage and Tuscan-Style Roasted Chicken with Vegetables, and even decadent Caramel Macadamia Nut Sticky Buns, that he would know better. Apparently that is not the case. (Men!)

Recently, when I mentioned that he had two choices for dinner – a Morrocan-style chicken dish or a walnut, parsley and flax pesto on pasta, it elicited the same sour face as if he was five years old and I’d just asked him to eat his creamed peas (which, I’m sure, are also delicious).** Little did he know that no matter which option he chose, he was still getting both – just on different days. Truth be told, I wasn’t sure a walnut, parsley and flax pesto was going to be any good either, but I thought we might as well give it a try since I am always on the look out for alternative pasta toppings – especially if they are healthy, and even better if they are packed with omega-3-fatty acids, which this recipe just happens to be. You can read more about flax seeds and omega-3s (and get a killer granola recipe to boot) from my favorite go-to nutritionist blogger, Melissa, here and here.

**Sidenote: I learned this trick from my older sister with my nieces. She gives the kids two [healthy] options and let’s them choose. Then they feel like they are making the decision, and she knows that no matter what they decide, it’ll be a good choice in her eyes. Works wonders with grown men, too.

The original recipe can be found here. And I can’t really take the credit for it, because it belongs to that all-American homemaking icon, Martha Stewart (can’t you just see her telling you to eat your creamed peas?). I put my own measurements on it because I was lazy (see below), and added some extra pizzazz by throwing in some sautéed local oyster mushrooms. If I’d had them, I’d have also added some beautiful cherry tomatoes, for color even more than flavor. Or instead of tomatoes, some thin slices of Canadian bacon would also be lovely (and still healthy!). But I have to tell you - it’s surprisingly good on its own, even without the accoutrements.

I served it with whole wheat angel hair pasta, and the bright flavors of the pungent parsley stands up well to the hearty wheaty-ness of the pasta. This is a wonderful, quick and healthy dinner for any busy night of the week, and it’s my entry for the Heart of the Matter (HotM) this month, where the theme for heart-healthy cooking this month is “Slimmer Recipes.” After all that decadent holiday food, we could all probably use a few slimmer recipes in our repertoire, right? Check out the round-up at the HotM blog after January 28th to see the wonderful recipes that have been submitted from around the world. Or maybe you have a slimmer, heart-healthy recipe you’d like to share? There’s still time to get your entry in to Ilva at her blog, Lucullian Delights, who is hosting this month. We would love to have you join us – the more, the merrier, and it brings even more awareness about heart health and heart disease.


Walnut, Parsley and Flax Pesto on Angel Hair Pasta, serves 4
adapted slightly from www.wholeliving.com

8 oz. whole wheat angel hair pasta
1/4 cup walnuts, raw
several large mushrooms (I used local oyster mushrooms), thinly sliced
2 tsp. olive oil, divided
3 tablespoons ground flaxseeds (if they aren't already, grind them in a spice or coffee grinder)
1 large bunch of fresh flat-leaf parsley leaves, roughly chopped
1 cloves garlic, roughly chopped
1/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan, plus extra for garnish
1/2 teaspoon coarse salt
freshly ground pepper

Preheat your oven to 375F. Start a large pot of ample salted water and cook the pasta until it is al dente. Drain when finished, reserving 1/2 cup of the pasta water. Meanwhile, toast the walnuts in the oven until they are crisp and fragrant, about 7 minutes.

Saute' the sliced mushrooms in a skillet with ~2 tsp. olive oil until they release most of their water and become soft and slighly browned.

In the bowl of a food processor, pulse the walnuts until the nuts are crushed and somewhat ground, about 1 minute. Add parsley, garlic, 1 tsp. olive oil, Parmesan, salt, pepper, and reserved 1/4 cup of pasta water; pulse until smooth and thick. Add the pesto to the warm pasta, adding a little more pasta water if it appears too thick or does not coat the pasta evenly. Garnish with extra freshly grated parmesan cheese.

You could easily double the pesto recipe, and it can be stored in an airtight container for up to 1 week in a refrigerator or up to 1 month in a freezer (freeze it in an ice-cube tray for easy use!). Bring pesto to room temperature before serving; supposedly it' s not good to heat pesto because it ruins the flavor of the delicate herbs.

A Pizza to Keep You Warm On a Cold Winter's Eve

Hau'oli Makahiki Hou, or Happy New Year!

When I married a man who didn't like olives and didn't do much cooking, I had no idea that LB would become the Bread Man of the house (and lo and behold, he also quickly fell in love with olives - after only gentle prompting to try the ones that didn't come from a can). These days, he can whip together a mean batch of pizza dough, some amazingly fluffy pull-apart clover rolls, or toweringly high biscuits (that put my hockey-pucks to shame) in merely the blink of an eye. But pizza dough is his favorite. He's always coming up with new toppings for his pizzas too, like roasted cauliflower or his "buffalo chicken wing" pizza. Nearly all of them have been extremely tasty. We especially like to have pizza topping cook-offs, where he'll make up a batch of crust for at least two pizzas, he'll make one and I'll make the other, and we'll see which one we like best (I don't have to tell you that oftentimes we pick our own and there is almost always a tie).

You can really put almost anything on a pizza and finding a winning combination is part of the fun. One of the pleasant surprises about living in Hawaii has been finding fruits and vegetables that I thought I knew well, that for whatever reason (the planets align properly to make some perfect? the electromagnetic properties of the island?) taste especially sweet and delicious here. These include pineapples, mangoes, and papayas - which I wasn't too surprised about - but also persimmons and kabocha squash.

Kabocha is a Japanese winter squash (or pumpkin) that is rich in beta carotene, iron, vitamin C, potassium, and even some small amounts of calcium, folic acid, and B vitamins. Interestingly, kabocha continues to grow after it's been harvested. It's picked when it is fully mature (ie. flavorful), then ripened in a warm place (77°F) for up to 13 days to help its starch begin to convert to carbohydrate content. Following this, it's transferred to cooler temperatures and stored for about a month, continuing the starch transformation. When kabocha is picked, it's dry and bland, but after this transformation it's flesh becomes a reddish-yellow color and is smooth and sweet. Apparently, kabocha reaches the peak of ripeness about 1.5~3 months after it's harvested (Wikipedia).

I've always liked kabocha, but here in Hawaii it tastes like it's taken a luxurious soak in the perfect amount of brown sugar solution, and to top it off, it's texture is unbelievably silky and smooth. It needs no adornment - no butter, no maple syrup, no sugar, no anything - just cut it up (or not), roast it at 400F for half an hour to 40 minutes and that's it. It certainly puts its cousin, the butternut squash, to shame. Here, every kabocha I have tried has been fabulous, and every butternut squash has been stringy and tasteless. So I'm now a kabocha lover and convert and I use it in almost everything I can, from salads to side dishes to soups, and of course, as a pizza topping.

This was the latest venture in our pizza topping quest and the combination was splendid. It felt like a big hearty hug in the middle of winter - the delicately sweet flesh of the kabocha went wonderfully with the hearty, savory scent of the sage. Add a little cheese, some other winter vegetables and a few spices, and you're good to go.


Kabocha Squash Pizza with Kale and Fresh Sage, makes one large pizza

1 large pizza crust (see below)
1 small kabocha squash, cut into 1/2 inch pieces
2 tbsp. olive oil, divided
pinch of salt
1/2 large sweet onion, diced
2 cups chopped kale, thinly sliced
1/2 pint of mushrooms (I used local Hamakua oyster mushrooms)
1 tsp. red pepper flakes
1/2 tsp. dried oregano
2 cloves of garlic, minced
a small handful of fresh sage, minced
goat cheese or feta cheese (I actually used goat feta from Surfing Goat Dairy on Maui)
Parmesan and red pepper flakes, for garnish (optional)

Buy or make your own pizza crust - if you've never made it before, try! It's easy, and the results will be worth it. We use one from the Joy of Cooking, but there are lots of crust recipes out there.

Preheat your oven to 425F and toss the squash pieces in 1 tbsp. olive oil and salt. Roast on a sheet pan in the oven for 35-40 minutes until soft and tender but not mushy. (I did this the day before and kept it in the fridge until I needed it...something I often to when roasting veggies is roast extra for a second meal later on in the week).

Saute the onions in a medium pan until translucent. Add kale, mushrooms, red pepper flakes and dried oregano and cook until the mushrooms give up their water and the kale has cooked down quite a bit. Add the garlic the last few minutes of cooking and cook for about 30 seconds. Remove the pan from the heat.

Brush the pizza crust with olive oil, then layer on the kabocha squash and onion mixture. Sprinkle the sage over the top and then dot the cheese across the whole pizza. Cook the pizza until the crust is firm and the cheese is slightly browned or melted (feta doesn't melt much...). Garnish with freshly grated Parmesan and more red pepper flakes.

Other Pizza Posts:
There's Always Time for Pie : Blue cheese, red onion and pine nut pizza; Caramelized onion and balsamic vegetable pizza
A Perfect Fall Meal: Mushroom and Pancetta Pizzas
The Pizza Research Institute, Eugene, OR: Apple, gouda and walnut pizza

Okra: Deslimed and Delicious

When I was a kid, okra came in neat little cylinders battered in flour and fried to a brown crisp. It was my favorite thing to get at the now defunct and long-ago closed down Furrs Restaurant in my small, Colorado hometown. Furrs was a chain restaurant - the kind of chain restaurant with deep blue and black paisley carpeting, where you grabbed your cafeteria-style tray (always a pale yellow or brown or gray) and loaded it up as you went along with small, individual white diner plates of such home-syle favorites as roast beef, mashed potatoes and gravy, boiled corn, and of course, green or yellow or red jello for dessert (or if you got lucky, pale yellow tapioca with whipped cream from a can that day). The quality of the food was, I'm sure, highly questionable, but as kid that didn't matter...at Furrs, I could get as much okra as I wanted.

I remember snaking through the line, packing up my tray with a veritable buffet of all of the available goods - grandpa and grandma and dad and various aunts, uncles and cousins flanking me on either side. One by one, we'd reach the end of the line and filter out into the enormous dining room lit by replicas of antique chandeliers that cast a deep, golden light over the whole place. And we'd sit down at one of the long, 12-person tables and just catch up with each other. My parents have been divorced for as long as I can remember, and these weekend ventures to Furrs were one of my favorite past-times with my dad's side of the family. We always took the whole family to Furrs when no body felt like cooking.

I think my love of okra began with my grandma. She makes a mean batch of okra. She's from Texas and there is no one in the world that makes fried okra like grandma and her siblings. The recipe is simple: okra, cornmeal, flour, salt, pepper and cayenne. Fry it in your favorite bacon grease (well, she is from Texas) and you're done. It's perfect that way. Not healthy, but still perfect.

Unfortunately, the first time I tried making okra without frying it was a complete and utter disaster. I think I tried making some kind of quick pickled okra or something from a Martha Stewart magazine, and as soon as I cut into the stuff, that slick, sticky slime that okra is known for came oozing out onto everything. It didn't go away after a good soak in the vinegar solution either. In fact, I think it made it worse. It was like eating snails (or worse, snot) - and I wasn't eating that. Since then, I've tended to stay away from okra unless I need a good little artery-clogging kick, which does happen sometimes. That was until I started this Eat Local Challenge and was handed over a gracious sack of okra pods from the overflow of a friend of a friend's organic garden - green and bright and with dirt still clinging to them.

I'm not one to look a gift horse in the mouth. I took it. I also took home an idea for what to do with it: they brought a cold okra salad made with curry powder and jalepeno peppers. Before inundating the okra with spices, there was first the matter of desliming it. I searched the internet for ideas and there were tons out there. I finally came across a woman on some food forum telling how her grandmother taught her to do it, and how she had done since. I was sold.

Here's the basic idea: Slice up your okra, put it in a saucepan and cover it with water. If it's a medium-sized saucepan, add about a 1/4 cup of vinegar to it (adjusting as necessary) and bring it to a boil. Simmer about 25 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the spoon doesn't come out slimy when you stir it around the pot. Drain, and you're done. I used Aloha Cider Vinegar to deslime mine. Since I had recently run out of curry powder, I used cumin instead. Kona sea salt, pepper, a little macadamia nut oil, a touch more vinegar, and a locally grown hot pepper - and it was delicious. I paired it with an Island-produced pork leg steak - and there would have been Molokai sweet potatoes to go with it...if they didn't have plastic all over them.

Cumin-scented Warm Okra Salad, serves 4 - 6

• approx 20 large okra, sliced into 1/4" to 1/2" pieces (Oahu; friend's garden, free)
• 1/4 cup plus 1 tbsp. Apple Cider Vinegar (Aloha; Honolulu, Oahu; Longs $3.99)
• 1 tbsp. Hawaii's Gold Macadamia Nut Oil (Oils of Aloha; Wailua, Oahu; Foodland $9/12.7 oz.)
• 2 tsp. cumin
• pinch of Kona sea salt (Big Island; Kailua Farmer's Market; $9/bag)
• pepper, to taste
• 1 red hot pepper, finely diced (Oahu; Kailua's Farmer's market; $1.00/10)

Deslime the okra (see above) using water and apple cider vinegar. Add the remaining ingredients (to taste, really, these are just approximations). Enjoy! I liked it best warm, but ate it cold the next day and it was good that way too. After that, the slime starts coming back...so be forewarned. ;)

Local Products and Places:
locally grown okra (from friends)
Kailua and KCC Farmer's Markets for hot peppers
Kona sea salt
Oils of Aloha Macadamia Nut Oil (Hawaii's Gold Pure Macadamia Oil)
Aloha Apple Cider Flavored Vinegar (though I must admit that the "flavoring" part scares me...)

To read more about the challenge, and find more local products, see these posts: 1, 2 and check the Eat Local Challenge website for updates on what's happening both locally and nationally.