FROM SEA TO TABLE: SUSHI

Posted in General, Seafood by sallybr

Have I made those? No, I’ve never made sushi myself, and I doubt that I’ll ever attempt it. But, we love sushi, and it would be crazy not to enjoy it here, in this Hawaiian paradise. Yes, we are in Hawaii, the North Shore of Oahu… We love this place so much! With all due respect to Honolulu and Waikiki, nothing beats the aura of the North Shore. No shopping centers, no fancy restaurants, no movie theaters, just the ocean, the white sandy beaches, the waves that can catch you by surprise and throw you around like a puppet… And the seafood, as fresh as you can dream it!

We had dinner at a small sushi place in Hale’iwa, called Banzai Sushi Bar. Clockwise from top left you see a Bowl’s Roll (a California roll topped with shrimp and avocado), a Hawaiian roll (coconut shrimp in the center, macadamia nuts, mango and eel sauce on top), Bowls roll revisited, and the ahi tuna sashimi.

We are lucky enough to be very close to what we are told is “one of the best kept secrets in the North Shore”: a beach with no obvious entrance from the road. Apparently only folks living here know about it. From a bike path, you can see a small dirt path, that seems to lead nowhere…. But as you approach the end, big surprise…. a beach, almost deserted, particularly considering these pictures were taken on a Saturday morning!

Beach1a

I share with you a few photos, they can all be enlarged by clicking on them.

(clique e amplie!)

Look to your left….

Look to your right….

Look ahead into the ocean….

Some shots around a nice running route…

ALOHA!

15Aug2009

A Souffle’ to Remember… Julia Child

Posted in Side dishes by sallybr

August 15th, 2009

corn2

Today Julia Child would turn 97 years old. Last week many food bloggers wrote about “the movie“, but I will not add my comments, as the list is big enough already. Go see it and form your own opinion…

But many bloggers and non-bloggers alike will probably feel inclined to cook something from “Mastering the Art of French Cooking” on her birthday. I gladly join this party, as she is one of my two “cooking idols”, the second being Jacques Pepin. Confession: I drool over Ming Tsai on a regular basis, but I am not sure his cooking is the only reason. 🙂

But, I digress. To celebrate Julia, I made a souffle, using her recipe as the guideline, and I turned it into an appropriate dish for this time of the year and the place that we live: a corn souffle’…

If just the thought of making a souffle’ makes you hyperventilate, then I urge you to try Julia’s method. I was a certified souffle-phobe, but her book solved my handicap. Too bad that she never wrote about golf. 😉

CORN SOUFFLE‘
(adapted from Julia Child’s Mastering the Art of French Cooking)

6-cup mold, buttered and sprinkled with grated parmiggiano cheese

3T butter
3T flour
1 cup hot milk
1/2 t salt
1/8 t pepper
pinch of cayenne pepper
4 egg yolks
5 egg whites + pinch salt
3/4 cup corn kernels (see comments)
1/8 cup feta cheese, crumbled

Melt the butter, stir in the flour and cook for 2 minutes, don’t allow it to brown. Remove from the heat, and when the butter stops furiously boiling, add the milk all at once. Return to medium heat and cook, stirring constantly for a couple of minutes more. The sauce will thicken considerably. Add salt, pepper, and cayenne.

Remove from heat, allow it to cool for 5 minutes or so, and add the egg yolks, one by one, mixing very well after each addition. This sauce can be prepared to this point and refrigerated; bring it to lukewarm before continuing. If you decide not to refrigerate it, then dot it with butter, cover it with a plastic wrap and go work on the egg whites.

Beat the egg whites with a pinch of salt until firm peaks form – depending on your mixer or the strength of your biceps it will take 2 to 5 minutes. Add 1/3 of this mixture to the sauce, to thin it slightly – add the corn kernels and the feta cheese, mix well.

Now, add the remaining egg whites and fold into the sauce. You don’t need to mix it until it is all incorporated and totally homogeneous, because the “lift” of your souffle’ depends on the air present in the beaten egg whites. If you deflate it, you won’t have a well-risen souffle (it will still taste good, though).

Fill the souffle’ mold to 3/4 of its volume, place it in a 400F oven, reducing the temperature immediately to 375F. Cook the souffle’ for 30 minutes – do not open the oven door during the first 20 minutes. If you like it moist inside, serve after 30 minutes. I prefer to cook for 5 additional minutes, then the texture inside is perfect, not too dry, not too creamy.

Souffle’ waits for no one. Serve immediately and enjoy the compliments of your guests!

BON APPETIT!

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13Aug2009

Beautiful Cabbage

Posted in Salads, Veggies by sallybr

Don’t tell me you are a cabbage-hater!

I would not hold it against you, because cabbage has a bad reputation: poor thing, it’s totally unjustified. A plump, red cabbage is a thing of beauty! I admit that members of the Cruciferae family tend to emit a nasty smell as they cook, but this recipe will not offend your senses. I’m talking about raw cabbage, in a sweet and sour concoction that will amaze your taste buds. I promise. Give this recipe a try, cabbage-hater, and don’t be ashamed of changing teams 😉

SWEET CABBAGE SLAW
(adapted from Bon Appetit, June 2008)

3 T sugar
3 T rice vinegar
1 small serrano pepper, thinly sliced
3 cups red cabbage, thinly sliced (see my comments)
2 cups Napa cabbage, thinly sliced
2 tsp fresh ginger, minced
1 T orange zest
chopped cilantro leaves, to taste
salt and pepper to taste
fresh lemon juice (optional)

Stir sugar and vinegar in a small saucepan over medium heat just until the sugar dissolves, no need to boil it. Remove it from the heat, add ginger and serrano pepper and mix.

Place both types of cabbage in a large bowl, add the orange zest and cilantro, mix to combine, add the reserved dressing and toss to coat the cabbage. Season to taste with salt and pepper. If it seems too sweet, add some fresh lemon juice.

Let it sit for about 30 minutes at room temperature, tossing it a few times to distribute the dressing. You can also put it in the fridge for several hours, but bring to room temperature before serving.

Enjoy!

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11Aug2009

Leaving on a jet plane…

Posted in General by sallybr

Tomorrow we jump on a plane….

arriving in Honolulu1

and should be right around this spot 9 long hours later….

Agenda for the next 10 days: relax and enjoy life!

(stay tuned, as the Bewitching Kitchen is always open… 😉

10Aug2009

BBA#13: Focaccia

Posted in BBA Challenge, Breads by sallybr

focacciaready

Not quite sure how else to put it: I LOVE focaccia! In fact, it was one of my very first posts in Bewitching Kitchen, a straightforward recipe we’ve enjoyed countless times. If you haven’t seen it, click here for a flash back.

In the Bread Baker’s Challenge, it was time for Peter Reinhart’s recipe, which is a lot more involved. Whereas my usual method takes you from flour to baked focaccia in a little over an hour, Reinhart’s calls for almost 3 hours of preparation, followed by an overnight sleep in the refrigerator. The next day it involves 3 more hours until baking; I was understandably anxious to see the results.

But first, the process…

As the ingredients mix it won’t look very promising…
dough1

But don’t worry about it, just get the dough hook going…. and going… and going… it might take 10 minutes to get it smooth

dough2.

This is exactly how it’s supposed to be: almost clearing the sides of the bowl, but still sticky at the bottom

Now, be brave and with wet hands, remove the dough to a heavily floured surface…

dough3

and proceed to make three folds, 30 minutes apart. Don’t forget to enjoy the amazing changes in texture, as the dough gains strength and shape with minimal effort…

fold1 fold2 finalfold

I confess to having a bit of trouble with the next step. It was tricky to move the dough to the sheet pan. If you have helpers around, line them up, and flour their hands… heavily. In fact, it might be even better to follow Paul’s suggestion (a fellow baker who recently posted about it here ), and transfer the dough to the sheet pan right after the last fold. It will make your life easier. 😉

sheetpan1