Lemon Bars

Pre-heat oven 350 degrees

Grease 9 x 11 pan

For Shortbread:

1 1/2 cup all-purpose flour

3/4 cup confectioner's sugar

12 tablespoons of melted unsalted butter

1/4 tsp salt

For Topping:

4 Eggs

1 2/3 cups white granulated sugar

1/2 tsp salt

1/3 cup all-purpose flour

3 large lemons juiced

zest of lemon

Sift flour and sugar in bowl.  Add salt and melted butter.  Mix well and evenly press on the bottom of the prepared pan.

Bake 20-25 minutes or until light golden brown.

Whisk eggs until light, pale and fluffy.  Add sugar, salt, stir well.
Sift flour in and whisk until smooth. Strain lemon juice.  Whisk in lemon zest.  Pour mixture in cold or warm shortbread.

Bake for 25-35 minutes.  Top should be set but slightly jiggly and slight golden brown.
Cool thoroughly, top with powdered sugar.

Chocolate Mousse in a jar!

Here's an easy chocolate mousse recipe,  it doesn't even require cream or sugar because the sweetness comes from the chocolate!

Recipe for: Chocolate Mousse

To prepare: 

Blender ready, Bain Marie, small pan for Raspberries, jars to put mousse in, sifter

Ingredients

Directions

200 g. Chocolate Semi-Sweet 3 egg yolks 5 egg whites 5 tbsp. sugar 5 tbsp. water Basket of raspberries

Prepare the Raspberry coulis.  Boil the water and sugar until it becomes like syrup.  Blend with raspberries in the blender. Sift the sauce out to take the seeds out. Melt the chocolate over the Bain Marie (metal bowl over heated water).  Add the egg yolks and mix it in with the rubber spatula and cool in fridge.   In a separate bowl, beat egg whites until fluffy, beat real fast.  When chocolate is cooled, fold the egg whites into the chocolate slowly and little by little.  The consistency should be like a mousse, fluffy & full.   Fill the jars and refrigerate for an hour. Top it off with the raspberry coulis and/or whip cream.

Lemon Tart / Tarte au Citron

To prepare: 

Pre-heat oven 375*, for 9 inch tart use 3 lemons, 3 egg yolks, 150 g of sugar, this recipe is for 11 inch tart

Ingredients

Directions

Zest of 3 ½ lemons Juice of 3 ½ lemons About 165 g of sugar (7/8 cup) 2 whole eggs 4 egg yolks

In a bowl, mix the zest, juice sugar, eggs and egg yolks until it’s liquid. Warm up the mix in a small pot, low to medium heat Pour the filling in a prepared pastry shell, the filling will still be liquid. Bake for 15 min at 375* Let it cool down and then add the meringue on top and bake again, until brown. Let cool for 30 min.  I had to make it twice to make sure this recipe work! The way me and hubby experiments with recipes is to mix the American way of baking and the French way of baking and this was our outcome! Enjoy!

Chicken in a Cast Iron Pot / Poulet en Cocotte

I love my dutch oven/cast iron pot (cocotte), heavy as hell but it's easy to use and it has its advantages.  Some of you may use a slow cooker but this is my slow cooker!  They are known to being able to hold their heat for a long period of time, so they are best for recipes that require a slow consistent heat. The cocotte has an even heating surface and lid which in turns helps keep the heat even throughout the entire pot! 


We received this for Christmas from my parents in-law and every time I cook with it, I think of them!  It's not a Le Creuset but a Fontignac, same type, different brand! Don't exceed 400 degrees in the oven with this type of duroplast knob....

Here is one of my simple recipes that I mixed and matched, including Julia Child's "Poulet en Cocotte".

Ingredients:

Whole Chicken

Olive Oil / Butter

Peppercorns

Salt

Potatoes

Onion

Garlic

Rosemary / Thyme / Bay Leaves

Lemon

Whole Organic Chicken

Rosemary from my terrace!

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.


Cut the potatoes in 4 or 6 chunks, depending on the size of them.


Blanch the potatoes for a few minutes, take out and strain.


Olive oil in cocotte and brown the chicken on both sides, give it more color than the way my chicken looks in my picture.....


Take chicken out and brown the potatoes and the onions.


Stuff the chicken with all the herbs, lemon cut in half, garlic, butter.....also butter the chicken between the skin and chicken, this can help flavor the chicken!


Truss the chicken....yep that's right! Tie him up!

Before

Cover with Foil

Now put the sucker in the cocotte and cover with foil.  The oven should be ready to receive your cocotte at 325 degrees!  


2 hours should be good!


Enjoy!

Poulet en Cocotte

As you can see, I should've browned the chicken a bit more, either way - it was delicious and very juicy. 


Use your imagination and make whatever chicken stew you want in this Cocotte.  I like using this for my chicken because it really keeps the juices in!

Yum.....local Hawaiian food...

I do miss Local Food!  I must go to a Hawaiian restaurant real soon..... Hawaiian food is a mix of the cultures; Filipino, Japanese, Chinese, Portuguese & Korean.  Did I miss any?

Here are some of my favorites!

Lomi Lomi Salmon Recipe

Lomi means massage in Hawaiian and you will see how that name applies to this recipe.

Ingredients:

8 oz. salted salmon fillet

fresh tomatoes, peeled and diced

1 medium Maui onion or any mild onion or 3-4 thinly sliced green onions

Preparation:

This is the basic recipe for Lomi Lomi Salmon, you can add additional ingredients based on personal taste for ie; pepper flakes or Hawaiian red chili peppers and lime.

Wash hands thoroughly.  Shred the salmon into small pieces with your hands.  Add onions & tomatoes.  Massage this mixture with your hands until all ingredients are broken up and thoroughly mixed.  Chill.

If you can only find unsalted salmon, rub the salmon with rock or kosher salt and let stand overnight. Rinse thoroughly and soak in cold water for at least one hour, changing water a few times.

Loco Moco  

Hawaiian comfort food.......ono!

Ingredients for 2 big servings:

Ground beef to make hamburger patties, us locals don't use lean because we like the fat!

Onions - optional

Salt/pepper to taste

4 eggs

hot cooked white rice

Gravy: 

1 cup beef broth

Flour for thickening

1 tb butter

couple of dashes of Worchestershire sauce

Make rice, make hamburger patties, make gravy, cook up the eggs and put it all together!

I think my husband wonders why I eat rice when I make him the French version of this! 

French version is called Steak Hache' same ol' recipe minus the gravy and rice!

Eat with ketchup like my French hubby or ketchup and hot sauce, like me!

Here are some other typical Local Food......delish!

Don't have a recipe for the Lau Lau because I never made it.  I would if I only knew where to buy the damn Taro leaves around here.  Basically it's  pork or chicken wrapped in taro leaves, steamed!  Oh so good with rice!

Pork Lau Lau

Well, you can look up the recipe on line for the Kalbi, if I give away my secret ingredient, my friend Heejin and Esther won't like that!  It's a Korean secret!

Kalbi

Saimin

Everyone knows how to make Saimin!  Secret ingredient:  Dashi powder......from there - add what you like....wonton, strips of beef, boiled egg....and for those of you who doesn't know what that pink thing is in the picture, well it's Fish Cake!

Spam & Egg Masubi

 Typical Hawaiian snack or breakfast....you get the picture!  Easy to make!

Steamed Manapua

Macaroni Salad

Don't ask me to make this, to me it seems really difficult!  Usually filled with a meat, mostly chinese sausage and spices.

Don't forget the scoop of Macaroni Salad and 2 scoops of rice!

deep fried in oil!

Malasadas

Oh and last but not least......Malasadas, the Hawaiian Donut!  Well the recipe is no different from the French Beignets...except Beignets is covered with powdered sugar.  Use your imagination and fill them up with cream or chocolate, or dip them like fondue.

I hope you enjoyed your eating experience in Hawaii....I guess I forgot to add chorizo, poi, taro (oh my how I miss Taro buns) or kalua pork but that'll be another day, for now I just named a few local dishes that you can enjoy at home!  Don't forget to play the music in the background for the ambiance AND eat with a plastic fork - just kidding....it's a local joke.....

ALOHA!

Now sing with me:

Fish & Poi,

I'm a big boy,

Lomi salmon, pipi kaula,

extra large lilikoi,

squid & chicken lu'au,

don't forget the laulau

beef & tripe stew,

just to name a few

oh yeah!!!