Baked Guavas Stuffed with Cranberries and Sausage

These were originally meant to be Baked Stuffed Apples, as per Carolyn Hart's fictional character, the handsome, all around fantastic, Max Darling in Death Walked In.  A breakfast surprise he whips up for his wife.  How cool is that?  However I thought, this is Hawaii, and there are guavas at the moment, for which I have been feeling semi-guilty, due to neglect.  Hey they just were not calling my name.  Jam, chutney, compote, too cool for ice cream, been there, done that, boring.  But this, oh boy, oh boy, the potential!  Baked Guavas, stuffed with that sausage and cranberry combo, maple syrup drizzled over the tops.  As Rachel Ray would say, yum-o!

And they were, for sure, trust me, etc.  It was one of those experiments that come out just right the first time.  Tender, juicy, not too sweet, not too tart, flavorful ....deliciously perfect.  I did a riff off  Rachel Ray's recipe, due to Ms. Hart not providing one.  I will provide her version with my changes noted, and you can vary at will.

Since guavas are nicely tart, I skipped the vinegar, as well as the herbs, mustard, oil, salt and pepper.  You might want all those with apples, depending upon the flavor and sweetness of your fruit.

Lavender Scones and Mysteries

Mysteries and food, they make such a lovely pairing.  I can think of a number of writers who combine the two interests, and one of my favorites is Susan Wittig Albert.  This recipe for Lavender Scones comes from her 2004 mystery, A Dilly of a Death, featuring China Bales, sometime sleuth and proprietor of a small town herbal shop and tea room, somewhere in Texas.  Where is not exactly important, it is the fleshing out of characters, plot development and all the rest that make us come back for more.

Like these scones.  One of the more irascible characters quibbles that China should have left out some of the lavender.  That gave me pause.  But then you consider the person, and say no, I'll try it the way it's given.  What a waste of delightful lavender buds if you could'nt even get a taste.  And, I am here to tell you that there is just enough.  Perfection.  And, wait until you smell them baking; that by itself is wonderful.  Luckily I had some lavender remaining from an earlier experiment in marshmallow making, (Lavender Marshmallows, yum).

Feijoada - A Brazilian Feast for Daring Cooks

This is not to be confused with Black Bean Soup, which I and probably most of you have made many times.  What we have here is a cultural happening, a Brazilian feast comparable to Thanksgiving, for which one dish is not sufficient.  You don't just serve turkey.  At Thanksgiving there should be cranberries, sweet potatoes, stuffing....etc. etc.  Right?  It's like that.

Rachel Dana was our October 2012 Daring Cooks' Challenge hostess! Rachel brought Brazil into our lives by challenging us to make Feijoada and Farofa along with some other yummy side dishes traditionally served with Feijoada, which is a delicious black bean and pork stew.

Accompaniments to the main dish are Farofa (made with cassava flour), collards, (in my case kale since there were no collards) Vinaigrette (sort of pickled salad), sliced oranges, rice, and hot sauce.

For the pork in my Feijoada, part of it anyway, I used a "shoulder blade?" acquired by my friend Nancy's husband, from a naughty, roving wild boar, caught disturbing their gardens, and who came to a well deserved rest in our stew pots.

 I brined that chunk of meat with fresh sage, juniper berries, peppercorns and garlic.  And along with the blade, I used pork sausages and bacon.  All the meats are fried and browned separately before being added to the nearly cooked beans.

With this meal, it helps if you prepare it on a relatively free day.  I did it mostly Saturday, and spread out the prep time, doing things early and setting them aside.  Soaking the beans and brining the pork was begun the night before.

And actually,  I made my kale dish the night before as well.  We had some with our steaks  and there was plenty left to reheat for this extravaganza.  I like the method of par-boiling, after removing the stems and slicing thinly, then quick stir-frying in olive oil with garlic, salt and a bit of lemon.

In the morning while my beans started cooking, I made the garlic and onion base (see recipe below) and then the Vinaigrette.

This is a lovely, colorful side which can rest until dinner, conmingling flavors in the fridge while you rest between fixing all the various parts of your meal.

The Farofa comes together very quickly, while your stew is in the last few minutes of simmering or just sitting there all nice and hot with a cover.

I have to say that the Feijoada surprised me a bit, there weren't a whole lot of additional flavoring agents aside from the pork, beans, garlic and onions.  But the flavor rocked.  Just awesome.  Altogether, a marvelous meal and cultural experience as well, thanks to Rachel, our intrepid Brazilian leader. All her recipes will follow.  Everything you need for your own authentic feast.

Triple Cheese Stuffed Squash Blossoms, Baked

Another of those "bucket list" type foodie items, I'd been meaning, wanting, longing (maybe we're going too far here) to try.  Growing zucchini was not a success, as the snails kept eating my plants.  Then this week at our Hilo Farmer's Market, I spotted a large array of lovely squash blossoms.  Hurray!

Most recipes call for frying, so I was happy to find a baked version, which I thought might sit better on my stomach.  And it does.  Fried foods often create a heavy lumpish feeling there.  For me anyway.  Sorry Nancy.  She's from the South, where even salad might turn up fried.

The process was so easy, and the flowers tender, tasty and easy to work with.  I used the nicest looking ones for this stuffing experiment, and the rest (about half) will go into a Mexican soup tonight, from the Frida Kahlo cookbook. 

Hana Bay Banana Cream Pie

We do have a Hana here in Hawaii, on the island of Maui, however this is a Carabbean Hana, as in the rum, used in this pie for flavor.  Don't worry you tee totallers, it's cooked out.  Totally.  Trust me.

The trick with my version of Banana Cream Pie is actually not the rum, but lies in caramelizing the bananas first in butter and palm sugar.  Then you set that aside and make the custard, into which you stir all those lovely bananas.  The cream is in the custard and extra goes on top.  Yum.

Curried Chicken Salad on Watercress for Cook the Books Club

Our latest (Aug/Sept) Cook the Books Club selection was the lovely, and entertainingly intimate, foodie memoir by the late Laurie Colwin, Home Cooking.

The book reads like an extended, laid back conversation between a couple of good friends. You won't agree with everything anyone says, but the dialogue is never boring.  

For instance, I happen to love stuffing.  (She hates it) Prefer it to the turkey, in fact.  And a rolled stuffed flank steak, can be delicious, albeit like anything else, if done correctly.  Not haveing had a "gray and stringy" or overcooked one, perhaps I'm biased.  Still, reading that chapter gave me the impetus to try it her way, marinated and grilled fast, then sliced paper thin.  An excellent idea, especially as it is a much easier way of treating a good inexpensive cut of meat.

The chapter on "Repulsive Dinners" was especially reminiscent of that give and take sharing of experiences, between a few close friends, each outdoing the others with their most horrid dinner experience.  So freaking funny.  It begins:

"There is something triumphant about a really disgusting meal.  It lingers in the memory with a lurid glow, just as something exalted is remembered with a kind of mellow brilliance.....My life has been much enriched by ghastly meals..."

"For dessert we had a packaged cheesecake with iridescent cherries embedded in a topping of cerise gum and light tan coffee."

Spanish Paella with the Daring Cooks

Do you know, Paella is one of those dishes that has been on my cooking "bucket list" for a long time.  And, I finally got the kick in the pants that was needed to go ahead with the program..

Our Daring Cooks’ September 2012 hostess was Inma of la Galletika. Inma brought us a taste of Spain and challenged us to make our very own delicious Paella!

Being as Bob does not care for shellfish, a typical Paella was not on the menu, neither was I into doing a strictly vegetarian version. So I went out into the wilds of the interweb and did a bit of Spanish Paella researching.  It seems the original Valencian recipes didn't have fish, but did include rabbit, snails and beans. Ooookay, snails are plentiful here but again, Bob won't touch them, and doesn't much like rabbit either.  Beans are good, and some folks say rabbit tastes like chicken, so we are submitting a version of our own.  Based on what is available that Bob will eat.  Don't worry folks, I eat out often enough to get in my quota of all that other good stuff.

Paella is a bit like Risotto, except that the liquid is added all at once.  The rice is, ideally Calasparra or Bomba, similar to Arborio.  You want a nice starchy variety and Arborio, which I used, works fine.  Also it is briefly sauteed in olive oil first, as you would for a risotto.  I caramelized some onion, added lots of garlic, the diced chicken and ham, then the rice, before adding tomatoes, veggies and finally stock and herbs.  That, in brief, is the procedure.

The Daring Cooks Get Corny, Chalupas and Crusty Soft-centered Spoon Bread

 I have been looking into new ways of using cornmeal this past month.  Yes we like cornmeal pancakes a lot, waffles, tamales and even Corn Dodgers, polenta is a favorite, as well cornbread.  Still, we need to get out of our boxes.

Rachael of pizzarossa was our August 2012 Daring Cook hostess and she challenged us to broaden our knowledge of cornmeal! Rachael provided us with some amazing recipes and encouraged us to hunt down other cornmeal recipes that we’d never tried before – opening our eyes to literally 100s of cuisines and 1000s of new-to-us recipes!

The first recipe I tried was for a Crusty Soft-center Spoon Bread, which I had heard of and considered making in the past.  It sounds so yummy, I guess I just needed the impetus of this challenge to forge ahead.  Turns out to be a combination of cornbread  and pudding.  I added some grated cheese to the top, and we thought it was great.

The recipe, which was from my old Joy of Cooking, will follow. 

Next came Chalupas, a fairly obscure Mexican specialty, at least where we live, and I thought they would make a good entry for this challenge.  A type of tostada from south-central Mexico, particularly the states of Puebla, Guerrero and Oaxaca, they are much easier to make than tortillas (unless you are an accomplished tortilla maker), so tortillas for the amateur.  

Death by Darjeeling, and Tea-smoked Duck Breasts for Cook the Books Club

Our current read for Cook the Books Club is the cozy tea shop mystery, Death by Darjeeling, by Laura Childs.  If  death can be considered "cozy."  I've always wondered about that murder mystery appellation, though the tea shop and cafe she describes is certainly cozy enough to make me long for one in our town.

I've read others of her delightful books and come away with that same longing, as well as enlightenment on the subject of tea, the multitude of types with their unique flavors, from all around the world - India, Africa, South East Asia and China to a tea plantation in South Carolina, and, yes Hawaii.  We do have our own tea estates outside the town of Volcano, on the "Big Island."

I was so fascinated with the whole subject, thanks to Childs' book, that for purposes of burgeoning interest and research, I made an appointment to tour a local tea plantation,  Tea Hawaii, with hostess Eva Lee.

Eva Lee and her husband, Chiu Leong, founders of Tea Hawaii,  grow most of their tea in the understory shade of ohia trees.  I discovered that tea will thrive in shade or sun, and at various elevations.  Though, apparently the finest teas grow at higher elevations, due to the slower growth caused by a cooler climate.  Several cultivars  have been planted, and are kept pruned to just below waist height.