Aloha From The Islands ~ ~ Encrusted Ahi Tuna Pupus!

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Hello from tropical paradise!  My farm sitter is home with all my furry animal family and baking in the 100 degree temperatures while hubby and I escaped!  After a few days of soaking in the sun, taking in the aroma of all the tropical blossoms, listening to the waves gently washing ashore, we decided to venture out and try a new restaurant.  I simply love Thai food, so we chose Singha Thai due to all of the international accolades showered on the chef/owner and his culinary style.
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Little did we know that one of the appetizers or 'pupus' as they call them here in Hawaii, is one of the top favorite dishes that Chef Chai created and serves at both of his award-winning restaurants.  To me, no ingredient represents Hawaiian cuisine more perfectly than Ahi Tuna.  So as curious as I am, after we returned to our room, I googled the recipe!  To my surprise this is one of the recipes that he shares with his fans.  It is simply incredible and even my husband who despises raw fish/sushi/sushimi was impressed.

This delightful appetizer consists of beautiful, fresh, red Ahi Tuna dipped in a tempura batter and then encased in a panko crust.  Then the tuna is fried for just a few seconds only so that the tuna stays raw inside.  Finally, it is plated and beautifully presented in a perfectly spiced curry sauce with a wasabi sauce drizzled around for that extra little Asian bite!  A tropical mango salsa marriage tops it all off!

This is literally a tropical culinary paradise in your mouth!
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Sitting Buddha and Reclining/Sleeping Buddha statues among the Thai decor

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Crusted ‘Ahi Tuna Katsu, Yellow Curry Sauce and Fresh Mango Salsa
(Recipe courtesy of Chef Chai of Chai's Island Bistro and Singha Thai in Honolulu, Hawaii, USA)

Tempura batter

3/4 cup all-purpose flour
¼ cup cornstarch
1 egg, beaten
½ cup water
Salt and pepper, to taste

In a small bowl, combine all ingredients above until the batter has no lumps; set aside.

‘Ahi Tuna Katsu

2 blocks fresh ‘ahi (about 1½-2 lbs.), cut into an inch tube about 6 to 8 inches long
4 sheets nori (Japanese seaweed)
1 cup Tempura Batter (recipe above)
1 cup panko breadcrumbs
Vegetable oil, enough to fill a frying pan a minimum of 1-inch deep

Wrap each piece of ‘ahi tuna with two sheets of fresh nori.
Dip them into the tempura batter.
Coat with panko breadcrumbs.
In wok or deep fryer/cast iron pan, preheat oil to 375°F.
Fry fish until golden brown (about 30 to 45 seconds).
Slice into 8 to 10 ¼-inch-thick pieces.

Thai Yellow Curry Sauce

½ Tbsp. Thai yellow curry paste
2 cups coconut milk
1 Tbsp. fish sauce or Aloha Shoyu
½ Tbsp. curry powder
½ Tbsp. sugar

In a saucepan over medium heat, combine all of the ingredients above; bring to a boil.
Simmer on low heat for 10 minutes or until the sauce thickens to the consistency of mustard.

Mango-Tomato Salsa

2 Tbsp. ripe mango, diced
2 Tbsp. tomato, diced
½ Tbsp. Chinese parsley, chopped
½ Tbsp. onion, chopped
½ Tbsp. bell pepper, chopped
¼ Tbsp. lemon juice
¼ Tbsp. balsamic vinegar
¼ Tbsp. sugar
Pinch of salt, to taste
Dash of Tabasco, to taste

In a small bowl, combine all of the above ingredients.

Presentation: 
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Plate ahi tuna katsu slices on one side of plate.
Spoon some of Mango-Tomato Salsa next to tuna slices.
Ladle/pour some Thai Yellow Curry Sauce on the other side of plate.
Drizzle wasabi sauce around the outside of plate (for both taste/use as well as enhanced presentation).
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Mahalo (thank you) to Chef Chai and his aloha generosity for sharing this recipe!

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Sweet Cherry Tomato Basil Pesto Sauce on Farfalle Pasta

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Tiny little tomatoes!  "Sweet 100" tomatoes!  We just can't get enough of these little red rubies in the garden!  We planted only one plant of this variety last year and loved them SO much, that we planted four plants this year.  Oh my goodness, what was I even thinking about?  I'm going to have to back off next year, because this variety is true to its name:  Very SWEET and continually bearing hundreds of little tomatoes.  The plants grew so fast, and with so many on each plant, that the tomatoes are dropping off faster than I can keep up with harvesting them.  I've been giving them to friends though, as well as our dogs who love them as a snack (our vet approves too).  I've already made three batches of this sauce and several other standby recipes (look under tomatoes on the sidebar), and those tomato plants are still producing these little guys!

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This recipe requires roasting the tomatoes which really enhances their sweetness and brings out their flavor!  You don't have to peel them either which keeps things very simple!  While the roasting is going on in the oven (or on the grill inside a veggie basket) you prepare a quick and easy basil pesto sauce to toss the cooked tomatoes in.  Then toss on top of your favorite pasta and serve!  DONE in no time at all!

This recipe is extremely versatile as well.  Not only can you serve this as an entree/main dish, but you can also serve it as a side dish, AND as an appetizer on top of crostini as you would do with bruschetta.  You can make this ahead of time as well for any of the above situations and that's a big plus! 

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Tomatoes growing nearly out of control on the vine!

One or two of the basil crop in the garden

Just one morning's harvest . . . seriously, just one.  This amount is picked daily!

Sweet Cherry Tomato - Basil Pesto Sauce on Farfalle Pasta

1  - 2 pounds fresh, ripe red cherry tomatoes (we use Sweet 100's)

1 - 2 tsp. olive oil

Sea salt

20 - 30 leaves fresh basil

2 Tbsp. freshly grated Parmesan cheese

3 cloves of garlic, minced

2 Tbsp. olive oil

Pour olive oil onto a baking pan.  

Place the cherry tomatoes on the baking pan and roll them around to coat the tomatoes.

Sprinkle the sea salt lightly over the tomatoes.

Roast the tomato/olive oil/sea salt mixture in a 350 degree oven for 20 minutes.

In the meantime, have a deep pot of water boiling to cook your pasta.  

Cook pasta in the boiling water for the amount of time necessary for 'al dente' doneness.

While the tomatoes are roasting in the oven, prepare the basil sauce.

In a mini food processor, chop up the basil leaves (stems removed).

Add the garlic, olive oil, and grated Parmesan cheese.

Chop for another 30 seconds.

Put the warm roasted tomatoes in a large fry pan.

Add the basil/pesto sauce to the tomatoes in the pan.

Blend gently.

Drain cooked pasta.

Place in a pretty serving dish.

Pour the tomato/basil sauce on top.

Garnish and serve!

On a baking sheet, pour olive oil to coat it, then put your tomatoes on top and give them a swirl to dress them with the olive oil.

Aren't they beautiful?

Chop up the basil (in a mini food processor here), add olive oil, Parmesan cheese, and garlic.

Pour the basil pesto sauce onto the roasted tomatoes in a large frying pan.  Cook on medium for only enough time to heat the basil/pesto sauce through.

Mix it all up during the cooking process.

Serve over your favorite pasta shape......I used farfalle (bow ties) for this dish.
Just beautiful color!  The aroma of this is just incredible too!.

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Garden Fresh Marinara Sauce

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Oh my my!  It surely is fresh tomato time here, as it is in many parts of the country, I'm sure!  So what do you do with all of your tomatoes?  

First thing we do on this acreage is make salsa . . . lol!  You thought that I was going to say Italian tomato sauce, huh?  Actually, we really do prepare and can our salsa first and then make the marinara sauce.  Making salsa is such a day-long affair, that I prefer to just get it out of the way and then return to preparing dishes that aren't quite so long and involved!  But I'll post that recipe later for you.  Here's a nice basic marinara sauce that you can find in so many Italian cookbooks.  I'm sure that there is a plethora of recipes on the web as well.  But we think the aroma of this blend of ingredients is sublime and divine.

If you don't have freshly ripe red tomatoes, check and see if you have a local farmers market, or some really good varieties at your grocery store, and then of course you can always beg for some from a friend who has fresh tomatoes (we get that quite a lot and end of giving half of ours away every summer).  Remember the summer when tomatoes were going for $3.00 each and some restaurants stopped serving them?  We had neighbors that we didn't even know asking for our tomatoes!

But I ramble on.  Here's the recipe for you!

(Click on 'read more' below for this wonderful marinara recipe!)

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Good Eats and Treats at the SC Annual BBQ Festival

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Its that time of year again when serious barbeque competitors work their circuit to determine who's got the best rubs, sauces, and smokin' secrets.  Every year in the Southeast, one of the more popular BBQ competitions takes place in our nearby little city.  So as usual, we followed our noses to the origins of the sweet and savory aromas!

If you didn't catch it this past June, the Food Network did a special on its "Challenge" show on barbeque competitions.  The network brought all the cameras, lights, and journalists to cover the Annual SC Festival of Discovery BBQ Festival.  This was the 20th anniversary of this very successful foodie event and was endorsed by the Kansas City BBQ Society.  Teams came from Texas, Florida, Georgia, the Carolinas, and Tennessee.  Folks take their BBQ VERY seriously around here!

People were just mingling and milling around trying to taste and savor all of the varieties of the vendors.

Here are a few pictures of the competitors' humorous signs in front of or on top of their vendor tents.

From the great state of Georgia (above and below):

From the beautiful state of North Carolina (above and below):

Sounds good to me!  I need all of the help I can get!

and from the origin of BBQ, some of the South Carolina contestants:

Just look at these serious big rig smokers and grills that these folks haul around on the circuit!

Some serious competitors during the wee hours of the night!

And the winners received more coveted trophies to take home and ADD to their collections!

Foodie fans waiting to hear who the winners are this year!

So where's the food, huh?  Here's one of the most perfect Southern pulled pork sandwich with a tomato-based sauce that we have ever had....we even went back the next day for seconds!  But truthfully, our favorite sauce is the mustard-based unique to South Carolina....lip smackin' good!

We're just suckers for potato shavings dipped in ketchup . . . not so healthy for us, but nothing was at this  festival!

And funnel cakes always epitomize carnivals, fairs, and festivals.  This BBQ festival was no exception, so my hubby had his sweet tooth satisfied nicely!

I just had to give this Italian Ice a try. . . "Rita's" is a commonly seen chain in many states and this strawberry ice sure hit the spot on what was another extremely hot summer day here in the South!  With this to help cool us off, we ended our lazy afternoon by simply sitting in the shade of a tree while a wonderful breeze blew in as we sat and listened to some cool live jazz and blues tunes.

Just a few more photos of other things that added to the flavor and atmosphere of the event:

A cute little piggy award for something that somebody won!

Overall, it was a yummy and enjoyable day for a lot of hungry, happy, and social people who love to sample and support great regional fare and some good live music. With a little kids amusement rides section, even a lot of kids had a good time.  And that's always a good thing!
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For a list of jazz and blues bands here's the link:  
http://www.uptowngreenwood.com/Events_FestivalofDiscovery_Blues.aspx Pin It

Asiago Cheese Bread BLT's!

I have this crazy love affair with asiago bread ever since Panera Bread began marketing it years and years ago.  I have not been able to locate a good recipe to bake it at home, so if you happen to know of one, PLEASE share it with me! 

Since our little acreage is way out in no-man's land we don't have a Panera Bread nearby . . . BUT, you'll never believe the company that now bakes a fairly decent asiago bread?  None other than Wal-Mart.  Who would have thought?  But yes, even hubby says its not too bad!  This bread flies off the shelves due to those asiago lovers like me who don't want to drive 60 miles to the closest Panera.

With the lazy days of summer upon us, nothing beats simplicity!  Sweet, simple living in the summertime!  What says simple summer livin' more than a bacon, lettuce, and tomato sandwich?  So with that dreamy thought in mind, I decided to make some "BLT's" because the tomatoes are ripening in the garden at the speed of lightening with this warm summer.  I didn't do anything different to this traditional sandwich other than usual. 
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(Click on 'read more' below for more about this sandwich)



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