Menu 2: From Helsinki to Hawai'i
Photo: Lahaina, Maui, looking at Lanai'i island
Smoked Salmon Bagels (Helsinki, Finland) - smoked salmon on chewy bagels, topped with lightly pickled red onion and a homemade tartare relish
Huli Huli Chicken (Maui, Hawai'i) - marinated sweet and sticky chicken, sunshine flavours, served with Hawai'ian slaw
Banana Bread with Lilikoi Cream Frosting (Honolulu, Hawai'i) - rich banana bread with passionfruit cream cheese frosting
Drink suggestion: A rum and pinapple cocktail puts you right in the mood!
Starters - Smoked Salmon Bagels
Friendly Finns sitting by the harbour, watching the sun drop into the sea. Halved bagels topped with succulent smoked salmon, accented with marinated red onion and a dollop of tangy tartare.
Preparation: 30 minutes - and they will keep covered in the fridge for 2 hours
6 bagels
250g smoked salmon
200g cream cheese
1 red onion, peeled and finely sliced into rings or half rings
100ml white wine vinegar or cider vinegar
Tartare sauce: 3 tablespoons mayonnaise, 1/2 shallot chopped very finely, 6 small cornichons chopped very finely, 1/2 dill pickle chopped finely, 3 teaspoons pickled capers chopped finely, 1/2 teaspoon Dijon mustard
Pickle the red onion in the vinegar with a teaspoon of salt and a teaspoon of suger while you make up the bagels and sauce.
Mix the ingredients for the tartare sauce together and keep cool until you finalise the bagels.
Split each bagel around the middle, spread each half thinly with butter and then with cream cheese.
Tear up the smoked salmon and place on the bagels.
Serve: Top with slivers of the red onion and dollops of the tartare sauce. Add a pickle or two to each plate.
Main Course - Huli Huli Chicken with Hawai'ian Slaw
Grass skirts sway on the beach, smoke rises from the open air grills. Crisp chicken, marinated in pineapple, ginger and soy makes your mouth water. Lick the juices from your fingers and reach for another piece.
Preparation: Chicken – 10 minutes then overnight marinade, then 1 hour to cook. Slaw – 30 minutes
Hawai’ian Slaw:
The day before you want to eat: mix all the ingredients for the marinade together and add the chicken legs to the mixture. Cover and leave in the fridge overnight.
Pre heat your oven to 200°C. Place the chicken legs in a metal baking tray, keeping back some of the marinade and bake for 30 minutes, turning every now and then and pouring some of the juices out of the pan. Transfer to a wire rack above the baking tray for the last 20 minutes, brushing with the reserved marinade. You can finish these on the barbeque over a low heat instead of in the oven for a lovely crispy finish.
Mix the ingredients for the dressing in a large salad bowl, then mix in all the fresh vegetables and fruit. Stir well and sprinkle with the sesame seeds and a little extra fresh coriander.
Serve: Remove the chicken from the heat and wrap the end of each drumstick in a collar of kitchen foil to make them easier to eat just by hand. Serve with a scoop of slaw and maybe some garlic bread.
Dessert - Banana Bread with Lilikoi Frosting
The tropical evening falls. Music lilts from the singers. Moist banana bread is on your plate, lightened by a tangy cream frosting tinted with passionfruit.
Preparation: 30 minutes, 1 hour cooking, 30 minutes for the Lilikoi Cream. The banana bread keeps well for 2 days wrapped in foil.
Pre heat your oven to 180°C. Grease and line a loaf tin.
Beat the oil, sugar, vanilla essence and eggs in a large bowl until fairly fluffy.
In another bowl, mash the bananas with the yoghurt, then add them to the oil/sugar/eggs mixture.
Sieve in the flour, baking powder, bicarb and salt, mix well and then mix in the hazelnuts. You will have a gloopy delicious mixture. Do taste it thoroughly at this stage; it’s a cook’s prerogative to enjoy the cake mix. Scoop it into the loaf tin and bake for about 50-55 minutes until brown on top and beautifully spongy.
Take out and leave to cool on a wire rack for about 10 minutes, then turn out of the tin and leave to cool fully.
To make the icing: soften the butter – without melting it, but good and soft. Beat the butter well adding a spoonful of icing sugar at a time. I find a hand-held whisk is better at this than a mixer. When you’ve added half the sugar, start adding the juice and the cheese while whisking all the time and adding the sugar in spoonfuls. You will end up with a soft creamy mixture which tastes of fruit with a sharp edge from the cheese. If you can avoid eating the whole lot out of the bowl, just dollop the icing on top of the loaf. Keep somewhere cool until time to serve.
Serve: in slices, just as it is. In Hawai'i they let us serve ourselves to the frosting as much or as little as we wanted, so you could serve it on the side and let your guests decide how much they want with each spoonful of the cake.
Huli Huli Chicken (Maui, Hawai'i) - marinated sweet and sticky chicken, sunshine flavours, served with Hawai'ian slaw
Banana Bread with Lilikoi Cream Frosting (Honolulu, Hawai'i) - rich banana bread with passionfruit cream cheese frosting
Drink suggestion: A rum and pinapple cocktail puts you right in the mood!
Starters - Smoked Salmon Bagels
Friendly Finns sitting by the harbour, watching the sun drop into the sea. Halved bagels topped with succulent smoked salmon, accented with marinated red onion and a dollop of tangy tartare.
Preparation: 30 minutes - and they will keep covered in the fridge for 2 hours
6 bagels
250g smoked salmon
200g cream cheese
1 red onion, peeled and finely sliced into rings or half rings
100ml white wine vinegar or cider vinegar
Tartare sauce: 3 tablespoons mayonnaise, 1/2 shallot chopped very finely, 6 small cornichons chopped very finely, 1/2 dill pickle chopped finely, 3 teaspoons pickled capers chopped finely, 1/2 teaspoon Dijon mustard
Pickle the red onion in the vinegar with a teaspoon of salt and a teaspoon of suger while you make up the bagels and sauce.
Mix the ingredients for the tartare sauce together and keep cool until you finalise the bagels.
Split each bagel around the middle, spread each half thinly with butter and then with cream cheese.
Tear up the smoked salmon and place on the bagels.
Serve: Top with slivers of the red onion and dollops of the tartare sauce. Add a pickle or two to each plate.
Main Course - Huli Huli Chicken with Hawai'ian Slaw
Grass skirts sway on the beach, smoke rises from the open air grills. Crisp chicken, marinated in pineapple, ginger and soy makes your mouth water. Lick the juices from your fingers and reach for another piece.
Preparation: Chicken – 10 minutes then overnight marinade, then 1 hour to cook. Slaw – 30 minutes
- 12 chicken drumsticks
- Marinade: 100ml pineapple juice (from a tin, not fresh); 2 tablespoons brown sugar; 3 tablespoons soy sauce; 2 tablespoons tomato ketchup; 1 tablespoon sesame oil; 1 tablespoon rice vinegar; 2cm fresh garlic grated; 1 big clove of garlic crushed with salt; ½ teaspoon mild chilli flakes
Hawai’ian Slaw:
- ¼ medium red cabbage, finely shredded
- ¼ medium white cabbage, finely shredded
- 200g carrots, peeled and grated
- 1 bunch spring onions, cleaned and finely chopped
- 200g pineapple, chopped quite fine
- ½ bunch fresh coriander, chopped
- 2 teaspoons sesame seeds, toasted
- Dressing: 1 tablespoon olive oil; 1 tablespoon sesame oil; ½ tablespoon rice wine vinegar; 1 tablespoon soy sauce; 1 tablespoon honey; juice of 1 lime; salt.
The day before you want to eat: mix all the ingredients for the marinade together and add the chicken legs to the mixture. Cover and leave in the fridge overnight.
Pre heat your oven to 200°C. Place the chicken legs in a metal baking tray, keeping back some of the marinade and bake for 30 minutes, turning every now and then and pouring some of the juices out of the pan. Transfer to a wire rack above the baking tray for the last 20 minutes, brushing with the reserved marinade. You can finish these on the barbeque over a low heat instead of in the oven for a lovely crispy finish.
Mix the ingredients for the dressing in a large salad bowl, then mix in all the fresh vegetables and fruit. Stir well and sprinkle with the sesame seeds and a little extra fresh coriander.
Serve: Remove the chicken from the heat and wrap the end of each drumstick in a collar of kitchen foil to make them easier to eat just by hand. Serve with a scoop of slaw and maybe some garlic bread.
Dessert - Banana Bread with Lilikoi Frosting
The tropical evening falls. Music lilts from the singers. Moist banana bread is on your plate, lightened by a tangy cream frosting tinted with passionfruit.
Preparation: 30 minutes, 1 hour cooking, 30 minutes for the Lilikoi Cream. The banana bread keeps well for 2 days wrapped in foil.
- 100ml vegetable oil
- 175g light brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla essence or sachet of vanilla sugar
- 2 medium eggs
- 3 very ripe bananas
- 75ml plain yoghurt
- 200g plain flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder, 1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda, ¼ teaspoon salt
- 75g ground hazelnuts and a tablespoon chopped roasted hazelnuts
- For the lilikoi cream: 90g softened butter, 120g cream cheese, juice of 4 passionfruits, 150g icing sugar
Pre heat your oven to 180°C. Grease and line a loaf tin.
Beat the oil, sugar, vanilla essence and eggs in a large bowl until fairly fluffy.
In another bowl, mash the bananas with the yoghurt, then add them to the oil/sugar/eggs mixture.
Sieve in the flour, baking powder, bicarb and salt, mix well and then mix in the hazelnuts. You will have a gloopy delicious mixture. Do taste it thoroughly at this stage; it’s a cook’s prerogative to enjoy the cake mix. Scoop it into the loaf tin and bake for about 50-55 minutes until brown on top and beautifully spongy.
Take out and leave to cool on a wire rack for about 10 minutes, then turn out of the tin and leave to cool fully.
To make the icing: soften the butter – without melting it, but good and soft. Beat the butter well adding a spoonful of icing sugar at a time. I find a hand-held whisk is better at this than a mixer. When you’ve added half the sugar, start adding the juice and the cheese while whisking all the time and adding the sugar in spoonfuls. You will end up with a soft creamy mixture which tastes of fruit with a sharp edge from the cheese. If you can avoid eating the whole lot out of the bowl, just dollop the icing on top of the loaf. Keep somewhere cool until time to serve.
Serve: in slices, just as it is. In Hawai'i they let us serve ourselves to the frosting as much or as little as we wanted, so you could serve it on the side and let your guests decide how much they want with each spoonful of the cake.
