Island Food Recap

I've been meaning to write about some of the food we enjoyed on Maui for a while now.  I even took photos of some of my favorite meals so I could show you.  Thanks to Wyatt's appetite I seem to be able to eat what I like these days without any negative waistline results, and I took full advantage of this feature on our recent trip.

I only have one recipe to share.  But hopefully the photos will spark some ideas for your table -- and maybe make you a little hungry for good food (if not also for a tropical vacation).

Our daily dose of granola, yogurt, fresh fruit with coffee and a coconut bagel with passion fruit cream cheese.

Lunch at Longhi's featuring Longhi's signature salads -- sooooo crisp, cold, fresh and yummy.  We ate every morsel.

Longhi's Salad
as featured on Longhi's website at www.longhis.com
½ cup dried cannellini beans, or l cup canned
1 head romaine lettuce
1 cup green beans
½ onion
1 tomato

Dressing:
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
2 oil-packed anchovies, chopped
½ teaspoon Dijon mustard
¼ cup Gorgonzola cheese
Freshly ground black pepper
6 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

If you are using canned cannellini beans, drain them, rinse in cold water, and drain again. If you are using dried cannellini beans, soak them for 30 minutes and rinse in fresh water. Put them in a pot, add water to cover, and bring to a boil. Simmer the beans until soft, let cool, and refrigerate.

Wash and dry lettuce leaves, wrap with paper towels, and put in refrigerator. Steam green beans until cooked but still crisp; slice onion; cut tomato for salad.

Place the vinegar in a wooden salad bowl. Mash the anchovies into the vinegar with a fork. Whisk in the mustard, continuing until thoroughly incorporated. Add 2 tablespoons of the Gorgonzola cheese and mix well. Add fresh ground black pepper. Now add the olive oil, again mixing well.

Remove the lettuce from the refrigerator and cut the leaves into bite-sized pieces. Add the lettuce and the other vegetables and beans to the bowl and toss well with the dressing. Sprinkle salad with 2 tablespoons crumbled Gorgonzola cheese.

Longhi's also has delicious complimentary bread.  Three kinds of foccacia -- jalepeno, herb and cheese, and tomato.

To celebrate Byron's birthday, we ate lunch at Mama's Fish House -- our appetizer of seared Ahi with a crust of cracked black pepper, fennel seed, and a little something red in there too.  Served with a sesame-soy type sauce.

Salad of fresh tomato, sweet onion, Gorgonzola and micro greens with a vinaigrette.

Sauteed Ono with caramelized onions and roasted tomatoes, with snow peas and bok choy on the side.

Grilled Uku, fresh pineapple salsa, grilled vegetables and green rice.

Banana macadamia nut crisp with vanilla bean ice cream

Roadside, near our condo, we found a local entrepreneur making Huli Huli chicken -- "huli" means turned. We had to try it.  Plus, it smelled divine.  Really.

The chicken made great filling for our tacos -- alongside beans and a fresh tomato, cucumber and sweet onion salad with yogurt dressing.