Favorite recipes from local cookbooks and chefs

• Hawai'i communities are a gold mine for comfort-food recipes

By Kaui Philpotts
Advertiser Staff Writer

This recipe, from "Island Cooks," (Island Heritage, $9.99) is for a classic: The sort of East-West dish that restaurants routinely prepared, and home cooks copied, in the early years of the 20th century. This version came from the beloved Kona Inn, whose open-air bayside dining room was a popular hangout for Big Islanders and visitors — and still is.

Kona Inn Beef

• 2 pounds round steak, cut into 1-inch cubes
• Olive oil for frying
• 1/4 cup sherry
• 1 (10.5 ounce) can consomme (beef broth)
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 clove garlic, mashed
• 1 cup ketchup
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
• 1/8 cup wine
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1/2 cup raisins
• 1/4 cup mushrooms
• 1 tablespoon curry powder
• 1/8 cup wine
• 1 to 2 tablespoons cornstarch
• 1/2 cup macadamia nuts
• 1/2 cup grated coconut
• 3 tablespoons chopped chives
• 6 slices bacon, cooked and crumbled

Heat olive oil in a large skillet and quickly brown the beef cubes. Add sherry, consomme, bay leaf and garlic. Reduce heat and cook slowly for two hours. Add ketchup, brown sugar, Worcestershire sauce, wine, onion, raisins, mushrooms and curry powder. Simmer 30 minutes. Mix cornstarch with a little water and add to thicken gravy. Serve over hot rice. Pass separate bowls of macadamia nuts, coconut, chives and bacon as garnish. This recipe does particularly well in a crock pot. Serves 6.

This recipe from "Hawai'i's Best Local Desserts" by Jean Watanabe Hee (Mutual Publishing; $9.95) is for a confection that sounds odd (and often looks odder) but that, when it was introduced to the Advertiser office some years ago, caused a major stir, with everyone begging for the recipe. It's a sort of upside-down pie, in which the filling goes into the pan first, the "crust" is spread over the top and the whole baked, turned out and then frosted.

Pumpkin Crunch

• 1 (29-ounce) can solid-pack pumpkin
• 1 (13-ounce) can evaporated milk
• 1 cup sugar
• 3 eggs, slightly beaten
• 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 box yellow pudding cake mix
• 1 cup walnuts, chopped
• 1 cup butter, melted

Mix pumpkin, evaporated milk, sugar, eggs and cinnamon together. Pour into a 9-by-13-inch pan lined with waxed paper. Pour 1 box cake mix (dry) over the pumpkin mixture and pat nuts on cake mix. Spoon melted butter evenly over all. Bake in a preheated oven at 350 degrees for 50 to 60 minutes. Invert onto a tray and peel off the waxed paper. When slightly cooled, spread frosting. Refrigerate. Cut into squares. Serves 12.

Frosting

• 1 package cream cheese (8 ounces), at room temperature
• 1/2 cup powdered sugar, sifted
• 3/4 cup Cool Whip
• Beat together the cream cheese and powdered sugar. Fold in the Cool Whip. Spread evenly over the cake as directed above.

This recipe from "Creating a Culinary Legacy," a project of the Food Service Program at Farrington High School was contributed by Farrington alum Jan Yanehiro (who graduated in 1966). Yanehiro studied journalism and worked on the newspaper in high school and now hosts "Appraise It!," a series on antiques that airs on HGTV. She was happy to send along this recipe, which she got from a popular restaurant chain in California, where she lives. She said the Gulliver's chain is famous for steaks and for this rich side dish. Use frozen corn, or buy the Kahuku corn that's available now and scrape the kernels off the ears.

Gulliver's Creamed Corn

• 20 ounce package frozen corn
• 1 cup whipping cream
• 1 cup milk
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• Pinch of white or cayenne pepper
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 2 tablespoons flour

Combine corn, cream, milk, salt, sugar and pepper and bring to a boil. Turn heat down and simmer 5 minutes.

In small saucepan, melt butter and stir in flour to form a smooth paste. Stir this roux into the creamed mixture to thicken. Check seasonings. Serve hot as a side dish.

You could serve the corn alongside this dish from chef Stafford DeCambra (Farrington, '74) who has been senior executive chef aboard the S.S. Independence and M.S. Patriot cruise ships. It's a fairly easy preparation in which a roasted pork loin is glazed with a macadamia-nut flavored preparation. The toughest part will be finding the macadamia nut liqueur (check wine shops or a grocery store with a well-stocked liquor section). Be sure not to overcook the pork.

Roast Macadamia Nut Pork Loin

• 1/2 cup honey
• 1/4 cup low-salt soy sauce
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup molasses
• 1/2 cup Dijon mustard
• 2 tablespoons macadamia nut liqueur
• Cooking oil
• 2 pounds pork loin, boneless, trimmed
• 1/4 cup macadamia nut oil
• 2 cups macadamia nuts, roasted and finely crushed*

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

To make glaze, combine honey, soy sauce, sugar and molasses in a small pot; bring to a boil and let simmer 4 minutes. Add mustard and simmer 3 minutes. Remove from heat and add macadamia nut liqueur.

Reserve this glaze, keeping it warm (a double boiler over low heat would work).

In a large sauté pan, brown pork loin in oil on all sides. Coat with warm glaze (reserving some for final coating). Roast in 350-degree oven. Baste often throughout roasting process, spooning up the glaze and juices. Roast 35 minutes or until oven thermometer registers 150 degrees.

Remove from the oven, coat with glaze and then roll in finely crushed macadamia nuts.

Serves 4.

* Try to find unsalted, raw nuts; roast by placing roughly cut nuts on a baking sheet in a 350-degree oven briefly, just into fragrance is released; you can then crush them further. Even if you use unsalted roasted nuts, roast them briefly to bring out flavors.