Family-Style Meals at the Hali'imaile General Store: [A Cookbook]

by Beverly Gannon, Laurie Smith (Photographer), Joan Namkoong

Overview

Family-style dining is back in style and has been reimagined by one of the most prominent chefs in Hawaii, James Beard Award-nominee Beverly Gannon.

On the road to Haleakala, Maui's most famous dormant volcano, is one of the island's favorite destinations--where a laid-back atmosphere and top-flight menu welcome both residents and tourists. Developed from the restaurant's ever-popular repertoire, this all-new recipe collection is scaled for sit-down family suppers, lunches, and brunches, with built-in expandability for impromptu gatherings or full-on entertaining. Ingredient substitutions are included to help move dishes from the kitchen to the table with ease, and leftovers are skillfully adapted into future meals. Recipes are organized by the days of the week, based on a schedule Gannon's mother used, and are interwoven with charming family anecdotes.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781607741428
Publisher:	Clarkson Potter/Ten Speed
Publication date:	11/23/2011
Sold by:	Random House
Format:	eBook
Pages:	224
File size:	43 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.

About the Author

JOAN NAMKOONG is the coauthor with Roy Yamaguchi of Hawaii Cooks, and author of The Food Lover's Guide to Honolulu and Go Home, Cook Rice. She lives in cool, misty Waimea, Hawaii.


BEVERLY GANNON, a James Beard Award nominee in 2004, is one of the founders of the Hawaii Regional Cuisine movement. In addition to being chef-owner of the Haliimaile General Store and Joe's Bar & Grill in Wailea, Gannon is the executive chef of Hawaiian Airlines, oversees Celebrations Catering, and was recently named the 2008 Hawaii Small Business Administration's Person of the Year. She is grateful to wake up every morning on the beautiful island of Maui, Hawaii.

Read an Excerpt

Introduction

Family suppers were a part of every day life when I was growing up in Dallas, Texas. My parents, my brother, sister, and I would gather around the table in the evening and recount the day's events and activities while filling our tummies with basic, simple foods.

My mother wasn't a particularly great cook, but she did manage to put meals on the table every day. I'm not sure how she did it, but I do remember what she did: each day of the week, every week, year after year, was a specific type of food with some occasional surprises thrown in.

Sundays were about brunch and food from the deli, like lox and bagels and corned beef. I remember Dad filleting smoked whitefish as we anxiously anticipated that first delicious bite. On Sunday nights, the grill was king: chicken, steaks, burgers, ribs, jumbo prawns. During the summer months, we always hung out around the swimming pool and we'd invite all our friends over. Being the Jewish mother, my mom would always make sure everyone was fed with something she cooked or ordered in, like burgers from the newly opened Burger King, pizza, or great fried chicken from Youngblood's, which, to this day, is my favorite double-battered fried chicken. We never lacked for an abundance of food.

Mondays were chop-suey days that utilized leftovers from the weekend. Mom might take some grilled beef or chicken from Sunday night's barbecue and stir-fry it with some leftover vegetables. Or we might just have a bunch of leftovers, a mix of this and that and a little more of this-a mix of whatever happened to be in the refrigerator.

Fish was usually served on Tuesdays, not usually fresh fish but frozen fish, being rather landlocked in Dallas. My mother, like most home cooks of the day, cooked fish well done. Fillet of sole was cooked at 350 degrees F for an hour, or until crispy around the edges. I usually left the house when lobsters were boiled to death because I couldn't stand the smell. It was way-overcooked-fish day at my house, a day when I tried my best to go to a friend's house for dinner.

One of my favorite dishes was my mother's tuna-noodle casserole. She made it with the usual mushrooms, mushroom soup, peas, and tuna fish, all from cans, with potato chips on the top. My mother grew up on a farm, so canned and frozen foods were a treat for her to use. Other casseroles that appeared on Wednesdays would combine leftover brisket with canned corn and chiles, Velveeta cheese, and Rotel tomatoes-or beef with broccoli and canned cheddar-cheese soup. I still love casseroles-the marrying of ingredients held together by a sauce-but I use ingredients that are fresh and homemade, like just-caught tuna, free-range chicken, corn, tomatoes, artichokes, fennel, fresh herbs, and homemade stocks and sauces.

Our favorite day of the week was Thursday-where's-the-beef day. Thick sirloin steaks were a favorite; at our house, it was one giant piece of sirloin for each member of the family (!) served up with stuffed baked or mashed potatoes. Lamb and pork were served on this day too. My mother would shop for weeks to find the perfect meaty lamb shanks. My father could eat three or four with no problem. Vegetables came from the convenience of the "can"-Jolly Green Giant asparagus and Le Sueur peas.

Rotisserie chicken was one of my mother's best meals, plump roasters slowly turned on a tabletop rotisserie, basted with its own juices. The meat was so succulent and tasty. Even when the kids were gone, she cooked several chickens every Friday night, just in case anyone would stop by and need to eat. Of course the leftovers were terrific too, and were turned into pot pies, quesadillas, casseroles, and other homey dishes.

Just about anything could pop up on the dinner table on Saturday night-my mom never knew who would be home, especially as we teenagers attended to our social lives. Sometimes she'd make a soup or a main course salad; a pasta dish might emerge with leftover chicken from the night before. Dinner was always a surprise, but we knew it was always there and that there was enough to have six or eight friends show up hungry. My house was well known for its full-of-food-at-all-times fridge. Friends would walk in the backdoor and head straight to the fridge; they knew my mother loved that they felt comfortable enough to raid the fridge anytime.

Now, years later, I can appreciate my mother's efforts, having cooked for a family of five every night. While I cook on a larger scale, overseeing preparations for a few hundred for dinner every night, I can see the wisdom of her schedule of menus and relish the memories of the many simple meals she prepared for our family.

When I moved to Maui almost thirty years ago, family became an even more precious aspect of my life. Not only did I inherit a family when I married my husband, Joe, I was also introduced to the concept of 'ohana, or family, in the Hawaiian sense. Culturally the people of Hawai'i, who come from all corners of the earth, hold family and family values in high esteem. So family gatherings-daily, weekly, or when there is an occasion to celebrate-are a part of everyday life. And of course each family gathering is centered around food, another important aspect of Hawai'i's culture.

Family and food are a natural combination and it's the essence of what happens at Hali'imaile General Store, day in and day out. With the help of my hardworking and dedicated staff, I am able to provide the food and the tables around which families come together to dine. It's here where birthdays, engagements, weddings, anniversaries, graduations, special holidays, and just simple family get-togethers are celebrated with the sharing of a meal. Many times food is ordered and passed around to share, each person taking a bite from another's plate. The focal point is the food, but the bond it creates is about the family.

In the past two decades, there has been a tremendous renaissance in the food of Hawai'i: farmers are producing incredible fruits and vegetables, fish has become the star of the plate, and there's a lot of focus on freshness and quality. My peers in the restaurant world are creating wonderful food, and together we've garnered attention for Hawai'i's regional cuisine, a cuisine that mirrors the many ethnic groups that live here and that makes Hawai'i a food lover's paradise.

In this cookbook, I hope that some of my food will become the bonding agent for your family gatherings. There's nothing more fun and satisfying to me than to sit down with my family over food I have cooked or that I've cooked together with my family. In this fast-paced and overcrowded-schedules world, family time-where the whole family sits down to a home-cooked meal-has become a lost art. It's so sad, because the satisfaction one gets from presenting a home-cooked meal is priceless. Take some time to renew your cooking skills and cook, cook, cook.

I know that as a restaurant chef, dishes sometimes get complicated and have many parts. The recipes in this book are meant to be prepared by the home cook. If you always follow my basic rule of prepping all your ingredients before you start to cook, the making of the dish becomes fairly simple. Some recipes may have more ingredients than you are used to using, but don't let that scare you. Think of the preparation of each of the many recipes as an adventure. If you like to cook, you will love my recipes, and once you get used to the process, you will make them over and over. I believe in giving you recipes that you can execute yourself.

While I don't follow my mother's rule of fish Tuesdays, casserole Wednesdays, beef Thursdays, and so on in my restaurant, the protein is the key element of a dish. So I've organized this cookbook around the prime protein ingredients and days of the week. I hope that you'll find this a useful way to begin your family-cooking adventures. Even though some dishes are appetizers, soups, or salads, each can become an entrée, especially on those busy days when one-dish meals are your plan.

The recipes serve four, six, eight, or sometimes more. Halve a recipe or double it, depending on how many people you'll be serving. The more the merrier I say, when it comes to cooking up a pot of chili or a meatloaf; you can always have a chop-suey night of leftovers or freeze extras for another day.

I am all for getting the kids in the kitchen to help prepare meals. It's what I did as a child and what my children did when they grew up. When kids get their hands on food and can experience what it takes to get a meal on the table, they'll no doubt enjoy eating the meal itself and grow up with an appreciation for the effort it takes to make food. Besides, teaching kids to cook prepares them for their lives as adults by giving them some basic skills to fend for themselves.

No matter the day of the week or the occasion to celebrate, let food become the bond for your family. Over the years at Hali'imaile General Store, people have walked through the door to share a meal and then leave the table satisfied and fulfilled with more than just food. For me, Hali'imaile General Store is my home-I spend more time here than at home-and the people who walk through the door have become like family. I love sharing my food, just as my mother shared her food with our family, bonding us forever.

Beverly Gannon

Hali'imaile General Store

Joe's in Wailea

Celebrations Catering

Bev's Basics

i'm not at all opposed to using prepared foods that will save you time and effort. Store-bought rotisserie chicken, for example, can become a key ingredient for a great casserole or quesadilla with the addition of fresh embellishments and tasty sauces. While making everything from scratch can't be beat, it's sometimes just not possible within today's busy schedules and lives.

That said, it's both efficient and cost effective to stock your cupboards and fridge with a few essentials that can be prepared ahead of time and stored for later use. Stocks and demi-glaces are easy to make, add more flavor than you can imagine, and are good for the environment because they utilize ingredients that would otherwise be thrown out. Premixed spices and dipping sauces can even elevate everyday fare to favorite party dishes.

Good food, like everything else we do, requires some planning and effort, but the delicious results are well worth it.

pantry essentials

Butter: I always use unsalted butter in cooking and baking so that I can control the amount of salt in a preparation. Use unsalted butter in all recipes.

Flour: Use all-purpose flour in all recipes unless otherwise noted.

Oil: In my restaurants, I use a blend of canola and olive oils for sautéing, frying, and general cooking. For general home cooking, I recommend canola oil; use it in all my recipes unless a recipe specifies a different oil. In some instances, I like to use peanut oil because it can be heated to a higher temperature. But because of allergic reactions, I do not use it in my restaurants anymore. If you are not allergic to peanut oil, by all means use it, especially when deep-frying.

Salt: I always use kosher salt in my kitchens and on my tables; all the recipes in this book are based on kosher salt. It's a little less salty than regular table salt, so adjust accordingly: 1 teaspoon of kosher salt equals 1/2 teaspoon of table salt.

Wine: In cooking, I always use a wine that I would drink. You don't have to use an expensive or estate wine; a generic chardonnay for white, cabernet sauvignon or merlot for red, or a ruby red port will do. Wines have to taste good for a dish to taste good.

fish stock

If you make your own fish stock for use in soups, the soup will be that much more flavorful. When you make fish stock, use fresh fish heads and meaty bones from mild-flavored white fish. Blood, gills, and viscera should be removed; rinse all heads and bones well before proceeding. Salmon and other oily fish are not recommended unless you are using the stock to complement those fish. Fish stock can be made ahead and frozen for later use.

If you want a really rich and flavorful sauce, make the recipe below once, strain it, and add enough water to make 6 cups of stock. Then repeat the recipe, adding all the ingredients to the stock that has already been made.

2 pounds fish heads and bones
1 large onion, quartered
1 carrot, peeled and cut into chunks
1 leek, cleaned and sliced
1 clove garlic, peeled and crushed
2 sprigs parsley
1 bay leaf
12 whole black peppercorns
1 cup white wine
6 cups water or enough to cover
Salt

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

2. Place the fish heads and bones on a baking sheet. Place in the oven and roast for about 30 minutes, until lightly browned.

3. Transfer the fish heads and bones to a large stockpot, scraping any bits from the baking sheet. Add all the other ingredients except the salt to the stockpot and set over medium heat. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat, and simmer gently for about 30 minutes. Strain into a clean pot. Add salt. Cool and refrigerate until ready to use, or freeze for later use.

Makes about 11/2 quarts

chive oil

1 cup olive oil
1 cup chopped fresh chives

1. In a blender, place the olive oil and the chives. On high speed, blend the mixture for 1 minute. Pour into a bowl and let steep for 2 to 3 hours. With a fine mesh strainer, strain the oil into a jar. Discard the solids. Cover and refrigerate for up to 2 weeks.

Makes about 1 cup

Editorial Reviews

"Even if you're not from the islands, the vibrant flavors will awaken your senses."

—The Food Network

From the Publisher