Hawaii Food and Recipe Blog

Of there’s one thing you notice when you get to the islands, it’s that the folks there LOVE spam. The way I heard it, during World War II the residents got a taste of this salty pork product and were instantly hooked. Now you see it everywhere from plate lunch to McDonalds! (Yup, they have a number of spam breakfasts at Hawaiian McDonalds, including of course Spam egg and cheese on biscuits.) Until I visited the islands I never really gave Spam a try, now of course Spam and pineapple is a big favorite. It’s even great on pizza with a little pineapple and cheese!

Hawaiian Spam Sandwich

Ingredients:

1 (12-ounce) can SPAM luncheon meat, cut into 8 slices
1 fresh cut or canned pineapple rings (8-ounce), drained
1 fresh cut red onion, sliced thick.
1 piece lettuce
1 fresh cut piece tomato
4 slices American cheese
4 hamburger buns, split and toasted
Thousand Island dressing, any brand

Instructions for Preparation :
Brown your SPAM slices on grill or in skillet. Place 2 SPAM slices on each bottom half of toasted hamburger bun. Top each slice with a pineapple ring,  red onion, lettuce, tomato and cheese slice. Cover sandwich with top half of bun, thickly spread with Thousand Island dressing. Serves 1 to 4.

The centerpiece of any luau is of course the kalua pig. Pulled hot out of the imu (and if you’ve gone to the Polynesian Cultural Center you get to see them actually open the imu - the smell is amazing!) this shredded pork has nothing to do with the famous liquor, Kahlua (notice the “h” when someone is talking about the liquor?) - it means to be rubbed in salt and smoked in the imu.

Of course, on the mainland most of us don’t have an imu So how to replicate the flavor of a yummy luau  treat like kalua pig? You don’t need to look any further than your crock pot. Simple ingredients add up to a really wonderful main dish, no shoveling in the garden required.

INGREDIENTS:

• 5-6 pound pork butt - make sure it will fit in your crockery cooker
• 2½ tablespoons Kosher salt (if you can find Hawaiian salt, by all means use it! Hilo Hattie makes a smoked sea salt which is yummy)
• 2 tablespoons liquid smoke

DIRECTIONS:

First grab a big fork. You’re going to wash the pork butt and patt dry, then pierce it all over with that fork so there are plenty of little holes  for the yummy flavor to go into. Next, rub the roast first with the liquid smoke, then with the kosher salt. Once you’ve finished giving the pork roast it’s massage, into the crock pot it goes on low for at least 12 hours, and more like 16. (This is a recipe you want to start early in the day, or even the night before!) Once times up, lift the roast out of the cooker and shred - add dripping from the crock pot to moisten it if you need to. That’s all there is to it!

When you go to Hawaii, you’re going to find Macadamia nut recipes everywhere. I even got the chance to visit a Macadamia nut farm (yum!) where they had seasoned mac nuts, mac nut bread, and of course mac nut chocolate chip cookies! These are just as easy to make as traditional chocolate chip, but much MUCH tastier

INGREDIENTS

• 1 cup butter, softened
• 3/4 cup packed light brown sugar
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 teaspoon almond extract
• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup coarsely chopped macadamia nuts
• 12 oz white chocolate chips (about 1 bag)

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F 
2. In a large bowl, cream together the butter, brown sugar, and white sugar until smooth. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, then stir in the vanilla and almond extracts. Combine the flour, baking soda, and salt and then gradually stir into the creamed mixture. Mix in the macadamia nuts and white chocolate. Drop dough by teaspoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheets (I use parchment paper and my cookies come out perfectly!)
   
3. Bake for 10 minutes in the preheated oven, or until golden brown.

Let them cool, then enjoy with a tall cold glass of milk!