Opakapaka Crusted in its own Brandade, Otsuji Farm Vegetables
Today the team, with Shaun Gaines and Sonny Acosta, worked on the fish course for Wednesday's upcoming Farmer Series Dinner, featuring Alex Franco of Maui Cattle Co. One of the benefactors of this evening will be Taste of the Nation. A couple of reasons why I am the Honorary Chair for the upcoming Taste of the Nation event at Bishop Museum on April 29th is that I was stunned to find out that one out of four children on the neighbor islands does not know where their next meal will come from, and that one out of five children on Oahu will not know the same. Hungry kids in school cannot focus, and therefore cannot learn like normal children. This is our next generationm, and we need to do our part to help them. Reservations for this Wednesdays dinner is almost sold out, so thank you all for your support.
Maui Cattle Co. Beef Tartare, Rolled in Shiso, Ume Sauce
Our cooks Pierson, Samantha, David, Anecia, and Graham, worked on this together with our sous chef Shaun. Everyone is from the mainland, and I thought it was quite interesting that this beef tartare had so many Japanese ingredients and flavors. Hidden in the tartare is a variety of tsukemono. I think a great beef tartare should have shallots, capers, anchovies, parsley and other ingredients, but this Japanese version worked really nicely for me. It was very tasty. It made me smile to see them come up with this on their very own.
~ AW