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I did another slight variation on the golden hoisin chicken, this time with a fair amount of chinese five spice mixed in to the hoisin glaze. It was pretty good and smelled good (the cinnamon really became fragrant), but overall I think it's a bit much, unless you really want that flavor there. As a general-purpose chicken, it's a bit much.
So, a week of food on Maui. We had some very good sashimi, some excellent ice cream, and some great fried rice. We had one very good "fine dining" experience and a few disappointing ones. We had some outstanding Vietnamese food and some awful Vietnamese food. We laughed, we cried, etc.
The one thing that struck us repeatedly was how disappointing a couple of the "best restaurants on Maui" were. Both the General Store and Seawatch seem to be considered among Maui's best and we were underwhelmed by both. Both were not only "award winning" but were very well reviewed on Yelp. My theory is it's the tourism. For one thing, a number of reviewers seem to be blinded by terrific views and good service, as well as by high prices and the fact that it's their special occasion (many are here for their wedding or honeymoon) into not noticing how the actual food is -- not that atmosphere etc. are unimportant and don't belong in a review, but don't get too caught up in it if you're talking about the food. But most of all, I suspect that the expensive "fine dining" places on Maui (many of them in expensive resorts) can just get away with it. People don't come here for food, they come here for beaches etc. They aren't necessarily foodies and they expect to pay a lot anyway. In Seattle, I think, you have to justify your high price tag with outstanding food (or something; not everything expensive in Seattle is good); here it's just part of the scenery.
This didn't only apply to the "fine dining". Milagros, for example, was very well reviewed by all but we found it ordinary at best. The one exception to this general trend was Mala Wailea, a hotel restaurant where we had one of our best meals. Sansei also lived up to the hype pretty well; their poke, at least, was one of the best things I had all week. The secret while here seems to be: eat a lot of ice cream, raw fish, and fried rice.
Hali'imaile General Store is considered one of Maui's best restaurants, and we were really looking forward to my birthday dinner there. I was mentally writing this review off and on for a while, but I've gotten tired of it in my head even before I wrote it down. so let me just say: every dish we tried had at least one ingredient too many in it. some had several. E's beet and goat cheese salad, for example, was ruined by a gooey dressing which had no place in such a simple, pleasing salad. my tuna sashimi experiment, which involved a sort of cracker/flatbread, some wasabi spread, plus cabbage, sprouts, tobiko, and some kind of mayonnaise, would have been good with just a few of those elements (sashimi on handmade crackers with tobiko, for example, would have been fine) but as it was all the stuff in there just completely overwhelmed the sashimi. and what's the point of serving someone sashimi if they, you know, can't even taste it?
The one thing I will give them total props for was the shrimp tempura appetizer (with "a trio of dipping sauces: truffle honey, spicy miso and sweet soy tobiko aioli"). This was like some great finger food, and I mean that in the best possible way; E and I have great love and respect for a well-done snack. all three dips were good, and the dish came with popcorn, a straight-up unabashed admission of the dish's close proximity to the dreaded realm of, like, all-U-can-eat popcorn shrimp at red lobster. very good.
but overall, totally overrated.
In our quest to explore kid-friendly recipes, we decided to try this chicken nuggets recipe E found online somewhere. Everybody likes chicken nuggets, right? They're tasty, fairly nutritious (depending, of course, on your breading and whether they're fried), and they're fun finger-food perfect for dipping. This recipe browns the nuggets in a bit of oil, but finishes them in the oven. They seem pretty healthy, and came out delicious and crispy.
Ingredients
2 boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into nugget-sized pieces
3/4 c unbleached flour seasoned with salt and pepper
3 eggs (omega-3 enriched), beaten
1.5 c. panko
2 tsp. oat bran flakes
1/4 c. olive oil per batch
Directions
Preheat oven to 375ยบ. Season chicken with sea salt (optional). Put flour in one bowl, eggs in a second, and panko and bran flakes in a third. Coat pieces of chicken in flour, then eggs, then the panko mix. Heat oil in pan on medium-high. Add nuggets. Cook for 2-3 minutes per side, then remove from oil and spread on a baking sheet. Bake in oven for 10-15 minutes until cooked through.
To reheat: broil in oven for about 5 minutes on each side, until crispy.
Verdict
Great! The chicken came out very tender, with a light, crispy crust. The panko makes for a perfect breading, and they were not at all oily or soggy. We served them with a selection of dipping sauces (barbecue, spicy peanut, and wasabi-honey), and so didn't bother to season the chicken itself. Otherwise, we'd probably add salt, pepper, or other flavors to the flour or panko mixture.
We're working on dipping sauces for fun and kid-friendliness. I like wasabi and have always wanted to figure out how to work it into cooking, but have never had much success. A yogurt base with a bit of wasabi and some honey to balance seemed like it would make a good dipping sauce.
Ingredients
2 tbsp whole milk yogurt
1 tsp wasabi powder (pure wasabi, with no additional ingredients)
1 tsp water
2 tsp honey
Directions
Mix the wasabi powder with the water to make a paste and let stand for ten minutes to get flavorful. Mix the wasabi with the yogurt to taste. Add a dollop of honey and mix thoroughly.
Verdict
This sauce comes out a lovely pale green, with a bit of wasabi burn balanced by the mildness of the yogurt and the sweetness of the honey. It's easy to regulate how much burn you want when you add the wasabi.
Of course, if you're going to make dipping sauces you have to consider barbecue sauce. I wanted a homemade ketchup-barbecue sort of sauce, with a strong Chinese foundation in hoisin sauce and other flavors. This one came out pretty much as I hoped, with the color and consistency of traditional barbecue sauce and some interesting flavors in it.
Ingredients
1 tbsp tomato paste
1 tbsp hoisin sauce
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp rice wine vinegar
2 tsp molasses
1/2 tsp chinese mustard
1/2 tsp five-spice powder
1/2 tsp ground white pepper
1/4 tsp liquid smoke
Directions
Mash up the hoisin and tomato paste together. Add some soy sauce and vinegar and molasses, then the other spices to taste. Control the consistency by adding more vinegar (maybe a bit more soy or molasses as desired) to get to the desired thickness.
Verdict
It's pretty much barbecue sauce. I think it may still be lacking a little punch somehow, but I'm not sure what it wants. Possibly more spice (red peppers?), or some garlic or lime would round out the flavors some more.
We're working on dipping sauces because dipping stuff in other stuff is always fun and we especially think Betty might enjoy it. Peanut sauce is popular in general and seems kid-friendly. There are lots of recipes for spicy peanut sauce floating around out there. I wanted one which involved peanuts rather than peanut butter and wasn't too oily.
Ingredients
1/2 c roasted unsalted peanuts
1/2 c boiling water
1 tbsp maple syrup
1 tsp salt
1 tsp chili sauce
2 tsp soy sauce
Directions
Bring the water to a boil. Dump the peanuts in a food processor and grind until fairly fine. Add the water gradually while grinding until sauce is getting smooth and not too thick (you may not need all of the water). With food processor still running, add maple syrup. Add soy sauce, chili sauce, and salt to taste (be careful with the chili sauce -- it will seem swallowed up by the peanut sauce at first, but if you put in a little too much it will quickly become too strong).
Verdict
Pretty good. It's convincingly peanutty (a last dash of salt helped bring out the flavor a little more), but with a nice little pepper kick. And it's not too oily and seems relatively healthy.