Kings Hawaiian Sweet Bread

[Kias]

BTW In case you don't recognize me, I'm likely one of the guys fired by your chef.

I thought you looked familiar!!


Anyway, if you read my novel and felt like you were ripped off at the end... You were. I was actually headed toward an actual point. Alas, my phone rang, and I actually had to do some work. The gall of them to expect me to actually work AT work! I think they're all crazy! So I wrapped up the story rather hastily and had to go figure out why there was an open ground on the new generator they were building.

So lets pick up right here:

The next year and a half, 6 days a week, 9am to dinner, Chef actually explained to me why things were done the way they were done, and what's good and what wasn't, filled with examples of both. I couldn't have paid for that type of education. I learned so much about food!!

Every day at 9am, Chef took me to some bizarre places to buy food for the night. Warehouses, peoples houses, peoples farms, heck we even met a few people in their vans out in the middle of nowhere! Which made me wonder how legal all of that was. But it's just food, not drugs, right? This is the reason when I saw the show "Chef!" episode "The Big Cheese" and he went out and purchased illegal unpasturized stilton cheese I completely lost it! I think I laughed for days! Anyway, we were usually back no later than noon. Between noon and dinner was when we experimented for next weeks menu. We would use substandard ingredients to experiment with, which I thought was just genius of him. It kept costs down. We'd use day old produce, and use dried herbs and spices instead of fresh. He'd bring out a recipe, if you could call it that... It was more of an idea with a list of food. He'd tell us how he wanted it cooked, and then we'd cook it, improvising as needed. We'd all taste the dish, throw out ideas, and we'd cook it again, and again, and again. Some dishes we'd cook 20 or 30 times, just to throw 'em all out. However, Chef always had the final call. When he smiled and said, "Mis en place that!" We knew we were close! That's when we broke out all the fresh ingredients and he cooked the dish, putting any final adjustments to it, cooking that dish maybe 2 or 3 times, and it was final. The recipe was written, and added to the menu.

So over a year and a half I got to taste a huge amount of recipes that were made with just so-so ingredients, canned stuff, powdered stuff, etc... Then I got to taste the same dish made with the finest, and one could say the proper ingredients. The difference was like night and day.

This is not to say that I'm a food snob. Not by any stretch! I have no problem grabbing a box of mac and cheese and whipping that up for the kids. 'course I sprinkle some balsamic vinegar in my bowl, but that's another story as I could put that stuff on ice cream and eat it.

My daughter used to cry because everytime she made an omelet she'd rip it and tear it, and generally come out like Crud, as she put it. But everytime I made an omelet, it came out "Perfect", again as she put it. I would show her exactly how I did it. Of course it looked so simple when I did it... I'd explain that I have about 20 years more experience of omelet making then she did. 'course this went in one ear and out the other. This went on for years, until sometime last year I heard a scream from the kitchen downstairs. I didn't even flinch as she seems to scream a lot, usually about nothing... Then I hear her run up the stairs and she flies into my office with a plate screaming, "I did it!!" Yes, there on her plate was the "Perfect" omelet! Whatever that is... I still don't think my omelets are perfect, but I guess that's all relative... I just glared at her omelet for a moment, then looked up at her with absolutely no emotion on my face and said, "So you're ready to make crepes now." A look of sheer terror filled her eyes as I remained emotionless, but absolutely dying inside!

So that's what we've been working on lately... She still doesn't let the crepe batter sit for a few hours, so her crepes don't turn out right. I laugh, while she gets frustrated. Someday, I'll really put an emphasis on the "Sit for a few hours" but right now, I'm having too much fun with her. She's always in a hurry to get whatever she's cooking done. She's off to college next year, so I have to make sure she can handle cooking at least ramen noodles.

 

[Kias]

Not exactly on topic but do any of you guys know a good broccoli, rice, and cheese casserole recipe? I have been looking for a really good one, not velveta and lawn clippings like you get at the store!

I'm sorry, was there a topic here? Seems we're all just chattin' about fine foods.

So you don't like velveeta and lawn clippings? My fav!

Lemme sleep on it, and see if I can come up with something. Unless someone beats me to it.

 

[Kias]

Not exactly on topic but do any of you guys know a good broccoli, rice, and cheese casserole recipe? I have been looking for a really good one, not velveta and lawn clippings like you get at the store!

Here's a completely untested, just thought of today recipe you can try if you want. If you do try it, lemme know how it is!

Put these two things in your casserole dish.
Chop up a pound or two of fresh brocolli.
Get a cup or so of cooked rice. I'd personally go with Basmati Rice, it's a long slender rice that's not sticky.

In a medium hot saucepan put a couple tablespoons of unsalted fresh butter with a couple tablespoons of rice flour, a pinch of salt, 2 or 3 grinds of pepper, and with your mortar and pestle smoosh up 1/2 teaspoon of mustard seed. Failing that, just toss in 1/2 teaspoon of dried mustard. Cook this until it's bubbly. You're making a white or even blonde roux here.

Now get your handy dandy whisk, and whisk in 1 to 1 1/2 cups of whole milk. (Sorry, I don't do 'diet' foods, there's no taste to them! LOL!) This will start to thicken at which time you can turn your heat down to med-low and start to slowly (I'll emphasize SLOWLY) add 1 to 2 cups of grated cheese. I'd stay away from the cheddar, it's too expected. Not to mention, orange! Well, unless you get white cheddar.

Perhaps get some fresh asiago. Don't get the aged asiago, it won't melt right. Don't forget that asiago is dinominazione di origine protetta! If it's not from Asiago, it's not Asiago cheese! This would kinda taste like parmesan if you had to put a taste to it.

Perhaps some Gruyère, Wisconsin makes a lot of this stuff. The more it's aged, the more impassioned the cheese flavor will be.

Havarti could be to your likings also. A soft sweet cheese with a butter like smell and slightly sharp taste. However you can get sharper varieties.

Pour this cheese sauce over the brocolli and rice.

Now take a tablespoon of freshly made ailoi (See below) and the juice of half a lemon, ehhh maybe a quarter lemon, and mix together. Pour this over the cheese sauce, broccoli, and rice.

Sprinkle bread crumbs over the top. Say... Bread crumbs from the hawaiian sweet bread you just made!

Toss some slivererd almonds on if you must. Bake all this uncovered at 350 degreeish until done. Probably a half an hour or so...

Variations
Add some cooked chicken or turkey. Duck would be awesome! NO WAIT! Use Bald Eagle!! Just kidding...
Can't go wrong with rendered bacon either.
You could go with frenched onions, but that's too cliché.
Sprinkle some balsamic vinegar over top just before serving. (Put this stuff on your ice cream too!)
...and I suppose if you wanted to, sprinkle some grass clippings in too!


Ailoi
This is best done in a stand mixer. You can do it by hand with a whisk, but your arm might fall off!

1 egg yolk, kick your mixer with the whip into high gear!
Add extra virgin olive oil or regular olive oil if extra virgin is too strong for you, one drop at a time (Not to exceed 7 or 8 ounces) until you get a mayo consistency (Since this is basically what you're making)
Now take a clove or two (or three or four or fifty!! ) of garlic. Smash it, mince it, annihilate it, and add it to the mix.

There ya go, simple and easy to make ailoi!