"Ono Grinds" Cooking Class at Kuaiwi Farms

Mulberry crumble

From farm to fork to happy belly, Una Greenaway takes participants full-circle in her "Ono Grinds" cooking class.

In addition to coffee and cacao Kuaiwi Farm grows a large assortment of fruits and vegetables, many of them rare exotics. Cooking class participants enjoyed a tour of the farm, picking produce as they went, including surinam cherries, chayote shoots, mulberries, and kale. The farm has several traditional garden plots dispersed among avocado, lime, and jabuticaba trees. It was inspirational to see the variety of produce that can be grown on only five acres. And they do it all organically, amazing.

Trees dripping with rangpur limes

Back in Una's kitchen, she showed us how to prepare several different dishes all with produce from the farm. We started with a simple guacamole served with yacon (pictured below) for dipping in place of chips and fresh, lilikoi lemonade.

Yacon "chips"

Outside on the lanai overlooking the farm, we enjoyed plates piled high with roasted taro, sauteed chayote shoots, Kabocha squash with a goat cheese sauce, kale salad and homemade sauerkraut. We ended the afternoon with a mulberry crumble that was sweet, delicate, and perfect.

Chayote shoots and kale

I not only learned several wonderful new recipes from taking Una's class, but left with a renewed drive to tread as lightly on this earth as possible. I do that by making local and sustainable food choices, gardening, composting, and recycling but feel that there is always more I can and should be doing. Not only that, but eating all this wonderfully fresh and healthy food made my body feel great.

Our lovely meal

You might remember that I took a chocolate making class at Kuaiwi Farm before. The farm also offers tours by appointment and various classes and workshops throughout the year. Produce can also be purchased with advance reservations. Visit their website for complete information on how you can be their next visitor: http://www.kuaiwifarm.com/farmtours.html

Roasted Chai Spiced Pumpkin Seeds

You might remember the truckload of pumpkins I scored awhile back. Well, what is the hidden gem of the orange squash god? Seeds of course.

I never really know what to do with the seeds. Roast, peel and then eat? Coming from someone who can't be bothered to roll out pie dough, there is basically no way in hell I'm peeling thousands of tiny seeds.

And then I discovered that you can eat the whole seed without peeling it. Oh. I mean duh. But seriously, if I didn't know that, then maybe you didn't either and maybe I just saved you hours of pumpkin seed peeling time that you could use instead to play with your kids who might grow up to be research scientists and discover a cure for cancer all because you played with them more and all because I told you not to peel the pumpkin seeds.

See? I'm curing cancer one pumpkin seed at a time.

Oh by the way, make these immediately and don't share them with anyone, especially your kids. They need more time on the computer doing preliminary research.

Roasted Chai Spiced Pumpkin Seeds
coats about 2 cups of seeds

Seeds from 1 pumpkin, rinsed (or 9 like me, haha. Seriously it was awesome.)
1TBL olive oil
1 tsp cinnamon
1tsp allspice
2 pods cardamom (shells removed)
1/4 tsp black pepper
1 seed from a star anise, outer shell removed (optional)
2 TBL agave or honey

Preheat oven to 400. Place seeds in a pot and and cover with water. Boil for 10 minutes and drain.

Spread seeds on an oiled baking sheet and toss to coat with oil. Roast for 5-20 minutes depending on the fatness of your seeds. Basically, you need to keep an eye on them. They need to be nice and browned, to the point where they are nearly burnt. This is because the crisper they are, the better.

Meanwhile, in a spice grinder or mortar grind cinnamon, allspice, cardamom, pepper, and star anise.

When seeds are done and have cooled a little, place in a bowl with spice mixture and toss to coat. Drizzle the agave or honey in a little at a time, stirring constantly so all seeds are coated. Best when warm. Enjoy!

Savory Pumpkin Pie

Savory Pumpkin Pie

After a Halloween birthday party blitz at her house, my friend Patty had a table full of leftover painted, but uncarved, pumpkins. She knows about my squash obsession and offered me nine, that's right, nine lovely orange globes.

I spent the afternoon yesterday roasting, peeling, pureeing, and storing the pumpkin meat. Of course, I also washed, boiled, roasted, and seasoned the seeds as well as experimented with the idea of a savory pumpkin pie.

It looks like we are well stocked up on pumpkin into the next decade. Expect many more squash recipes from me this fall.

My secret pie crust recipe is super flaky

Savory Pumpkin Pie
Serves 4-6

1 pie crust (sorry folks, I don't want to give away my secret pie crust recipe just yet)
1 yellow onion, chopped
3 garlic cloves, chopped
2 TBL olive oil
3-4 cups cooked pumpkin (or squash or sweet potato)
1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
1/4 tsp ground red pepper
1 tsp cumin
1 chipotle pepper in adobo (if desired)
1 egg
1/2 cup milk
salt & pepper to taste
roasted pumpkin seeds for garnish (I served them whole as I can't be bothered to peel them)

Preheat oven to 350. Line a 9" pie pan with your favorite flour based crust. In a skillet over medium heat, add olive oil and onions and sautee until softened and browned, seasoning with salt and pepper as you go. Add garlic in for last few minutes of cook time.

While onions are cooking, place cooked pumpkin, spices, salt and pepper, egg and milk to a blender or food processor. (I used my immersion blender for this part if you have one of those.) If you are a person who does not like spicy food, I recommend you leave out the chipotle pepper. Blend until smooth. When onions are done, add those and blend again.

Pour mixture into your pie crust and bake until set and crust is browned, 40-50 minutes. Top with toasted pumpkin seeds to serve if desired.

PS: I think this would be really great to serve at a dinner party or gathering because it's an unexpected combination. You could even serve with unsweetened whipped cream for added flair.

PPS: I was going for a "smoky" flavor profile here, but I think you could play around a lot with how you want this pie to taste. Think of it as a quiche. It would also be great with just onions, garlic, salt and pepper if you want to keep it simple.

Sustainable Sunday: Eat That Pumpkin

Pumpkin and black bean burrito guts

I was happily sipping an Octoberfest draft and watching a World Series game at our local sports bar yesterday when the Halloween spirit crept up on me. Surrounded by several annihilated revelers with the sun on our backs, we started at a man shuffling drunkenly outside of the bar. He was having a hard time staying upright and we watched him carefully, concerned he may pitch himself into a nearby patch of sharp lava rock. He turned toward us and I gasped at his bloody, bandaged face. If only he could have seen me to benefit from this naive reaction. He was, of course, simply dressed as a zombie for the weekend's Halloween festivities.

Pumpkin casserole with bleu cheese

So now I'm officially ready for tricks and treats. Bring on the candy and costumes and popcorn and cider. Bring on the scary movies and plastic cobwebs and yes, please, more candy. And let's carve pumpkins but let's also eat pumpkins. Here in Hawaii the Kabocha squash is quite common, and since I'm fairly obsessed with its sweet, sweet flesh, I have many recipes at the ready.

Kabocha squash ravioli

On this Sustainable Sunday, find yourself a locally grown pumpkin, try one of these recipes, root for Detroit, and watch Pet Sematary or some such quality horror flick.

Pumpkin and Black Bean Tacos

Squash Sandwiches (2 ways)

Little Slices of Orange

Kabocha Squash Ravioli

Sweet Potato Casserole with Bleu Cheese (sub pumpkin)