Benjamin Henion

This light, refreshing dessert turned out nice. Very simple preparation . Crisp, clean flavors as well. I did a simple guava ice, using guava juice and sugar. It turned out nice and fluffy, with lots of guava flavor. The starfruit is used 2 ways, fresh slices and dried slices. Although the dry slices didn't crisp as well as I would have liked, they preparation concentrated the flavor for a really nice component to the plate. I elevated them and added some color with a couple fresh raspberries, which complimented the fresh starfruit really well. The moisture came from the passion fruit-orange-strawberry coulis that glistens from underneath . In the process of making this dish, I changed direction a few times, but in the end, I decided simple, clean and flavorful was the way to go. I am just glad to make good use of some of the starfruit we picked up today, and it doesn't get much fresher than that.

I received a call out of the blue from a gentleman, we'll call him Lawrence. He informed me that he had a tree that had exploded with the tropical starfruit. There was no joking about that! I had prepared myself to bring quite a bit back to the kitchen with me, but what you see here is probably 1o or 15 percent of the fruit that the tree had produced. Lawrence is more than happy to have us over to take much, much more off of his hands. The starfruit, or Carambola is a tropical fruit that has a waxy, golden or green skin and mild, yet complicated flavors that seem to pair well with many other fruits. Originally from Sri Lanka and Moluccas, the starfruit thrives in the Hawaiian Islands due to the warm environment. The starfruit has no fat or cholesterol , and is a great source of Vitamin C. They are great in fruit salads, chutneys and salsas, but they make a refreshing and impressive garnish to almost any dish or drink. With the amount of free starfruit we now have access t...

During this particular event, we had 4 action stations, plating appetizer sized, yet well designed dishes for our friends with the local Chaine Des Rotisseurs . Often times the outdoors can somewhat limit how you prepare food, what dishes you are able to use, and can set the mood, good or bad. This particular event was defiantly an exception . We served whole Kalua Pig sliders, the meat carved right off the pig. We carved roasted New York sirloin to order. We seared a duet of Diver Scallops and Jumbo tiger prawns. And pictured here, we wok fried a whole red snapper, pulling the crisp skin and moist meat from the fish to build each petite entree. Although the food was a great success, the evening was only perfect when all other aspects fell into place (the way they do in Hawaii). As the sun began to set over the ocean, a large group of spinner dolphins gathered between us and the sun. They jumped and spun, entertaining the guests (and staff) to set the mood. The green flash was mu...

When one goes fishing late at night, with only 2 people on board a fishing boat, what else could happen? These local boys went out for an evening looking for a big catch. I would call a 740 pound Marlin exactly that. Although I was not fortunate enough to be part of this catch, I thought I would share some photos taken by a co-worker who was. After a couple hours of fighting the fish, the fishermen realized this one was too big to pull aboard. So, making a slow trip home, they phoned several friends to meet them at the harbor shortly after midnight. Nobody knew, until the fish was hoist with a crane and weighed, exactly how big of a catch they actually had. You can see the comparison of the people surrounding the fish, and how much bigger he is to any of them. The fish in the longbed of a pick-up also shows its size. The bill of the massive fish easily goes past the end of the open tailgate of the 8 foot bed of the truck. With several friends into fishing, many with their own boats ...

This year marked the 15 th annual Maui Calls! fundraising event for the Maui Arts & Cultural Center ( MACC ). Pictured above is our booth for this years event. We were serving two dishes this year. One hot, one cold. Many of our event guests said that our booths food was No Ka 'Oi (the best). I didn't get much of a chance to taste the other Chefs' food, it was just too busy to leave the booth. There was some nice looking food out there, don't get me wrong, but I think we had a couple crowd pleasers to showcase. Our hot dish was a traditionally roasted Kalua Pork Slider. It was traditional in the sense that we used the meat from the luau show pig, which we cook underground, wrapped in banana and ti leaf over hot coals. Once the pig was done, it was shredded and tossed in a honey- macadamia nut BBQ sauce. A zesty stewed tomato-scallion relish was a nice addition to the sandwich that we served on a steamed Kau Yuk bun. It was delicious. The cold dish was a simp...

Here is what I was able to pick from the back yard before work today. On top is a honey tangerine. Left is a very nice mango. The spiny green one on the right is soursop . Right in front is a very much unripened orange (picked by accident). And perhaps the most interesting one is the small yellowish caramay in the front left. This little one is apparently very sour, and great for pickling (according to my Filipino friends). I look forward to collecting them and pickling a jar or two.