A-lo-ha

Thanks to Mason's fertile imagination, this past potluck's theme was Christmas in Hawaii. You know... Spam, Elvis, the works. We finally got a chance to host, so we padded the guestlist with our friends, and decorated the house tiki-style!!!

Thanks to a friend at work, I managed to scrounge up two GEN-U-INE Hawaiian recipes, Kalua Pork and Lomi-lomi. Both were delicious and the pork embarrassingly easy to make.

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Lomi-Lomi (Salmon Salad)

Ingredients:
1.5 lb salmon filet(s)
about 3 tbsp of Hawaiian Salt (coarse salt - do NOT use table salt)
9 large tomatoes, diced
1 large sweet or Hawaiian onion, diced
1 bunch of green onions, chopped

Non-traditional Ingredients:
1-2 Jalapenos, seeded and chopped in small pieces
Juice of 1-2 limes

1. 3 days before event, liberally sprinkle Hawaiian Salt on both sides of salmon filets and place filets in one layer in a baking dish.
2. Add enough water to baking dish to that the water is a few millimeters deep (so not much). The water is to help the salmon soak in the salt. Put in fridge.
3. After one day, flip salmon filets so the other side is in the water. Put back in fridge.
4. The night before event, rinse out salmon filets thoroughly in fresh water. Taste Salmon as you rinse to make sure it's not too salty.
5. Dice salmon and add diced sweet onion, chopped green onion, jalapenos.
6. The day of the event, add the diced tomatoes, and lime juice to taste
7. Traditionally, ice is added to the salmon to keep it cold, but it seems kind of wierd to me, so I kept the final dish in the fridge until ready to serve!

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Kalua Pork

Ingredients:
3-5 lb Pork Roast
2-3 Tbsp Hawaiian Salt (coarse salt - do NOT use table salt)
2-3 Tbsp Liquid Smoke
Banana leaves (optional)

1. 2 -3 nights before event, liberally salt pork roast.
2. Add liquid smoke, make sure to cover all nooks and crannies
3. Wrap pork in plastic and store in fridge
4. Day of event, preheat oven to 350 degrees (325 for convection ovens)
5. Cover roast in banana leaves (optional - I didn't because I didn't have time to hunt it down at an asian market).
6. Wrap roast tightly in aluminum foil.
7. Place roast in a roasting dish. Add a cup of hot water to bottom of roasting dish.
8. Cover ENTIRE roasting tightly in aluminum foil. Water will steam the pork.
9. Bake pork roast 1 hour for every pound
10. After baking, let roast rest covered at least 15 -20 minutes
11. Unwrap, put pork in another dish and shred with two forks.

MAKES EXCELLENT SANDWICHES!!!