The eighth annual Ka‘u Coffee Festival is slated for May 13-22, featuring award-winning Ka‘u coffee.
The eighth annual Ka‘u Coffee Festival is slated for May 13-22, featuring award-winning Ka‘u coffee.
From 5:30-9:30 p.m. Friday, May 13, there is an open house at the historic Pahala Plantation House, with music, hula, food and house tours.
The Ka‘u Coffee Recipe Contest and cooking demonstrations are scheduled for 2 p.m. Saturday, May 14, at the Ka‘u Coffee Mill. Contest entry forms can be found at www.kaucoffeemill.com or by calling Lisa at 928-0550. There are two divisions, adult and student, in three categories: pupu, entree and dessert.
Here are some winning recipes from last year.
Ka‘u Coffee Pulehu Steak
Lorilee Lorenzo, student in pupu category
Organic grass fed Ka‘u beef steaks
1 strong cup of brewed and cooled Ka‘u coffee for each pound of meat
2 tablespoons sugar for each cup of coffee
Garlic salt
Soak steak in coffee overnight or all day. Cook over the pulehu grill and season while cooking with garlic salt.
Ka‘u Coffee Panna Cotta
Sunserene Quevedo, adult in dessert category
Coffee sauce:
1 cup strong Ka‘u coffee
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
Panna cotta:
3/4 cup whole milk
2 teaspoons unflavored gelatin
2 1/2 cups heavy whipping cream
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup strong Ka‘u coffee
1 vanilla bean, split lengthwise
Coffee sauce:
In a small saucepan over medium heat, stir sugar and coffee and cinnamon until sugar dissolves. Bring to a boil and turn down to simmer. Simmer for 10 minutes or until sauce coats a spoon.
Panna cotta:
Pour 3/4 cup milk, 1/4 cup coffee and vanilla bean into a medium bowl. Sprinkle gelatin over mixture and let sit for 10 minutes.
Combine heavy whipping cream, sugar and remaining 1/4 cup Ka‘u coffee in a large saucepan. Scrape vanilla seeds from bean and add seeds and bean pod to mixture. Bring to a simmer over medium heat. Whisk continuously until sugar dissolves. Remove from heat and let sit for 10 minutes.
Bring cream mixture back to a simmer and remove vanilla bean pod. Add gelatin mixture and stir until dissolved. Use cooking spray to lightly coat the insides of eight 4-ounce cups. Divide mixture into cups and chill uncovered for at least four hours or until panna cotta is set.
Use a sharp knife to cut around edges of panna cotta. Place a serving plate onto each cup and flip over, allowing panna cotta to settle onto plate. Serve by drizzling coffee sauce over panna cotta. You also might want to chill panna cotta in a clear dish (without flipping) and top with coffee sauce.
Note: If coffee sauce gets hard, heat in the microwave for 10 seconds and mix with a spoon.
•••
At 6 p.m. Saturday, May 14, is the annual Ka‘u Coffee Pageant, and the 2016 Miss Ka‘u Coffee will be crowned at the Ka‘u Coffee Mill.
New this year, from 2-6 p.m. Sunday, May 15, is the Ka‘u Coffee Festival Lobsterpalooza at Punaluu Black Sand Beach. Featuring your choice of a surf or turf menu and live entertainment, tickets are $75 in advance. Hana Hou Restaurant’s menu includes skewered pupus of Italian marinated shrimp, charbroiled Korean pork and marinated vegetable cups. Your choice of entree includes Kona cold lobster with drawn butter and spicy aioli or charbroiled spencer steak, roasted Yukon gold potatoes and local Cajun corn.
Dessert is Ka‘u Coffee mocha torte with rich coffee whipped cream served with, of course, Ka‘u coffee.
Other events during the festival include information about the historic flume systems of the sugar cane era and development of hydroelectric power during a Ka‘u Mountain Water System Hike in Wood Valley rain forest from 9 a.m.-2 p.m. Wednesday and Thursday, May 18-19. At 10 a.m. Friday, May 20, Coffee and Cattle Day will be hosted at Aikane Plantation Coffee Farms. And from 5:30-10 p.m. that day, a shuttle will depart from Ka‘u Coffee Mill to take festival-goers to the summit of Makanau for stargazing.
From 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Saturday, May 21, mark your calendar for the Ka‘u Coffee Festival’s Ho‘olaule‘a, with live music, hula, food booths, local crafts, keiki activities, educational displays, coffee tastings and farm/mill tours at the Pahala Community Center. Then, on Sunday, May 22, the Ka‘u Coffee College will be hosted at the Pahala Community Center.
Foodie bites
• This week is the last week you can go to Hawaii Community College’s cafeteria or Bamboo Hale as the second-year students will be graduating and start looking for jobs. The foods of Hawaii will be featured at the Bamboo Hale.
• The Rotary Club of South Hilo’s Hilo Huli is from 11:30 a.m.-3 p.m. Sunday (May 1) at Coconut Island. It’s still not too late to get tickets from club members County Managing Director Randy Kurohara, Lisa Kwee of Hospice of Hilo, Adam Low, Rosemary Linden, Bob Maddux, Keith Marack of Edward Jones, Benson Medina, Jim Nakagawa of CU Hawaii, Harold Ohata, Cody Osborne, Iris Park, realtor Jeanna Rimmer, Iris Shepard of Kitchen and Beyond, Helen Shirota-Benevides, Maria Short of Short N Sweet Bakery and Deli (also a vendor making a wonderful banana dessert called “Bananarama”), Jimmy or Janet Souza, Paulla Speegle of Aloha Paws, Jack Stevenson, Glen Uekawa of Akana Petrolem, Lani Wiegert of Hospice of Hilo; Ning Wang-Sugai of Big Island Foot Care; Aaron Whiting of Uncle Billy’s ; Dr. Kevin Wilcox, Tom Yeh of Yeh and Moore Attorneys at Law, Noko Yoshida, Garth Yamanaka of Yamanaka Realty, Gary Schwiter of BISAC, my husband, Jim, or Christen Zulli.
• Wiki Fresh, located at the former Hilo Motors showroom, 1177 Kilauea Ave., is now open from 10:30 a.m.-9 p.m. Monday through Thursday and 10:30 a.m.-10 p.m. Friday and Saturday. We were privileged to attend the preview party to see the Wiki Fresh concept, which is very similar to Chipotle Restaurants. You select either a bowl, wrap or taco and then proceed down the line until you have built your meal. Seating capacity is for more than 70, but they are ready and willing to pack it to go.
Email me at audreywilson808@ gmail.com.