LIHU‘E — Ron Miller of The Hukilau Lanai was named the winner of the Kaua‘i Coffee Celebrity Chef Cookoff for Charity with Kaua‘i Grown during the opening night of the Kaua‘i County Farm Bureau Fair. Miller and his crew competed
LIHU‘E — Ron Miller of The Hukilau Lanai was named the winner of the Kaua‘i Coffee Celebrity Chef Cookoff for Charity with Kaua‘i Grown during the opening night of the Kaua‘i County Farm Bureau Fair.
Miller and his crew competed for The Salvation Army Kokua Soup Kitchen and presented a sampling of Kaua‘i Coffee “Peaberry” seared mahi mahi featuring Ueunten Farm kabocha pumpkin puree, chipotle coconut sauce, Kaua‘i shrimp and Kaneshiro Farm bacon hash, plus Dahvala’s micro greens.
To top off the entree, Miller’s crew offered “Mundoloa Java” and Kaua‘i Kunana Dairy Farm goat cheese cream puffs featuring McPhee’s Bees honey and Ueunten Farm lemon confit and a “Coconut Caramel Crunch” coffee sauce.
A returning chef for the third year of the competition benefiting local charities, Miller is the Hukilau Lanai’s owner and executive chef, offering casual upscale food utilizing the products purchased locally from numerous farmers, fishermen, ranchers and producers.
Melissa McFerrin, the event coordinator of the Farm Fair, said Wayne Katayama of Kaua‘i Coffee, a charter member of the Kaua‘i Grown program, deserves the credit for keeping the cookoff alive.
“He challenged the chefs of the six participating eateries, each representing a local charity, by offering 20 types of coffee produced by Kaua‘i Coffee to use in their dishes,” McFerrin said. “When the chefs settled on a recipe, he offered up to 12 bags of the selected coffee type for their use in the presentation.”
McFerrin said the event featured defending champion chef Kahau Manzo of the Westin Princeville Nanea restaurant, Chef Rey Montemayor of the Kaua‘i Marriott Resort and Beach Club, Chef Mark Arriola of Merriman’s Kaua‘i, Chef Jim Moffat of Living Foods at The Shops at Kukui‘ula and Chef Collin Darrel of Grow Culture.
The chefs came up with some creative uses for not only Kaua‘i Coffee products, but also for breadfruit, or ‘ulu, and even had home-made bacon from Kaneshiro Farm pork (as evidenced in Miller’s winning dish).
“There’s nothing wrong with people having dessert first,” said Moffat, a first-time chef in the cookoff offering a lilikoi creme caramel with Lawa‘i eggs and Kaua‘i Coffee espresso caramel and shortbread.
The warm and comforting aroma of the coffee wafted through the filled arena as Moffat heated a metal cup holding the caramel over a shortbread base.
Moffat was competing for the Rotary Club of Hanalei Bay’s “Save the (Hanalei) Pier” campaign.
Montemayor, competing for the Kaua‘i Independent Food Bank, got help from the Kaua‘i Marriott Executive Chef Guy Higa, recently named a Kaua‘i Chamber of Commerce Mea Ho‘omana‘o Award recipient, and offered recipes for its mini summer roll, lilikoi coffee vinaigrette and coffee spiced Kaua‘i shrimp, “Forbidden Rice” and espresso butter sauce. The display of carved watermelon and aroma of searing shrimp attracted a line of samplers.
Darrell, competing for the Aloha School in Hanalei, offered up a coconut chevre mousse featuring a Big Braddah waffle cone, plus items from Ono Organics, Kunana Dairy and Steelgrass Farm.
Manzo, competing for the 2013 Kaua‘i Visitor Industry Charity Walk, also drew a long line of samplers with his Kaua‘i Coffee braised beef short rib, Moloka‘i potato lumpia, baby bak choi, chocolate panna cotta and Kaua‘i Coffee white chocolate covered pea berries — all served on a halved recyclable paper tray.
Arriola, competing for the 4-H program on Kaua‘i, had a full compliment of assistants producing local sous vide beef shortrib with Kaua‘i Blue Mountain Coffee marinade with ‘ulu puree, braised Kailani Greens with homemade bacon.
The Kaua‘i County Farm Bureau Fair lasts through today at Vidinha Stadium in Lihu‘e.
• Dennis Fujimoto, photographer and staff writer, can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 253) or dfujimoto@ thegardenisland.com.
