Heckathorn cooks favorites

Here are the recipes for dishes prepared by John Heckathorn, editor of Honolulu Magazine, on "Hawaii's Kitchen" this week. The show aired at 5:30 p.m. Sunday and will be rebroadcast at the same time Saturday on KHON Fox 2.

PORK TENDERLOIN IN MORE-OR-LESS ADOBO-MARINADE

2 pork tenderloins, approximately 1 pound each

Marinade

1/3 cup Japanese rice vinegar
1/3 cup palm vinegar
1/4 cup Vietnamese fish sauce (nuoc mam)
2 tablespoons shoyu
10 cloves of garlic, peeled and crushed
1-2 Hawaiian chile peppers
4 bay leaves
2 tablespoons whole peppercorns
Sprinkle of Hawaiian salt

Marinate pork at least an hour at room temperature, or, preferably, up to 48 hours in the refrigerator and then an hour warming up to room temperature.

Grill the pork over high heat on the barbecue, brushing with marinade and turning to brown all over. You are not necessarily cooking the pork on the barbecue, just getting a nice flavor and color on the outside.

If you can control indirect heat, you can finish the pork on the grill. If not, take pork off barbecue, brush with marinade, put on rack in roasting pan. Finish the pork in a 325-degree oven for about 20 minutes. Cool 5-10 minutes. Slice into rounds.

CHARRED EGGPLANT

4-6 Japanese eggplants, split lengthwise

Marinade

1 cup chicken stock
1/4 cup olive oil
1 tablespoon pesto
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
Freshly ground pepper

Marinate eggplant for one half-hour at room temperature. Grill on both sides on the barbecue. Unless you watch the eggplant carefully, you'll probably burn it a little, hence the name charred eggplant. If you're careful, you can call yours grilled eggplant. Slice into diagonals. Salt. Eat.

STEAMED CLAMS WITH PORTUGUESE SAUSAGE

2-3 dozen clams, depending on size
10 oz. Portuguese sausage, hot or mild, sliced into 1/4 inch diagonals
1 medium onion, chopped
1 red bell pepper, seeded and chopped
1 small carrot, diced
1 stalk celery, diced
Hawaiian salt, just a sprinkle
2-4 garlic cloves, sliced
1 1/2 cups vinho verde or inexpensive sauvignon blanc (or fish stock or some other good tasting liquid that would be appropriate with clams)
Freshly ground black pepper, to taste
Parsley, chopped
Lemon wedges, for serving
Steamed rice

Scrub clams with a brush. Set aside in ice water.

Fry the Portuguese sausage on the bottom of a large pot for which you have a lid. Take the sausage out of the pan and set aside on a plate topped with a double thickness of paper towel. If there's a lot of oil at the bottom of the pan, pour some off. Leave at least a couple of tablespoons in which to sauté the vegetables.

Sauté the onion, bell pepper, carrot, and celery in the oil. When the vegetables are soft and the onions translucent, throw in the garlic. Cook another minute. Add the wine and the pepper. Bring to a boil.

Add the clams. Put the lid on. Give it about five minutes. You want the clams to open, but you don't want to overcook. If some clams just won't open, don't eat them. Throw them away.

In the meantime, cut the lemons into wedges. Chop the parsley if you forgot to do that earlier.

Put rice at the bottom of some nice individual serving bowls. Rice bowls are too small. Saimin bowls are too big unless you are really hungry. Pasta or soup bowls work well.

Spoon some sauce, including vegetables, onto the rice. Arrange clams and sausage on top. Surround with lemon wedges, sprinkle with parsley. Eat right away.

Makes 3-6 servings.

Nutritional information unavailable.

Click for online
calendars and events.