Isles featured in book
of best coastal recipes

Quick, what does Hawaii have in common with Savannah, Ga.? Answer: Coastline. Or coastlines, in our case.

OK, maybe the water off our coasts is different (blue and warm in our case; gray and cold in theirs), but we do share a culture of closeness to the sea.

Chef and food writer John Shields makes the connection in his cookbook, "Coastal Cooking: 125 of the Best Recipes from the Atlantic, Pacific and Gulf Coasts and Hawaii," which surveys seaside cuisine around the nation's perimeter. Shields also disconnects from the continent to visit Haiti and Hawaii.

The cookbook is meant to be a companion to Shields' PBS show debuting next spring.

The book is of course filled with seafood suggestions -- for example, Clem and Ursie's Squid Stew (Clem and Ursie Silva own a restaurant in Provincetown, Mass.).

But the focus is regional cooking along the coasts, not specifically fruit of the coasts, so many land-lubbing recipes are part of the collection, too.

Shields' Hawaii recipes include Maui Ranch Oxtail Stew, Oahu Steamed Clams, Big Island Chicken Long Rice and the recipe that follows, for roast duck.

One of the most popular requests I field is for Chinatown-style roast duck, with its glossy coat and sweet-salty flavors. Local recipes tend to be fairly casual -- here's one that's straight-forward but professionally tested.

Honolulu Chinese-Style Roast Duck

1 4- to 5-pound duck
2-1/2 teaspoons salt
2 stalks green onion, in 2-inch pieces
2 tablespoons chopped parsley
>> Sauce:
1 tablespoon Chinese five-spice
5 tablespoons soy sauce
1 tablespoon pineapple juice
1-1/2 tablespoons sugar
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tablespoon hoisin sauce

Rinse duck inside and out and pat dry. Pierce bottom and sides (not breast) at half-inch intervals. Salt cavity of duck and fill with green onions and parsley.

Combine sauce ingredients. Rub duck with enough sauce to cover outside. Reserve remaining sauce. Place duck on rack of roasting pan and refrigerate 1 hour, uncovered.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Rub duck again with sauce. Roast 1-1/2 to 2 hours. Test for doneness by pricking with tip of knife; the duck is done when juices run clear.

Approximate nutritional analysis, per serving: 140 calories, 33 g total fat, 11g saturated fat, 100 mg cholesterol, greater than 1,350 mg sodium, 5 g carbohydrate, 23 g protein.

Asterisk (*) after nutritional analyses in the Body & Soul section indicates calculations by Joannie Dobbs of Exploring New Concepts, a nutritional consulting firm.